James 2:15

New Living Translation

Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing,

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
Suppose a brother or sister in Christ comes to you in need of clothes or something to eat.

Revised Standard Version
If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food,

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
If a brother or a sister be naked or destitute of dayly fode

Hebrew Names Version
And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food,

New American Standard Bible
If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,

New Century Version
A brother or sister in Christ might need clothes or food.

Update Bible Version
If a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food,

Webster's Bible Translation
If a brother or sister is naked, and destitute of daily food,

English Standard Version
If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,

World English Bible
And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food,

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Can that faith save him? If a brother or a sister be naked,

Weymouth's New Testament
Suppose a Christian brother or sister is poorly clad or lacks daily food,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And if a brother ethir sister be nakid, and han nede of ech daies lyuelode,

English Revised Version
If a brother or sister be naked, and in lack of daily food,

Berean Standard Bible
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.

Contemporary English Version
If you know someone who doesn't have any clothes or food,

Amplified Bible
If a brother or sister is without [adequate] clothing and lacks [enough] food for each day,

American Standard Version
If a brother or sister be naked and in lack of daily food,

Bible in Basic English
If a brother or a sister is without clothing and in need of the day's food,

Complete Jewish Bible
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food,

Darby Translation
Now if a brother or a sister is naked and destitute of daily food,

International Standard Version
Suppose a brother or sister does not have any clothes or daily foodJob 1:31:19-20; Luke 3:11;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
And, if a brother or sister be naked, and wanting the food of to-day,

Murdock Translation
Or if a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

King James Version (1611)
If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of dayly foode,

New Life Bible
What if a Christian does not have clothes or food?

New Revised Standard
If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food,

Geneva Bible (1587)
For if a brother or a sister bee naked and destitute of daily foode,

George Lamsa Translation
If a brother or sister be naked, and lacking of daily food,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
If, a brother or sister, should be naked, and coming short of the daily food,

Douay-Rheims Bible
And if a brother or sister be naked and want daily food:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
If a brother or a sister be naked, and destitute of dayly foode,

Good News Translation
Suppose there are brothers or sisters who need clothes and don't have enough to eat.

Christian Standard Bible®
If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food

King James Version
If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

Lexham English Bible
If a brother or a sister is poorly clothed and lacking food for the day,

Literal Translation
But if a brother or a sister is naked and may be lacking in daily food,

Young's Literal Translation
and if a brother or sister may be naked, and may be destitute of the daily food,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
If a brother or a sister be naked or destitute of dayly fode,

Mace New Testament (1729)
suppose one of your brethren should be destitute of cloths, and of his daily nourishment,

New English Translation
If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacks daily food,

New King James Version
If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,

Simplified Cowboy Version
If a guy or gal only has rags to wear and not enough food for every day,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,

Contextual Overview

¹⁴ What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don't show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? ¹⁵ Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, ¹⁶ and you say, "Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well"—but then you don't give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? ¹⁷ So you see, faith by itself isn't enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. ¹⁸ Now someone may argue, "Some people have faith; others have good deeds." But I say, "How can you show me your faith if you don't have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds." ¹⁹ You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. ²⁰ How foolish! Can't you see that faith without good deeds is useless? ²¹ Don't you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. ²³ And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: "Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith." He was even called the friend of God.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

James 2:5, Job 31:16-21, Isaiah 58:7, Isaiah 58:10, Ezekiel 18:7, Matthew 25:35-40, Mark 14:7, Luke 3:11, Acts 9:29, Hebrews 11:37

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 10:19 - General Deuteronomy 15:7 - thou shalt Judges 19:20 - let all thy wants 2 Chronicles 28:15 - clothed Psalms 112:9 - dispersed Proverbs 3:27 - Withhold Proverbs 19:7 - yet Proverbs 25:20 - that taketh Matthew 5:42 - General Matthew 6:2 - when Matthew 25:42 - General Acts 9:39 - and showing Romans 12:9 - love Romans 16:1 - our 1 Corinthians 7:15 - A brother 2 Corinthians 8:10 - expedient 2 Corinthians 11:27 - nakedness Galatians 2:10 - that Galatians 5:13 - but Ephesians 4:15 - speaking the truth Hebrews 6:10 - which James 2:24 - General 1 Peter 1:22 - unto 1 John 3:18 - let

Cross-References

Genesis 2:2
On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work.

Genesis 2:8
Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made.

Job 31:33
"Have I tried to hide my sins like other people do, concealing my guilt in my heart?

Psalms 128:2
You will enjoy the fruit of your labor. How joyful and prosperous you will be!

Ephesians 4:28
If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If a brother or sister,.... A Christian man or woman, a fellow member of a church of Christ; for this relation is to be understood in a spiritual sense, though it does not exclude such who are in this relation in a natural sense:

be naked; or clothed in rags, or in very mean and sordid apparel, such as will neither keep them warm, nor clean and decent; for they must not be supposed to be entirely naked, but to be in a very uncomfortable and indecent garb:

and destitute of daily food; have not food sufficient for the day; or aught to support nature with, and yield them proper refreshment and nourishment.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

If a brother or sister be naked ... - The comparison in these verses is very obvious and striking. The sense is, that faith in itself, without the acts that correspond to it, and to which it would prompt, is as cold, and heartless, and unmeaning, and useless, as it would be to say to one who was destitute of the necessaries of life, depart in peace.” In itself considered, it might seem to have something that was good; but it would answer none of the purposes of faith unless it should prompt to action. In the case of one who was hungry or naked, what he wanted was not good wishes or kind words merely, but the acts to which good wishes and kind words prompt. And so in religion, what is wanted is not merely the abstract state of mind which would be indicated by faith, but the life of goodness to which it ought to lead. Good wishes and kind words, in order to make them what they should be for the welfare of the world, should be accompanied with corresponding action. So it is with faith. It is not enough for salvation without the benevolent and holy acts to which it would prompt, any more than the good wishes and kind words of the benevolent are enough to satisfy the wants of the hungry, and to clothe the naked, without correspondent action. Faith is not and cannot be shown to be genuine, unless it is accompanied with corresponding acts; as our good wishes for the poor and needy can be shown to be genuine, when we have the means of aiding them, only by actually ministering to their necessities. In the one case, our wishes would be shown to be unmeaning and heartless; in the other, our faith would be equally so. In regard to this passage, therefore, it may be observed:

(1) That in fact faith is of no more value, and has no more evidence of genuineness when it is unaccompanied with good works, than such empty wishes for the welfare of the poor would be when unaccompanied with the means of relieving their wants. Faith is designed to lead to good works. It is intended to produce a holy life; a life of activity in the service of the Saviour. This is its very essence; it is what it always produces when it is genuine. Religion is not designed to be a cold abstraction; it is to be a living and vivifying principle.

(2) There is a great deal of that kindness and charity in the world which is expressed by mere good wishes. If we really have not the means of relieving the poor and the needy, then the expression of a kind wish may be in itself an alleviation to their sorrows, for even sympathy in such a case is of value, and it is much to us to know that others feel for us; but if we have the means, and the object is a worthy one, then such expressions are mere mockery, and aggravate rather than soothe the feelings of the sufferer. Such wishes will neither clothe nor feed them; and they will only make deeper the sorrows which we ought to heal. But how much of this is there in the world, when the sufferer cannot but feel that all these wishes, however kindly expressed, are hollow and false, and when he cannot but feel that relief would be easy!

(3) In like manner there is much of this same kind of worthless faith in the world - faith that is dead; faith that produces no good works; faith that exerts no practical influence whatever on the life. The individual professes indeed to believe the truths of the gospel; he may be in the church of Christ; he would esteem it a gross calumny to be spoken of as an infidel; but as to any influence which his faith exerts over him, his life would be the same if he had never heard of the gospel. There is not one of the truths of religion which is bodied forth in his life; not a deed to which he is prompted by religion; not an act which could not be accounted for on the supposition that he has no true piety. In such a case, faith may with propriety be said to be dead.

Being alone - Margin, “by itself.” The sense is, “being by itself:” that is, destitute of any accompanying fruits or results, it shows that it is dead. That which is alive bodies itself forth, produces effects, makes itself visible; that which is dead produces no effect, and is as if it were not.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 15. If a brother or sister be naked — That is, ill-clothed; for γυμνος, naked, has this meaning in several parts of the New Testament, signifying bad clothing, or the want of some particular article of dress. See Matthew 25:36; Matthew 25:38; Matthew 25:43; Matthew 25:44, and John 21:7. It has the same comparative signification in most languages.