Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, June 18th, 2025
the Week of Proper 6 / Ordinary 11
Attention!
Take your personal ministry to the Next Level by helping StudyLight build churches and supporting pastors in Uganda.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

James 1:22

Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Commandments;   Doer;   Hearers;   Hypocrisy;   Obedience;   Word of God;   Works;   Thompson Chain Reference - Deception;   Doers;   Self-Deception;   The Topic Concordance - Deception;   Disobedience;   Resurrection;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Scriptures, the;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Knowledge;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Christians, Names of;   Hear, Hearing;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - James, the General Epistle of;   Holman Bible Dictionary - James, the Letter;   Logos;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - James, Epistle of;   Text of the New Testament;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Formalism;   James ;   James Epistle of;   Law;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Word;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Beguile;   James, Epistle of;  

Devotionals:

- Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life - Devotion for February 25;   Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for October 20;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
King James Version (1611)
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers onely, receiuing your owne selues.
King James Version
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
English Standard Version
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
New American Standard Bible
But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves.
New Century Version
Do what God's teaching says; when you only listen and do nothing, you are fooling yourselves.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
Berean Standard Bible
Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.
Contemporary English Version
Obey God's message! Don't fool yourselves by just listening to it.
Complete Jewish Bible
Don't deceive yourselves by only hearing what the Word says, but do it!
Darby Translation
But be ye doers of [the] word and not hearers only, beguiling yourselves.
Easy-to-Read Version
Do what God's teaching says; don't just listen and do nothing. When you only sit and listen, you are fooling yourselves.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And be ye doers of the word, and not hearers onely, deceiuing your owne selues.
George Lamsa Translation
But you be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Good News Translation
Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to his word; instead, put it into practice.
Lexham English Bible
But be doers of the message and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves,
Literal Translation
But become doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Amplified Bible
But prove yourselves doers of the word [actively and continually obeying God's precepts], and not merely listeners [who hear the word but fail to internalize its meaning], deluding yourselves [by unsound reasoning contrary to the truth].
American Standard Version
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves.
Bible in Basic English
But be doers of the word, and not only hearers of it, blinding yourselves with false ideas.
Hebrew Names Version
But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.
International Standard Version
Keep on being doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.Matthew 7:21; Luke 6:46; 11:28; Romans 2:13; 1 John 3:7;">[xr]
Etheridge Translation
BUT be doers of the word, and not hearers only, neither deceive yourselves.
Murdock Translation
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only; and do not deceive yourselves.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And be ye doers of the worde, and not hearers only, deceauyng your owne selues.
English Revised Version
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves.
World English Bible
But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves:
Weymouth's New Testament
But prove yourselves obedient to the Message, and do not be mere hearers of it, imposing a delusion upon yourselves.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
But be ye doeris of the word, and not hereris oneli, disseiuynge you silf.
Update Bible Version
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves.
Webster's Bible Translation
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
New English Translation
But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves.
New King James Version
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
New Living Translation
But don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.
New Life Bible
Obey the Word of God. If you hear only and do not act, you are only fooling yourself.
New Revised Standard
But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Become ye doers of the word, and not hearers only - reasoning yourselves astray;
Douay-Rheims Bible
But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Revised Standard Version
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And se that ye be doars of the worde and not hearers only deceavinge youre awne selves with sophistrie
Young's Literal Translation
and become ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves,
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And se that ye be doers of ye worde & not heares only, deceauinge youre awne selues.
Mace New Testament (1729)
Don't delusively content your selves with being of the audience, but put what you hear in practice:
Simplified Cowboy Version
You best walk the walk and not just spin a good yarn. Doin' so is just lyin' to yourself.

Contextual Overview

19Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God's righteousness doesn't grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life. 22Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like. 25 But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action. 26Anyone who sets himself up as "religious" by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

be: James 4:17, Matthew 7:21-25, Matthew 12:50, Matthew 28:20, Luke 6:46-48, Luke 11:28, Luke 12:47, Luke 12:48, John 13:17, Romans 2:13, Philippians 4:8, Colossians 3:17, 1 John 2:3, 1 John 3:7, 3 John 1:11, Revelation 22:7

deceiving: James 1:26, Isaiah 44:20, Obadiah 1:3, 1 Corinthians 3:18, 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Corinthians 15:33, Galatians 6:3, Galatians 6:7, 2 Timothy 3:13, Titus 3:3, 2 Peter 2:13, 1 John 1:8, Revelation 12:9

