and one of you tells them, “Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;” yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it?
Parallel Translations
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and one of you tells them, “Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;” yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it?
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and one of you saye vnto them: Departe in peace God sende you warmnes and fode: not withstondinge ye geve the not tho thynges which are nedfull to the body: what helpeth it the?
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And one of you say vnto them, Depart in peace: warme your selues, and fil your bellies, notwithstading ye giue them not those things which are needefull to the body, what helpeth it?
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to James 2:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 3:27-28 Don’t withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it. Don’t say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again; tomorrow I will give it to you,” when you have it by you.
- 1 John 3:16-18 By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But whoever has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, then closes his heart of compassion against him, how does God’s love remain in him? My little children, let’s not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth.
- Matthew 25:42-45 for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ “Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’ “Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’
- Romans 12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good.
- 2 Corinthians 8:8 I speak not by way of commandment, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity also of your love.
- Matthew 14:15-16 When evening had come, his disciples came to him, saying, “This place is deserted, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves food.” But Jesus said to them, “They don’t need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
- Matthew 15:32 Jesus summoned his disciples and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away fasting, or they might faint on the way.”
- Job 22:7-9 You haven’t given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. But as for the mighty man, he had the earth. The honorable man, he lived in it. You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (9 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 16 And one of you say unto them, Depart…
16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
Ver. 16. And one of you say] This age aboundeth with mouth mercy, which is good cheap. But a little handful were better than a great many such mouthfuls.
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Be ye warmed] But with what? with a fire of words. Be filled; but with what? with a mess of words. Away with those airy courtesies. How many have we today that will be but as friends at a sneeze! the most you can get of these benefactors is, "God bless you, Christ help you."
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Depart in peace; a usual form of salutation, wherein,…
Depart in peace; a usual form of salutation, wherein, under the name of peace, they wished all prosperity and happiness to them they greeted, Mar 5:34; Luk 7:50; 8:48.
Be ye warmed; i.e. be ye clothed; the warmth here mentioned being such as is procured by clothes, Job 31:20.
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And be ye filled, or, satisfied with food; a metaphor from the fatting of cattle with grass or hay. The same word is used, Mat 14:20; Mar 6:42; Phi 4:12. These two good wishes answer the two former great wants.
Notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; understand, when yet ye are able to relieve them; for he speaks to the rich, or such as were in a capacity of being helpful to others.
What doth it profit? Either, what do your good words and charitable wishes profit them, without charitable deeds? Or, what do they profit yourselves? Or both may be included: as your fair speeches convey no real good to them, so they bring in no reward to you from God.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And one of you say unto them,.... That is,…
And one of you say unto them,.... That is, one of the same faith, and in the same communion and church fellowship.
Depart in peace; wishing them all prosperity and happiness, inward and outward:
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be ye warmed and filled; clothed and fed; signifying, that they wished them all the accommodations of life:
notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful for the body; neither clothes to wear, nor food to eat; nothing to warm their bodies, or fill their bellies:
what doth it profit? the Ethiopic version reads, "what doth it profit them?" either the poor brother, or sister, to whom these good words are given, and nothing else; for these will neither warm them, nor fill them; or the persons themselves, that say these tidings to them: and the apostle, by this instance, shows, that as that charity which lies only in words, and in tongue, and not in deed, and in truth, is unprofitable, and good for nothing, even to them that profess it; so that faith, which a man says he has, and yet is without works, is alike unprofitable unto him.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 16. Be ye warmed and filled] Your saying…
Verse 16. Be ye warmed and filled] Your saying so to them, while you give them nothing, will just profit them as much as your professed faith, without those works which are the genuine fruits of true faith, will profit you in the day when God comes to sit in judgment upon your soul.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain The habit of receiving passively sentimental impressions from sights…
The habit of receiving passively sentimental impressions from sights of woe without carrying them out into active habits only hardens the heart.
one of you--James brings home the case to his hearers individually.
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Depart in peace--as if all their wants were satisfied by the mere words addressed to them. The same words in the mouth of Christ, whose faith they said they had, were accompanied by efficient deeds of love.
be . . . warmed--with clothing, instead of being as heretofore "naked" (Jam 2:15; Job 31:20).
filled--instead of being "destitute of food" (Mat 15:37).
what doth it profit--concluding with the same question as at the beginning, Jam 2:14. Just retribution: kind professions unaccompanied with corresponding acts, as they are of no "profit" to the needy object of them, so are of no profit to the professor himself. So faith consisting in mere profession is unacceptable to God, the object of faith, and profitless to the possessor.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 16. Depart in peace] The phrase was one of…
16. Depart in peace] The phrase was one of familiar benediction, and had been used by our Lord to those who came to Him seeking bodily or spiritual healing (Luk_7:50; Luk_8:48; Act_16:36). It would naturally only be used where such wants, if they existed, had been, or were going to be, relieved.
be ye warmed and filled] The first verb refers obviously to the naked, the second to those who are destitute of food. The Greek verbs may be either in the imperative or indicative, “Get yourselves warmed and filled,” or “Ye are warming and filling yourselves.” The former is the more generally received interpretation, and represents the kind of benevolence which shews itself in good advice. The idea of mere good wishes is excluded by the use, on this assumption, of the imperative. It may perhaps, however, be questioned whether the indicative does not give a preferable meaning. The man whose faith was only the acceptance and the utterance of a dogma, was mocking the souls of others when he said “God is One—God is your Father,” as much as if he said to the naked or hungry, “Ye are being warmed or filled.” No amount of faith on their part could turn that mockery of a feast into a reality, unless they had the food and clothing they needed; and the man who gave a bare dogma to men without the reality of love, was mocking them,—yes, and cheating himself,—in much the same manner.
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notwithstanding ye give them not] Better, and ye give them not. The change to the plural generalises the individual case presented in “one of you.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (16) And one of you say unto them, Depart…
(16) And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled.—Is it unlikely, knowing as we do the style of the rugged Apostle, that he was drawing other than from the life? Perhaps it was a scene in his own experience during that very famine foretold by Agabus (Act_11:28-30).
There would, however, seem to be a worse interpretation of the words, beginning so softly with the Eastern benediction: namely, “Ye are warming and filling yourselves.” It is the rebuke of cool prosperity to importunate adversity: “Why such impatience? God is one, and our Father: He will provide.” No amount of faith could clothe the shivering limbs and still the hunger pangs; what greater mockery than to be taunted with texts and godly precepts, the usual outcome of a spurious and cheap benevolence.
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Notwithstanding ye give them not.—The “one of you” in the beginning of the verse, then, was representative of the whole body addressed by St. James; and now by his use of the plural “ye,” we see that no individual was singled out for condemnation: the offence was wider and worse.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Depart in peace (uJpagete ejn eijrhnh cf. nhn)" Act_16:36.…
Depart in peace (uJpagete ejn eijrhnh cf. nhn)" Act_16:36. This is something quite different from the fullness of our Lord"s benediction, "Go into peace (upage eijv eijrh) (Mar_5:34; cf. Luk_7:50 Luk_8:48)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 16. Depart in peace. Express to the needy only…
16. Depart in peace. Express to the needy only kind wishes; that he be warmed by receiving good clothing and fed by food being provided. Such good wishes are worthless unless followed up by active help to the sufferer.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.