YAC 4:8 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=minor/spelling Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV) When you all approach God, he will move closer to you. So keep your hands clean you sinners, and keep your hearts pure you who can’t make up your minds about God.

Key: khaki:verbs, orange:accusative/object, cyan:dative/indirect object, magenta:vocative.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT Come near to God and he will come near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded.

UST Be honest and open with God. If you do, he will welcome you into his presence. You who are sinners, turn away from doing what is wrong and do only what is right. You who cannot decide whether you will commit yourselves to God, stop thinking wrong thoughts and think only right thoughts.

BLB Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and have purified hearts, you double-minded.

AICNT Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

OEB Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Make your hands clean, you sinners; and your hearts pure, you vacillators!

WEBBE Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded.

LSV draw near to God, and He will draw near to you; cleanse hands, you sinners! And purify hearts, you split-souled!

FBV Come close to God and he will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners. Purify your way of thinking, you people with divided loyalties.

TCNT Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

T4T Come near spiritually to God, and as a result he will come near to you. You who are sinners, stop doing what is wrong, and do only what is good [SYN, MET]. You who cannot decide whether you will ◄commit yourselves to God/obey God completely►, stop thinking wrong thoughts, and think only pure thoughts [MTY].

LEB Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded!

BBE Come near to God and he will come near to you. Make your hands clean, you evil-doers; put away deceit from your hearts, you false in mind.

Moff draw near to God,
⇔ and he will draw near to you.
⇔ Cleanse your hands, you sinners,
⇔ and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Wymth Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you who are half-hearted towards God.

ASV Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye doubleminded.

DRA Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners: and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

YLT draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you; cleanse hands, ye sinners! and purify hearts, ye two-souled!

Drby Draw near to [fn]God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse [your] hands, sinners, and purify [your] hearts, ye double-minded.

4.8 Elohim

RV Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye doubleminded.
(Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye/you_all sinners; and purify your hearts, ye/you_all doubleminded. )

SLT Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse the hands, ye sinful; and purify the hearts, ye double souled.

Wbstr Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.

KJB-1769 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
(Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye/you_all sinners; and purify your hearts, ye/you_all double minded. )

KJB-1611 Draw nigh to God, and hee will draw nigh to you: cleanse your hands ye sinners, and purifie your hearts yee double minded.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from marking of added words (and possibly capitalisation and punctuation))

Bshps Drawe nye to God, and he wyll drawe nye to you. Clense your handes ye sinners, and purifie your heartes ye double mynded.
(Draw nigh/near to God, and he will draw nigh/near to you. Clense your hands ye/you_all sinners, and purify your hearts ye/you_all double minded.)

Gnva Drawe neere to God, and he will drawe neere to you. Clense your handes, ye sinners, and purge your hearts, ye double minded.
(Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Clense your hands, ye/you_all sinners, and purge your hearts, ye/you_all double minded. )

Cvdl Drawe nye to God & he wil drawe nye to you. Clense yor hondes ye synners, and pourge youre hertes ye wauerynge mynded.
(Draw nigh/near to God and he will draw nigh/near to you. Clense your hands ye/you_all sinners, and pourge your(pl) hearts ye/you_all wavering minded.)

TNT Drawe nye to god and he will drawe nye to you. Clense youre hondes ye synners and pourdge youre hertes ye waverynge mynded.
(Draw nigh/near to god and he will draw nigh/near to you. Clense your(pl) hands ye/you_all sinners and pourdge your(pl) hearts ye/you_all wavering minded. )

Wycl Neiye ye to God, and he schal neiye to you. Ye synneris, clense ye hondis, and ye double in soule, purge ye the hertis.
(Neiye ye/you_all to God, and he shall come_near to you. Ye/You_all sinners, cleanse ye/you_all hands, and ye/you_all double in soul, purge ye/you_all the hearts.)

Luth Nahet euch zu GOtt, so nahet er sich zu euch. Reiniget die Hände, ihr Sünder, und machet eure Herzen keusch, ihr Wankelmütigen!
(Neart you to/for God, so approaches he itself/yourself/themselves to/for you. Reiniget the hands, you(pl)/their/her sinners, and makes your(pl) heart(s) keusch, you(pl)/their/her Wankelmütigen!)

ClVg Appropinquate Deo, et appropinquabit vobis. Emundate manus, peccatores: et purificate corda, duplices animo.
(Appropinquate to_God, and will_approach to_you(pl). Emundate hands, sinners: and purificate hearts, duplices in_mind. )

UGNT ἐγγίσατε τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ἐγγιεῖ ὑμῖν. καθαρίσατε χεῖρας, ἁμαρτωλοί, καὶ ἁγνίσατε καρδίας, δίψυχοι.
(engisate tōi Theōi, kai engiei humin. katharisate ⱪeiras, hamartōloi, kai hagnisate kardias, dipsuⱪoi.)

SBL-GNT ἐγγίσατε τῷ θεῷ, καὶ ⸀ἐγγιεῖ ὑμῖν. καθαρίσατε χεῖρας, ἁμαρτωλοί, καὶ ἁγνίσατε καρδίας, δίψυχοι.
(engisate tōi theōi, kai ⸀engiei humin. katharisate ⱪeiras, hamartōloi, kai hagnisate kardias, dipsuⱪoi.)

RP-GNT Ἐγγίσατε τῷ θεῷ, καὶ ἐγγιεῖ ὑμῖν· καθαρίσατε χεῖρας, ἁμαρτωλοί, καὶ ἁγνίσατε καρδίας, δίψυχοι.
(Engisate tōi theōi, kai engiei humin; katharisate ⱪeiras, hamartōloi, kai hagnisate kardias, dipsuⱪoi.)

TC-GNT Ἐγγίσατε τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ [fn]ἐγγιεῖ ὑμῖν· καθαρίσατε χεῖρας, ἁμαρτωλοί, καὶ ἁγνίσατε καρδίας, δίψυχοι.
(Engisate tōi Theōi, kai engiei humin; katharisate ⱪeiras, hamartōloi, kai hagnisate kardias, dipsuⱪoi. )

4:8 εγγιει ¦ εγγισει WH

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs (from our SR-GNT base).

SOTN SIL Open Translation Notes:

Section 4:1–12: Believers must submit to God, not to their own selfish desires

In this section, James wrote about the problem of Christians quarreling among themselves. He identified the root of the problem as our human selfish desires. Then he pointed out that the solution is to humble ourselves and submit to God.

Some other possible headings for this section are:

Warning against being God’s enemy (UBS)

Submit Yourselves to God (NIV)

Paragraph 4:7–10

In this paragraph, James gave a series of exhortations or commands on how to get back into a proper relationship with God. He said that his readers should turn back to God and submit to him.

The exhortations in this paragraph are all plural. They are general and are addressed to everyone to whom James was writing.

4:8a

Draw near to God,

Come/Go^(plur) close to God in your hearts,
Know^(plur) God better,
Develop^(plur) a close relationship with God,

Draw near to God: The Greek verb that the BSB translates as Draw near refers to approaching God in a spiritual sense. It means “Develop a close relationship with God.” It does not mean that we should change our physical location.

Consider how you speak of being in a good relationship with someone. If your readers will not understand the spiritual sense of Draw near, you will have to adjust how you express this idea. For example:

In your hearts come/go near to God

Know God better

4:8b

and He will draw near to you.

and then he will come close to you.^(plur)
and he will cause you^(plur) to understand him better.
and he will reward/help you.^(plur)

and He will draw near to you: The verb draw near is the same verb as in 4:8a. Some languages will use the same verb in both 4:8a and 4:8b. But other languages will use different verbs for “people going near to God” and “God coming near to them.” In any case, this does not mean that God actually changes his physical location. The verbs in 4:8a and 4:8b refer to our spiritual relationship with God.

If you made an adjustment to your translation of “Draw near” in 4:8a, you will also have to make an adjustment here. For example:

and he will reward/help you

4:8c–d

Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded: This sentence has a grammatical structure called a parallelism. In this parallelism, 4:8c and 4:8d are poetic ways to say the same thing. The similar parts are underlined in the same way:

^c Cleanse your hands, you sinners,

^dand purify your hearts, you double-minded

The phrase Cleanse your hands is similar in meaning to purify your hearts. The phrases you sinners and you double-minded are two ways to talk about the same group of people.

See the General Comment at the end of 4:8d to see examples of how to combine 4:8c–d.

4:8c

Cleanse your hands, you sinners,

Wash sin off your hands, you^(plur) sinners,
You sinners, clean sin out of your lives. (NCV)
You^(plur) who are sinners, remove sin from your lives.

Cleanse your hands: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates literally as Cleanse your hands is a figure of speech. It is not a literal command to get some water and use it to clean their hands.

There are at least two ways to translate this phrase:

Keep the figure of speech. For example:
Cleanse your hands (NET)
Translate the meaning without using a figure of speech. For example:
Clean up your lives. (CEV)
clean sin out of your lives (NCV)

Whichever way you translate this phrase, it is good to put the other option in a footnote.

you sinners: The phrase you sinners functions as a strong rebuke. It also strengthens James’ command about washing hands.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

You are sinners!

