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James 4:11

My fellow believers, stop saying evil things about one another, because those who say something evil about a fellow believer and are therefore condemning one who is like a brother to them are really speaking against the law that God gave us to obey. In this law, God commanded [MTY] us to love others, and those who say evil things about fellow believers, it is as though they are saying that we do not have to do what God commanded. If you (sg) say that you do not have to do what God commanded, you (sg) are not obeying God’s law. Instead, you (sg) are claiming that you have the authority to condemn others.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

In Context

10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and as a result he will honor you.

12But in fact, there is only one who has the authority to tell people what is right to do and to condemn them, and that is God. He alone is able to save people or to destroy people. So, ◄ you (sg) certainly have no right to decide how God should punish other people./who are you to decide how God should punish other people?► [RHQ]

Read all of James 4

Cross References

Psalms 140:11Do not allow those who slander others to succeed; cause evil things to happen to violent men and destroy them!

Luke 6:37“Do not say how sinfully others have acted, and then God will not say how sinfully you have acted. Do not condemn others, and then he will not condemn you [DOU]. Forgive others for the evil things that they have done to you, and then God will forgive you.

Romans 2:13It is right for them to be punished { God to punish them} because it is not those who merely know God’s laws whom he considers to be righteous. On the contrary, it is only those who continually have obeyed all ◄of God’s laws/of the laws that God gave to Moses► ◄whom God will consider righteous/whose record of sins God will erase►.

Romans 7:12So we conclude that the laws that God gave to Moses are holy. What God commanded about not coveting, along with all the other things that he commanded, is also holy, and it is just and good.

Romans 14:10◄It is disgraceful that you who practice certain religious regulations say that God will punish your fellow believers who do not practice those regulations!/Why do you who practice certain religious regulations say God will punish your fellow believers who do not practice such regulations?► [RHQ] I say this because the time will come when all of us will stand before God in order that he will say whether or not he approves [MTY] of what we have done. So you who do not practice such regulations, ◄should not despise your fellow believers who practice them!/why do you despise your fellow believers who practice them?► [RHQ]

2 Corinthians 12:20I have written this way to you because I worry that when I come to visit you, I will see that some of you are not conducting your lives the way that I want you to. If that is so, when I get there you will see that I will have to act in a very severe way toward you, and I am sure that you do not want that. Specifically, I am afraid that some of you may be quarreling, or that you are being jealous of each other, or that you quickly get very angry with them, or that you are acting selfishly, or that some of you are saying bad things about others, or that you are ◄spreading false rumors/saying false things► about each other, or that you are acting proudly, or that you are doing things in a disorderly manner.

Matthew Henry on James 4:2-11

Origin of War and Contention; Against Pride; Submission to God. ( a. d. 61.) 1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

King James VersionBíblia Almeida (Português)Luther Bibel (Deutsch)Bible Louis Segond (Français)Библия (Русский)聖經 (中文)성경 (한국어)聖書 (日本語)الكتاب المقدس (العربية)बाइबल (हिन्दी)Biblia (Kiswahili)Bibbia Diodati (Italiano)Alkitab (Bahasa Indonesia)

Study James 4:11

Matthew HenryJamieson-Fausset-BrownAdam ClarkeAlbert BarnesJohn WesleyJohn CalvinScofieldWilliam BurkittFamily Bible NotesGeneva Bible Notes (1599)
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