Passage

James 4.17

Book: James · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

15. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall both live, and do this or that. 16. But now ye glory in your vauntings: all such glorying is evil.

17. To him therefore that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. (James 4:15-17, ASV)

WEB

15. For you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.” 16. But now you glory in your boasting. All such boasting is evil.

17. To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin. (James 4:15-17, WEB)

KJV

15. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. 16. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

17. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. (James 4:15-17, KJV)

YLT

15. instead of your saying, 'If the Lord may will, we shall live, and do this or that;' 16. and now ye glory in your pride; all such glorying is evil;

17. to him, then, knowing to do good, and not doing, sin it is to him. (James 4:15-17, 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

"To him therefore that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." The verse closes the paragraph about the merchants (4:13-16) and states a principle that reaches across the whole letter.

Why "therefore." The verse opens with oun (Strong's G3767). The merchants have just been told what they ought to say ("If the Lord will," 4:15). Now they know it. If they go on boasting, the fault is not ignorance. Knowledge raises responsibility.

Sin by omission. The verse defines sin not only as doing wrong but as failing to do the good one knows (G1492, "knoweth"). "Sin" is hamartia (G266). Jesus taught the same weight of knowledge: "that servant, who knew his lord's will, and made not ready, nor did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes" (Luke 12:47).

A summary of James. The whole letter presses this point. "Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves" (1:22). Faith that says "Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled" without giving what is needed is dead (2:15-17). The tongue that knows what blessing is still curses (3:9-10). Verse 4:17 gathers these into one sentence: the good left undone is not neutral.

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; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G0266 - hamartia, hamartia, Strong's G0266
G1492 - oida, oida, Strong's G1492

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

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.