But now you glory in your boasting. All such boasting is evil.
Parallel Translations
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But now you glory in your boasting. All such boasting is evil.
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But nowe ye reioyce in youre bostinges. All soche reioysynge is evyll.
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But now ye reioyce in your boastings: all such reioycing is euill.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to James 4:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 27:1 Don’t boast about tomorrow; for you don’t know what a day may bring.
- 1 Corinthians 5:6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump?
- Psalms 52:7 “Behold, this is the man who didn’t make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.”
- Proverbs 25:14 As clouds and wind without rain, so is he who boasts of gifts deceptively.
- Psalms 52:1 Why do you boast of mischief, mighty man? God’s loving kindness endures continually.
- Isaiah 47:10 For you have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and your knowledge has perverted you. You have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’
- 1 Corinthians 4:7-8 For who makes you different? And what do you have that you didn’t receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? You are already filled. You have already become rich. You have come to reign without us. Yes, and I wish that you did reign, that we also might reign with you.
- 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.
- Revelation 18:7 However much she glorified herself, and grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.’
- Isaiah 47:7-8 You said, ‘I will be a princess forever,’ so that you didn’t lay these things to your heart, nor did you remember the results. “Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me. I won’t sit as a widow, neither will I know the loss of children.’
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 16 But now ye rejoice, or, glory. We may…
16 But now ye rejoice, or, glory. We may learn from these words that James condemned something more than a passing speech. Ye rejoice, or, glory, he says, in your empty boastings. Though they robbed God of his government, they yet flattered themselves; not that they openly set themselves up as superior to God, though they were especially inflated with confidence in themselves, but that their minds were inebriated with vanity so as to disregard God. And as warnings of this kind are usually received with contempt by ungodly men — nay, this answer is immediately given, “known to ourselves is what is offered to us, so that there is no need of such a warning;” — he alleges against them this knowledge in which they gloried, and declares that they sinned the more grievously, because they did not sin through ignorance, but through contempt.
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 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all…
16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
Ver. 16. In your boastings] Of long life and suitable success. God will shoot an arrow at such suddenly, Psa 64:9, as he did at the rich fool, Nebuchadnezzar, Haman, Herod, Sennacherib, and other braggarts.
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 But now ye rejoice, or, glory; ye please yourselves…
But now ye rejoice, or, glory; ye please yourselves with them.
In your boastings; viz. of your carnal projects, and hopes of what you intend to do, and expect to get: q.d. You vainly boast of your designs and successes, without taking notice of God’s providence, under the government of which you and your affairs all are.
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All such rejoicing is evil; both as being contrary to the word, which assures us so often that it is vain to promise ourselves long life, or prosperity in our worldly business, without God’s leave and blessing, Psa 127:1; Pro 16:9,33; and likewise as proceeding from pride and security.
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 But now ye rejoice in your boastings,.... Of tomorrow,…
But now ye rejoice in your boastings,.... Of tomorrow, and of the continuance of life, and of going to such a place, and abiding there for such a time, and of trading and trafficking with great success, to the obtaining of much gain and riches; see Pro 27:1
all such rejoicing is evil; wicked and atheistical, as expressing a neglect of and independence on Providence; arrogating and ascribing too much to themselves, their power and will, as if they had their lives and fortunes in their own hands, and at their own dispose, when all depend upon the will of God. The Syriac version renders it, "all such rejoicing is from evil"; from an evil heart, and from the evil one, Satan.