Reciprocal: Exodus 35:1 - do them Leviticus 20:8 - And ye Joshua 1:8 - observe 2 Kings 22:13 - because our fathers Psalms 15:5 - He that doeth Psalms 119:48 - unto thy Proverbs 8:34 - watching Proverbs 14:12 - General Proverbs 15:32 - heareth Proverbs 21:2 - right Proverbs 27:19 - in Isaiah 58:2 - they ask Jeremiah 11:6 - Hear Jeremiah 37:9 - Deceive Jeremiah 38:20 - Obey Jeremiah 42:20 - dissembled in your hearts Ezekiel 18:5 - if Ezekiel 18:9 - walked Ezekiel 33:4 - whosoever heareth Ezekiel 33:31 - and they Zephaniah 2:3 - all Matthew 13:23 - good Luke 6:47 - doeth Luke 6:49 - that heareth Luke 8:15 - keep Luke 8:21 - which John 5:38 - ye have Romans 2:23 - that makest Romans 7:11 - deceived Romans 15:18 - by word Philippians 4:9 - do 2 Thessalonians 2:17 - in James 2:14 - though James 4:11 - a doer

Cross-References

Genesis 1:14
God spoke: "Lights! Come out! Shine in Heaven's sky! Separate Day from Night. Mark seasons and days and years, Lights in Heaven's sky to give light to Earth." And there it was.
Genesis 9:1
God blessed Noah and his sons: He said, "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Earth! Every living creature—birds, animals, fish—will fall under your spell and be afraid of you. You're responsible for them. All living creatures are yours for food; just as I gave you the plants, now I give you everything else. Except for meat with its lifeblood still in it—don't eat that.
Genesis 30:27
Laban said, "If you please, I have learned through divine inquiry that God has blessed me because of you." He went on, "So name your wages. I'll pay you."
Genesis 35:11
God continued, I am The Strong God. Have children! Flourish! A nation—a whole company of nations!— will come from you. Kings will come from your loins; the land I gave Abraham and Isaac I now give to you, and pass it on to your descendants.
Job 40:15
"Look at the land beast, Behemoth. I created him as well as you. Grazing on grass, docile as a cow— Just look at the strength of his back, the powerful muscles of his belly. His tail sways like a cedar in the wind; his huge legs are like beech trees. His skeleton is made of steel, every bone in his body hard as steel. Most magnificent of all my creatures, but I still lead him around like a lamb! The grass-covered hills serve him meals, while field mice frolic in his shadow. He takes afternoon naps under shade trees, cools himself in the reedy swamps, Lazily cool in the leafy shadows as the breeze moves through the willows. And when the river rages he doesn't budge, stolid and unperturbed even when the Jordan goes wild. But you'd never want him for a pet— you'd never be able to housebreak him!"
Job 42:12
God blessed Job's later life even more than his earlier life. He ended up with fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand teams of oxen, and one thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first daughter Dove, the second, Cinnamon, and the third, Darkeyes. There was not a woman in that country as beautiful as Job's daughters. Their father treated them as equals with their brothers, providing the same inheritance.
Psalms 128:3
Your wife will bear children as a vine bears grapes, your household lush as a vineyard, The children around your table as fresh and promising as young olive shoots. Stand in awe of God's Yes. Oh, how he blesses the one who fears God !
Proverbs 10:22
God 's blessing makes life rich; nothing we do can improve on God.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But be ye doers of the word,.... And they are such, who spiritually understand it; gladly receive it; and from the heart obey it, and make a sincere and ingenuous profession of it; and who submit to the ordinances it directs to, and keep them as they have been delivered; and live, and walk, becoming their profession of it. The Arabic and Ethiopic versions read, "be ye doers of the law"; and so one of Stephens's copies, as in Romans 2:13

and not hearers only; though the word should be heard swiftly and readily, and received with meekness; yet it should not be barely heard, and assented to; but what is heard should be put in practice; and especially men should not depend upon their hearing, as if that would save them; this is deceiving your own selves; such as rest upon the outward hearing of the word will be sadly deceived, and will find themselves miserably mistaken, another day; see

Luke 13:25. Arguments taken from hence are like the sophisms, paralogisms, and false reasonings of sophisters, which carry a fair show, and ensnare and deceive.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only - Obey the gospel, and do not merely listen to it. Compare Matthew 7:21.

Deceiving your own selves - It is implied here, that by merely hearing the word but not doing it, they would deceive their own souls. The nature of this deception was this, that they would imagine that that was all which was required, whereas the main thing was that they should be obedient. If a man supposes that by a mere punctual attendance on preaching, or a respectful attention to it, he has done all that is required of him, he is laboring under a most gross self-deception. And yet there are multitudes who seem to imagine that they have done all that is demanded of them when they have heard attentively the word preached. Of its influence on their lives, and its claims to obedience, they are utterly regardless.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 22. But be ye doers of the word — They had heard this doctrine; they had believed it; but they had put it to no practical use. They were downright Antinomians, who put a sort of stupid, inactive faith in the place of all moral righteousness. This is sufficiently evident from the second chapter.

Deceiving your own selves. — παραλογιζομενοι εαυτους. Imposing on your own selves by sophistical arguments; this is the meaning of the words. They had reasoned themselves into a state of carnal security, and the object of St. James is, to awake them out of their sleep.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile