James 1:20

Bible in Basic English

For the righteousness of God does not come about by the wrath of man.

Parallel Translations

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

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

King James Version
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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

English Revised Version
for the wrath of man worketh not 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.

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.

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.

New Living Translation
Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Contextual Overview

¹⁹ You have knowledge of this, dear brothers. But let every man be quick in hearing, slow in words, slow to get angry; ²⁰ For the righteousness of God does not come about by the wrath of man. ²¹ For this reason, putting away all dirty behaviour and the overweight of evil, take into your souls without pride the word which, being planted there, is able to give you salvation. ²² But be doers of the word, and not only hearers of it, blinding yourselves with false ideas. ²³ Because if any man is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a glass; ²⁴ For after looking at himself he goes away, and in a short time he has no memory of what he was like. ²⁵ But he who goes on looking into the true law which makes him free, being not a hearer without memory but a doer putting it into effect, this man will have a blessing on his acts. ²⁶ If a man seems to have religion and has no control over his tongue but lets himself be tricked by what is false, this man's religion is of no value. ²⁷ The religion which is holy and free from evil in the eyes of our God and Father is this: to take care of children who have no fathers and of widows who are in trouble, and to keep oneself untouched by the world.

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 God made the arch for a division between the waters which were under the arch and those which were over it: and it was so.

Genesis 1:14
And God said, Let there be lights in the arch of heaven, for a division between the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for marking the changes of the year, and for days and for years:

Genesis 1:22
And God gave them his blessing, saying, Be fertile and have increase, making all the waters of the seas full, and let the birds be increased in the earth.

Genesis 1:24
And God said, Let the earth give birth to all sorts of living things, cattle and all things moving on the earth, and beasts of the earth after their sort: and it was so.

Genesis 1:25
And God made the beast of the earth after its sort, and the cattle after their sort, and everything moving on the face of the earth after its sort: and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:30
And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and every living thing moving on the face of the earth I have given every green plant for food: and it was so.

Genesis 2:19
And from the earth the Lord God made every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and took them to the man to see what names he would give them: and whatever name he gave to any living thing, that was its name.

Genesis 8:17
Take out with you every living thing which is with you, birds and cattle and everything which goes on the earth, so that they may have offspring and be fertile and be increased on the earth.

1 Kings 4:33
He made sayings about all plants, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop hanging on the wall; and about all beasts and birds and fishes and the small things of the earth.

Psalms 148:10
Beasts and all cattle; insects and winged 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.