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. But now ye rejoice in your boastings]…
Verse 16. But now ye rejoice in your boastings] Ye glory in your proud and self-sufficient conduct, exulting that ye are free from the trammels of superstition, and that ye can live independently of God Almighty. All such boasting is wicked, πονηραεστιν, is impious. In an old English work, entitled, The godly man's picture drawn by a Scripture pencil, there are these words: "Some of those who despise religion say, Thank God we are not of this holy number! They who thank God for their unholiness had best go ring the bells for joy that they shall never see God."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jas 4:16-17. Now ye rejoice — Καυχασθε, ye glory,…
Jas 4:16-17. Now ye rejoice — Καυχασθε, ye glory, in your boastings — Ye please yourselves in the vain thoughts which you entertain of these worldly projects and successes, and you boast of them. All such rejoicing — Or glorying, is evil — The delight you take in these expectations argues either a strange want of consideration, or gross stupidity. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not — That knows what is right and is his duty, and does not practise it; to him it is sin — His knowledge does not prevent but increase his condemnation. As if he had said, Since you cannot but know better, as you have the oracles of God, and profess to believe them, if you do not act answerably thereto, you are guilty of the greater sin. “Because this is true with respect to all who act contrary to knowledge and conscience. Beza and Estius consider it as a general conclusion, enforcing the whole of the reproofs given to the Jews for acting contrary to the divine revelation, of which they were the keepers.” — Macknight.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain But now ye rejoice in your boastings - That…
But now ye rejoice in your boastings - That is, probably, in your boastings of what you can do; your reliance on your own skill and sagacity. You form your plans for the future as if with consummate wisdom, and are confident of success. You do not anticipate a failure; you do not see how plans so skilfully formed can fail. You form them as if you were certain that you would live; as if secure from the numberless casualties which may defeat your schemes.
All such rejoicing is evil - It is founded on a wrong view of yourselves and of what may occur. It shows a spirit forgetful of our dependence on God; forgetful of the uncertainty of life; forgetful of the many ways by which the best-laid plans may be defeated. We should never boast of any wisdom or skill in regard to the future. A day, an hour may defeat our best-concerted plans, and show us that we have not the slightest power to control coming events.
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 now--as it is.
now--as it is.
rejoice in . . . boastings--"ye boast in arrogant presumptions," namely, vain confident fancies that the future is certain to you (Jam 4:13).
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rejoicing--boasting [BENGEL].
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. Now—As your present habit is.
16. Now—As your present habit is.
Rejoice—Rather, glory—are proud of.
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Your boastings—Your presumptuous proclaiming what you will do to be cut off, perhaps, by failure and by death.
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. But now ye rejoice in your boastings] Better,…
16. But now ye rejoice in your boastings] Better, ye exult in your vain glories. If the words were not too familiar, ye glory in your braggings would, perhaps, be a still nearer equivalent. The noun is found in 1Jn_2:16 (“the pride of life”), and not elsewhere in the New Testament. It is defined by Aristotle (Eth. Nicom. iv. 13) as the character of the man who lays claim to what will bring him credit when the claim is either altogether false or grossly exaggerated. He contrasts it with the “irony” which deliberately, with good or bad motive, understates its claims. The “now” is more or less emphatic, = “as things are.”
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) But now . . . .—How different is…
(16) But now . . . .—How different is the case with you, cries St. James; you actually glory and delight in your own self-confidence and presumption, and every such rejoicing is evil. The word for “boastings” is the same as that translated “the pride of life” in 1Jn_2:16—i.e., its braggart boastfulness, not the innocent gladness of living. It is the trust of the “ungodly” (Psa_10:6, “There shall no harm happen unto me”), and the mistaken confidence of even such godly men as Job (Job_29:18, “shall die in my nest”), before the Almighty instructs them by trouble, and loss, and pain.
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 But now. As is actually the case, "ye glory…
But now. As is actually the case, "ye glory in your vauntings." jAlazoneiA: only here and in 1Jn_2:16; in the LXX, in RAPC 2Macc 9:8 and RAPC Wis 5:8. It is a favorite word with St. Clement of Rome. On its meaning and distinction from uJperhfania and other kindred words, see Trench on "Synonyms," p. 95; and cf. Westcott on the "Epistles of St. John," p. 64. The vice of the ajlazwn "centers in self and is consummated in his absolute self-exaltation, while the uJperhfanov shows his character by his overweening treatment of others. The ajlazwn sins most against truth; the uJperhfanov sins most against love." This extract will serve to show the fitness of ajlazoneia rather than uJperhfania in the passage before us. The verse should be rendered, as in R.V, "But now ye glory (kaucasqe) in your vauntings: all such glorying (kauchsiv) is evil." Kauchsiv is the act, not the matter (kauchma), of glorying.
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. Ye rejoice in your boastings. It was a…
16. Ye rejoice in your boastings. It was a boastful manner to use such a language as that of verse 13 in stating plans.
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.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 4:16 Christians may boast about what God has done…
4:16 Christians may boast about what God has done (1:9-10), but not about their own arrogant plans, which assume that God has no claim or authority over their lives.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.