James 1:20

New Living Translation

Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
Anger does not help you live the way God wants.

Revised Standard Version
for the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
For the wrath of man worketh not that which is ryghteous before God.

Hebrew Names Version
for the anger of man doesn't produce the righteousness of God.

New American Standard Bible
for a man's anger does not bring about the righteousness of God.

New Century Version
because anger will not help you live the right kind of life God wants.

Update Bible Version
for the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God.

Webster's Bible Translation
For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

English Standard Version
for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

World English Bible
for the anger of man doesn't produce the righteousness of God.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

Weymouth's New Testament
For a man's anger does not lead to action which God regards as righteous.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
for the wraththe of man worchith not the riytwisnesse of God.

English Revised Version
for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

Berean Standard Bible
for man's anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires.

Contemporary English Version
If you are angry, you cannot do any of the good things that God wants done.

Amplified Bible
for the [resentful, deep-seated] anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God [that standard of behavior which He requires from us].

American Standard Version
for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

Bible in Basic English
For the righteousness of God does not come about by the wrath of man.

Complete Jewish Bible
for a person's anger does not accomplish God's righteousness!

Darby Translation
for man's wrath does not work God's righteousness.

International Standard Version
For human anger does not produce God's righteousness.

Etheridge Translation
for the wrath of man the righteousness of Aloha worketh not.

Murdock Translation
for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

King James Version (1611)
For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousnesse of God.

New Life Bible
A man's anger does not allow him to be right with God.

New Revised Standard
for your anger does not produce God's righteousness.

Geneva Bible (1587)
For the wrath of man doeth not accomplish the righteousnesse of God.

George Lamsa Translation
For the wrath of man does not bring about the righteousness of God.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For, man's anger, worketh not, God's righteousness.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For the anger of man worketh not the justice of God.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For the wrath of man, worketh not that which is ryghteous before God.

Good News Translation
Human anger does not achieve God's righteous purpose.

Christian Standard Bible®
for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.

King James Version
For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

Lexham English Bible
for human anger does not accomplish the righteousness of God.

Literal Translation
For the wrath of man does not work out the righteousness of God.

Young's Literal Translation
for the wrath of a man the righteousness of God doth not work;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For the wrath of ma worketh not that which is righteous before God.

Mace New Testament (1729)
for he that is not dispassionate is a stranger to the practice of true virtue.

New English Translation
For human anger does not accomplish God's righteousness.

New King James Version
for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Simplified Cowboy Version
Livin' and ridin' right don't include a quick fuse or sharp tongue.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.

Contextual Overview

¹⁹ Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. ²⁰ Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. ²¹ So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. ²² But don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. ²³ For if you listen to the word and don't obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. ²⁴ You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. ²⁵ But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. ²⁶ If you claim to be religious but don't control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. ²⁷ Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

James 3:17, James 3:18, Numbers 20:11, Numbers 20:12, 2 Timothy 2:24, 2 Timothy 2:25

Reciprocal: Genesis 31:36 - was wroth Joshua 7:19 - My son Judges 8:2 - What 1 Samuel 20:30 - Saul's 1 Samuel 25:13 - Gird ye 2 Samuel 19:43 - the words 1 Kings 6:7 - neither hammer Psalms 37:8 - Cease Proverbs 15:18 - he Proverbs 17:19 - loveth Ecclesiastes 9:17 - General Joel 2:13 - slow Jonah 4:4 - Doest thou well to be angry Matthew 5:9 - are Mark 9:50 - have peace Luke 9:54 - wilt Philippians 2:14 - disputings Colossians 3:8 - anger Titus 1:7 - not soon Titus 3:2 - gentle Hebrews 11:25 - Choosing

Cross-References

Genesis 1:7
And that is what happened. God made this space to separate the waters of the earth from the waters of the heavens.

Genesis 1:14
Then God said, "Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years.

Genesis 1:22
Then God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply. Let the fish fill the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth."

Genesis 1:24
Then God said, "Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals." And that is what happened.

Genesis 1:25
God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:30
And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life." And that is what happened.

Genesis 2:19
So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one.

Genesis 8:17
Release all the animals—the birds, the livestock, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—so they can be fruitful and multiply throughout the earth."

1 Kings 4:33
He could speak with authority about all kinds of plants, from the great cedar of Lebanon to the tiny hyssop that grows from cracks in a wall. He could also speak about animals, birds, small creatures, and fish.

Psalms 148:10
wild animals and all livestock, small scurrying animals and birds,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. This is so far from engaging persons to do that which is right and acceptable in the sight of God, that it puts them upon doing that which is evil. The Alexandrian copy reads, "with the wrath of men do not work the righteousness of God"; do not attend upon the word and ordinances of God with a wrathful spirit. Compare, with this, 1 Timothy 2:8.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God - Does not produce in the life that righteousness which God requires. Its tendency is not to incline us to keep the law, but to break it; not to induce us to embrace the truth, but the opposite. The meaning of this passage is not that our wrath will make God either more or less righteous; but that its tendency is not to produce that upright course of life, and love of truth, which God requires. A man is never sure of doing right under the influence of excited feelings; he may do that which is in the highest sense wrong, and which he will regret all his life. The particular meaning of this passage is, that wrath in the mind of man will not have any tendency to make him righteous. It is only that candid state of mind which will lead him to embrace the truth which can be hoped to have such an effect.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 20. The wrath of man — A furious zeal in matters of religion is detestable in the sight of God; he will have no sacrifice that is not consumed by fire from his own altar. The zeal that made the Papists persecute and burn the Protestants, was kindled in hell. This was the wrath of man, and did not work any righteous act for God; nor was it the means of working righteousness in others; the bad fruit of a bad tree. And do they still vindicate these cruelties? Yes: for still they maintain that no faith is to be kept with heretics, and they acknowledge the inquisition.