For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed.
Parallel Translations
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For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed.
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For where envyinge and stryfe is there is stablenes and all maner of evyll workes.
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For where enuying and strife is, there is sedition, and all maner of euill workes.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to James 3:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- James 3:14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and don’t lie against the truth.
- 1 Corinthians 3:3 for you are still fleshly. For insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and factions among you, aren’t you fleshly, and don’t you walk in the ways of men?
- 1 Corinthians 14:33 for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the assemblies of the saints.
- 1 John 3:12 unlike Cain, who was of the evil one, and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
- Galatians 5:20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies,
- Genesis 11:9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of all the earth. From there, Yahweh scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 16 For where envying is. It is an argument…
16 For where envying is. It is an argument from what is contrary; for envying, by which hypocrites are influenced, produces effects contrary to wisdom. For wisdom requires a state of mind that is calm and composed, but envying disturbs it, so that in itself it becomes in a manner tumultuous, and boils up immoderately against others.
Some render ἀκαταστασία inconstancy, and sometimes it means this, but as it signifies also sedition and tumult, perturbation seems the most suitable to this passage. For James meant to express something more than levity, even that the malignant and the slanderer does everything confusedly and rashly, as though he were beside himself; and hence he adds, every evil work
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 16 For where envying and strife is, there is…
16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
Ver. 16. For where envying and strife is, &c.] The number of two hath been therefore accounted accursed, because it was the first that departed from unity. Divisions (saith one) are like the torrid zone, nothing prospers under it. (Dr Rayner.) When the dogstar ariseth, no plants thrive as at other times. When a fire is kindled in a town, the bells ring backwards; when fires of contentions are kindled in places, all things go awry. (Mr Burr’s Heart Divisions.)
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 For where envying and strife is; the usual companions…
For where envying and strife is; the usual companions of this devilish wisdom.
There is confusion; or, inconsistency, viz. both with man’s self and others; envy makes him unqniet in himself, and troublesome to others, by causing contentions and seditions among them, and breaking their peace, as well as his own.
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And every evil work; all manner of wickedness is ushered in by this confusion and sedition.
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 For where envying and strife is,.... Where these are…
For where envying and strife is,.... Where these are cherished in the heart, and especially where they break out into action, in families, neighbourhoods, states, or churches:
there is confusion and every evil work; these occasion disturbances, raise uneasiness, make disquietude, and cause tumults whenever they appear; and put persons upon doing everything that is wicked, to gratify such insatiable lusts.
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. For where envying and strife is] ζηλοςκαιεριθεια.…
Verse 16. For where envying and strife is] ζηλοςκαιεριθεια. Zeal-fiery, inflammatory passion, and contention-altercations about the different points of the law, of no use for edification, such as those mentioned, Tit 3:9. The Jews were the most intolerant of all mankind; it was a maxim with them to kill those who would not conform to their law; and their salvation they believed to be impossible. This has been the spirit of Popery, and of the Romish Church at large; in vain do they attempt to deny it; they have written it in characters of blood and fire even in this country, (England,) when they were possessed of political power. With them it is still an established maxim, that out of their Church there is no redemption; and fire and faggot have been in that Church legal means of conversion or extinction. In the short popish reign of Mary in this country, besides multitudes who suffered by fine, imprisonment, confiscation, c., two hundred and seventy-seven were burnt alive, among whom were one archbishop, four bishops, twenty-one clergymen, eight lay gentlemen, eighty-four tradesmen, one hundred husbandmen, fifty-five women, and four children! O earth! thou hast not drunk their blood but their ashes have been strewed on the face of the field.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For where envying and strife is, there is confusion…
For where envying and strife is, there is confusion - Margin, tumult or unquietness. Everything is unsettled and agitated. There is no mutual confidence; there is no union of plan and effort; there is no co-operation in promoting a common object; there is no stability in any plan; for a purpose, though for good, formed by one portion, is defeated by another.
And every evil work - Of the truth of this no one can have any doubt who has observed the effects in a family or neighborhood where a spirit of strife prevails. All love and harmony of course are banished; all happiness disappears; all prosperity is at an end. In place of the peaceful virtues which ought to prevail, there springs up every evil passion that tends to mar the peace of a community. Where this spirit prevails in a church, it is of course impossible to expect any progress in divine things; and in such a church any effort to do good is vain.
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“The Spirit, like a peaceful dove,
Flies from the realms of noise and strife.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain envying--So English Version translates the Greek, which usually means…
envying--So English Version translates the Greek, which usually means "zeal"; "emulation," in Rom 13:13. "The envious man stands in his own light. He thinks his candle cannot shine in the presence of another's sun. He aims directly at men, obliquely at God, who makes men to differ."
strife--rivalry [ALFORD].
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confusion--literally, "tumultuous anarchy": both in society (translated "commotions," Luk 21:9; "tumults," Co2 6:5), and in the individual mind; in contrast to the "peaceable" composure of true "wisdom," Jam 3:17. James does not honor such effects of this earthly wisdom with the name "fruit," as he does in the case of the wisdom from above. Jam 3:18; compare Gal 5:19-22, "works of the flesh . . . fruit of the Spirit."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 16. The characteristics of this worldly wisdom are envying,…
16. The characteristics of this worldly wisdom are envying, rather, emulation, and strife, or rivalry. It is the wisdom of making yourself great in disregard of the rights and well-being of all or any others.
Evil work— Deeds of cruelty and oppression.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 16. envying and strife] Better, as before, envy and…
16. envying and strife] Better, as before, envy and rivalry. See note on Jas_3:14.
there is confusion and every evil work] On the first word see note on Jas_3:8. It describes here the chaotic turbulence of such an assembly as that indicated in the preceding verse. Comp. Pro_26:28, where the Greek word in the LXX. answers to the “ruin” of the English version. The word for “evil” is not the common one, and expresses contempt as well as condemnation. Better, every vile deed. It is the word used in Joh_3:20; Joh_5:29.
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) For where envying and strife is, there is…
(16) For where envying and strife is, there is confusion.—Where emulation, zeal, and rivalry exist, there also are sedition, anarchy, restless disturbance, and every villainous act. The whole state is evil, and utterly contrary to the rule of the Gospel—
“For words and names let angry zealots fight:
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Whose life is in the wrong can ne’er be right.”
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 Ver. 16 substantiates the assertion just made in ver.…
Ver. 16 substantiates the assertion just made in ver. 15. Render, as in ver. 14, jealousy and faction. jAkatastasia: confusion, of which God is not the author. (1Co_14:33)
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. For where, etc. Where these exist in the…
16. For where, etc. Where these exist in the heart every evil work will follow.
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.