James Chapter 1 verse 19 Holy Bible
Ye know `this', my beloved brethren. But let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
read chapter 1 in ASV
You have knowledge of this, dear brothers. But let every man be quick in hearing, slow in words, slow to get angry;
read chapter 1 in BBE
So that, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
read chapter 1 in DARBY
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
read chapter 1 in KJV
read chapter 1 in WBT
So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;
read chapter 1 in WEB
So then, my brethren beloved, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,
read chapter 1 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerses 19-27. - EXHORTATION (1) TO HEAR RATHER THAN TO SPEAK, (2) NOT ONLY TO HEAR, BUT ALSO TO DO. Verse 19. - The text requires correction. For ὥστε... ἔστω πᾶς of the Textus Receptus, read, Ἴστε ἀδελφοί μοι ἀγαπητοι ἔστω δὲ πᾶς, א, A, B, C, Latt. Ἴστε is probably indicative, and refers to what has gone before. "Ye know this, my beloved brethren. But let every man," etc. The verse gives us St. James's version of the proverb, "Speech is silver. Silence is golden." Similar maxims were not infrequent among the Jews. So in Ecclus. 5:11, "Be swift to hear; and let thy life be sincere; and with patience give answer;" cf. 4:29, "Be not hasty in thy tongue, and in thy deeds slack and remiss." In the rabbinical work, 'Pirqe Aboth,' 1. 12, we have the following saying of Rabbi Simeon, the son of Gamaliel (who must, therefore, have been a contemporary of St. James): "All my days I have grown up amongst the wise, and have not found ought good for a man but silence; not learning but doing is the groundwork; and whoso multiplies words occasions sin." This passage is curiously like the one before us, both in the thoughts and in the expressions used.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(19) We come now to the third subdivision of the chapter. By reason of the Divine benevolence, the Apostle urges his readers--(1) to meekness, (2) self-knowledge, (3) practical religion.Wherefore, my beloved brethen.--There appears to be some small error in the MSS. here, but the alteration is only just worth mentioning: ye know my brethren beloved, seems the correct version, the very abruptness of which may serve to arrest attention. Yea, "have ye not known?" might well be asked further in the indignant language of Isaiah (Isaiah 40:21; comp. Romans 5:19).Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.--For all these cautions are required in the building up of the new life. "The quick speaker is the quick kindler;" and we are told later on "how great a matter a little fire kindleth" (James 3:5). And what have we at all to do with wrath, much less that our whole life--as unhappily it often is--should be wasted with such bitterness? Anger, no doubt, is a wholesome tonic for some minds, and certain weaknesses; but "he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city" (Proverbs 16:32).
