Passage

James 2.2

Book: James · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

My brethren, hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

2. For if there come into your synagogue a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, and there come in also a poor man in vile clothing;

and ye have regard to him that weareth the fine clothing, and say, Sit thou here in a good place; and ye say to the poor man, Stand thou there, or sit under my footstool; 4. do ye not make distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:1-4, ASV)

WEB

My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with partiality.

2. For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in;

and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing, and say, “Sit here in a good place”; and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool”; 4. haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:1-4, WEB)

KJV

My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

2. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; ^{assembly: Gr. synagogue}

And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: ^{in: or, well, or, seemly} 4. Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? (James 2:1-4, KJV)

YLT

My brethren, hold not, in respect of persons, the faith of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ,

2. for if there may come into your synagogue a man with gold ring, in gay raiment, and there may come in also a poor man in vile raiment,

and ye may look upon him bearing the gay raiment, and may say to him, 'Thou, sit thou here well,' and to the poor man may say, 'Thou, stand thou there, or, Sit thou here under my footstool,' 4. ye did not judge fully in yourselves, and did become ill-reasoning judges. (James 2:1-4, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: James (Iakōbos), identified by the great majority of interpreters as the brother of Jesus (Galatians 1:19; Mark 6:3), leader of the Jerusalem church (Acts 15:13; Acts 21:18). He introduces himself simply as "a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" (James 1:1), never as a relative.
Audience: Jewish believers outside Palestine, addressed as "the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion" (James 1:1). The congregations meet in a synagōgē (James 2:2) and include both poor members and wealthy visitors.
Location: Jerusalem, from which James led the mother church.
Time period: Date disputed. An early date (c. AD 44-49) would make this the earliest surviving Christian writing; a later one places it before James's death, which Josephus dates to AD 62 (Antiquities 20.200). The letter shows no awareness of the Gentile-circumcision controversy settled in Acts 15, which many take as evidence for the early date.

Theological reading

"For if there come into your synagogue a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, and there come in also a poor man in vile clothing."

A test case for 2:1. James has just said, "hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons" (James 2:1). This verse sets up a scene to show what partiality looks like: one visitor marked by wealth, one by poverty, both entering the same meeting. The next verse supplies the seating, "Sit thou here in a good place" for one and "Stand thou there" for the other (2:3).

"Synagogue." The KJV renders it "assembly," with the margin "Gr. synagogue," Strong's G4864. It is the only place in the New Testament where the word is used of a Christian gathering, and it fits the letter's Jewish-Christian setting.

The law behind it. Israel was told, "thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty; but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor" (Leviticus 19:15). James applies it to seating in church and concludes, "if ye have respect of persons, ye commit sin" (2:9). He grounds the rule in God's choice: "did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith?" (2:5). Honoring the rich man over the poor man reverses the judgment God has already made.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.