Realize that you have sinned. (JBP)

because you are sinners

and stop sinning

Notice that the BSB places the phrase you sinners at the end of 4:8c. This follows the word order in the Greek text. In some languages, it is more natural to place it at the beginning of 4:8c.

sinners: The word sinners refers to people who habitually offend God by doing what is contrary to his law. The ways people may offend God include doing and thinking things that God does not approve. People may also offend God by their attitudes and by not doing what God wants them to do. Some ways to translate sinners are:

people who sin

people who do not obey God

wrongdoers

See also the note on “sin” at 1:15b.

4:8d

and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

and clean sin from your hearts, you^(plur) who want to go two ways at once.
You who are trying to follow God and the world at the same time, make your thinking pure. (NCV)
You^(plur) who have minds/hearts that are divided between pleasing God and pleasing yourselves, remove sin from there.

purify your hearts: The phrase purify your hearts is a metaphor. In this metaphor, removing sin from our lives is compared to purifying our hearts. The way that the two actions are similar is that something bad is removed.

In both Hebrew and Greek, the heart refers to a person’s thoughts and desires. So to purify one’s heart means to remove evil thoughts and desires.

Some ways to translate this phrase are:

Keep the metaphor. For example:
make your hearts pure (NET) In some cultures, an organ other than the heart may be used to describe the part of the person where thoughts and desires come from. For example:
Make your liver pure/good
Translate the meaning without using a metaphor. For example:
make your thinking pure (NCV)

you double-minded: The Greek word that the BSB translates as double-minded functions as a strong rebuke. It refers to people who seem to have two minds or hearts that are fighting each other. One mind wants to please God. The other mind wants to please the world, and so it is fighting God. If your language has an idiom for this term, consider using it here.

Some other ways to translate this word are:

you people who can’t make up your mind (CEV)

You who are trying to follow God and the world at the same time (NCV)

because you are thinking two ways

and stop trying to follow both sin and God

Notice that the BSB places the phrase you double-minded at the end of 4:8d. This follows the word order in the Greek text. In some languages, it is more natural to place it at the beginning of 4:8d.

This same word occurs in 1:8a.

General Comment on 4:8c–d

The parallel parts of 4:8c and 4:8d should be understood as repeating the same thought. So you sinners and you double-minded should not be understood as separate categories of people. If a parallel structure in your language wrongly implies different groups, you may need to combine the parallel parts in these lines. For example:

You^(plur) sinful people who are thinking two ways, clean your hands and your hearts.

You people who want to please both the world and God, remove evil thoughts and evil actions from your lives.

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result

ἐγγίσατε τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ἐγγιεῖ ὑμῖν

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ἐγγίσατε τῷ Θεῷ καί ἐγγιεῖ ὑμῖν Καθαρίσατε χεῖρας ἁμαρτωλοί καί ἁγνίσατε καρδίας δίψυχοι)

James is using the word translated and to describe a result. Alternate translation: [If you come near to God, then he will come near to you]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ἐγγίσατε τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ἐγγιεῖ ὑμῖν

James is using a spatial metaphor to describe two people in a good relationship as if they were near to one another. Alternate translation: [Do your part to have a good relationship with God, and you will find that God also wants to have a good relationship with you]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

καθαρίσατε χεῖρας

James is using the image of washing hands to describe a person removing sin from his life. Alternate translation: [Stop sinning]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy

καθαρίσατε χεῖρας

James is using the word hands to mean actions, by association with the way people use their hands to do things. Alternate translation: [Stop doing things that are wrong]

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ἁγνίσατε καρδίας

purify ˓your˒_hearts

James says hearts to mean people’s thoughts and desires. Alternate translation: [purify your thoughts and desires]

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ἁγνίσατε καρδίας

purify ˓your˒_hearts

The term purify refers to a ceremonial cleansing that allows a person to participate in religious activities. James is speaking as if his readers’ hearts could be cleansed in this way. Alternate translation: [make sure you are not thinking or desiring anything wrong]

Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / nominaladj

δίψυχοι

double-minded

James is using the adjective double-minded as a noun to refer to a type of person. Your language may use adjectives in the same way. If not, you could translate this with an equivalent expression. Alternate translation: [double-minded people]

δίψυχοι

double-minded

Alternate translation: [you double-minded people]

Note 8 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

δίψυχοι

double-minded

See how you translated the same expression in [1:8](../01/08.md). James is speaking of his readers as if they had two minds, with one mind deciding to do one thing and the other mind deciding to do something else. Alternate translation: [you people who cannot decide whether to obey God or not]

Parallel YAC 4:8

Section 4:1–12: Believers must submit to God, not to their own selfish desires

Paragraph 4:7–10

4:8a

4:8b

4:8c–d

4:8c

4:8d

General Comment on 4:8c–d