James 1:23
21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- For anyone who hears the word but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror,
- KJV
- For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
- WEB
- For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror;
- ASV
- For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror:
- DARBY
- For if any man be a hearer of [the] word and not a doer, *he* is like to a man considering his natural face in a mirror:
- BLB
- because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, this one is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror,
- ÅB
- For dersom en er ordets hører og ikke dets gjører, da ligner han en mann som ser på sitt naturlige åsyn i et speil:
- OTB
- Den som hører ordet men ikke gjør det, er som en som ser på sitt ansikt i et speil
- B1930
- For dersom en er ordets hører og ikke dets gjører, da ligner han en mann som ser på sitt naturlige åsyn i et speil:
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Matthew 7:26–27
And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
Read in contextJames 2:14–26
What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
Read in contextEzekiel 33:31–32
And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.
Read in contextLuke 6:47
Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
Read in contextJeremiah 44:16
As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.
Read in context