to make (intransitively · verb — present active imperative, 2nd person plural
not
μὴmē
G3361
(adverb) not · particle — negative
against
κατ᾽kat᾽
G2596
(prepositionally) down (in place or time) · preposition
another
ἀλλήλων,allēlōn
G240
one another · reciprocal pronoun — genitive plural masculine
brethren
ἀδελφοί,adelphoi
G80
a brother (literally or figuratively) near or remote (m… · noun — vocative plural masculine
lest
μὴmē
G3361
(adverb) not · particle — negative
condemned
κατακρίνωkatakrínō
G2632
to judge against
behold
ἰδοὺidou
G2400
used as imperative lo! · interjection
judge
πρὸpro
G4253
"fore" · preposition
standeth
ἕστηκεν.hestēken
G2476
to stand (transitively or intransitively) · verb — perfect active indicative, 3rd person singular
before
ὁho
G3588
the (sometimes to be supplied · article — nominative singular masculine
door
ἵστημιhístēmi
G2476
to stand (transitively or intransitively)
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make mani…
James 4:11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judget…
Matthew 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Matthew 6:14-15 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Genesis 4:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and th…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on James 5:1-11
The apostle is here addressing first sinners and then saints.
I. Let us consider the address to sinners; and here we find James seconding what his great Master had said: Woe unto you that are rich; for you have received your consolation, Luk 6:24. The rich people to whom this word of warning was sent were not such as professed the Christian religion, but the worldly and unbelieving Jews, such as are here said to condemn and kill the just, which the Christians had no power to do; and though this epistle was written for the sake of the faithful, and was sent principally to them, yet, by an apostrophe, the infidel Jews may be well supposed here spoken to. They would not hear the word, and there…
Grudge not--rather "Murmur not"; "grumble not." The Greek is literally, "groan": a half-suppressed murmur of impatience and harsh judgment, not uttered aloud or freely. Having exhorted them to patience in bearing wrongs from the wicked, he now exhorts them to a forbearing spirit as to the offenses given by brethren. Christians, who bear the former patiently, sometimes are impatient at the latter, though much less grievous.
lest . . . condemned--The best manuscript authorities read, "judged." James refers to Mat 7:1, "Judge not lest ye be judged." To "murmur against one another" is virtually to judge, and so to become liable to be judged.
judge . . . before the door--referring to Mat 24:3…
Grudge not - Μη στεναζετε· Groan not; grumble not; do not murmur through impatience; and let not any ill treatment which you receive, induce you to vent your feelings in imprecations against your oppressors. Leave all this in the hands of God.
Lest ye be condemned - By giving way to a spirit of this kind, you will get under the condemnation of the wicked.
The judge standeth before the door - His eye is upon every thing that is wrong in you, and every wrong that is done to you; and he is now entering into judgment with your oppressors.
The Church Fathers
James means that we should stop mocking the poor and doing them harm, complaining about them at the same time, because we shall be judged according to our cruelty and condemned by the righteous judge.
Behold, the Judge stands at the door. He will return to you the rewards of patience, and to your adversaries the punishment they deserve. He stands at the door, because either He is close to knowing everything you do, or He will come quickly to repay, to you and to your persecutors, what each one has deserved. Take as an example, brothers, the outcome of evil, and of longsuffering, and of labor, and of patience, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. See, he says, that the prophets who were so holy, so free from sins, so that the Spirit of God spoke through them His mysteries to men, had an evil end by suffering death from the faithless, such as Zechariah, Uriah, and the Maccabee martyrs. And in the New Testament, John, Stephen, James the son of Zebedee, and many others. Nevertheless, they did not lament over such an end, but rather wished to bear it with long-suffering. Others endured long labors, but they bore these patiently and without grumbling, like Noah in the building of the ark for a hundred years, Moses in the redemption and leadership of the people for forty years, David in suffering exile without fault, Joseph in service taken deceitfully by his brothers. To both cases, however, he added a firm and immutable example saying: You have heard of the patience of Job, and you have seen the end of the Lord. You have learned by reading about the labor and patience of Job, and how he received double of everything he lost due to the enemy's deceit, through the mercy of the Lord. You also saw the end of the Lord on the cross which He patiently endured, but also learned by evangelical preaching of His glory in the resurrection and ascension to heaven. Because the Lord is merciful and compassionate. So that either He may deliver His own from temptations in the present life, and glorify those living for the steadfastness of their faith even before men, or crown them in secret after death, and not even then take away the memory of the praise they deserved from men. Above all, however, my brothers, do not swear, neither by heaven, nor by earth, nor by any other oath. But let your speech be Yes, yes; No, no. Because He desires to completely drain the deadly poison of the tongue from His listeners, prohibiting backbiting, forbidding judging one's neighbor, and banning mutual groaning in adversities, which are manifest sins, He also adds this which to…
Dictionary and topics
Maranatha — (1 Cor. 16:22) consists of two Aramean words, Maran’athah, meaning, “our Lord comes,” or is “coming.” If the latter interpretation is adopted, the meaning of the phrase is, “Our Lord is coming, and…
Envy · 6:4,5; — 6:4,5;
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on James 5:9
Grudge not one against another, brethren,.... On account of any happiness, temporal or spiritual, which another enjoys; do not inwardly repine at it; or secretly sigh and groan in an envious manner at it, though nothing may be said, as the word used signifies; much less complain of, accuse, and condemn one another, or meditate and seek revenge:
lest ye be condemned; hereafter, at the bar of Christ, by the Judge of the whole earth, who is privy to the secret murmurings and grumblings, and the envious sighs and groans of men; see Matthew 7:1
behold the judge standeth before the door; there is another that judgeth, who is the Lord, and he is at hand; he is just at the door; a little while and…
James 5:7-9
7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
7 Patienter ergo agite, fratres, usque in adventum Domini. Ecce agricola expectat pretiosum fructum terrae, patienter se gerens erga eum, donec recipiat pluvium matutinam et vespertinam.
8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
8 Patienter ergo agite et vos; confirmate corda vestra, quonim adventus Domini propinquus est.
9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.…
