James Chapter 4 verse 16 Holy Bible
But now ye glory in your vauntings: all such glorying is evil.
read chapter 4 in ASV
But now you go on glorying in your pride: and all such glorying is evil.
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But now ye glory in your vauntings: all such glorying is evil.
read chapter 4 in DARBY
But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
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read chapter 4 in WBT
But now you glory in your boasting. All such boasting is evil.
read chapter 4 in WEB
and now ye glory in your pride; all such glorying is evil;
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 16. - But now. As is actually the case, "ye glory in your vauntings." ἈλαζονείΑ: only here and in 1 John 2:16; in the LXX., in 2 Macc. 9:8 and Wisd. 5:8. It is a favorite word with St. Clement of Rome. On its meaning and distinction from ὑπερηφανία and other kindred words, see Trench on ' Synonyms,' p. 95; and cf. Westcott on the 'Epistles of St. John,' p. 64. The vice of the ἀλάζων "centers in self and is consummated in his absolute self-exaltation, while the ὑπερήφανος shows his character by his overweening treatment of others. The ἀλάζων sins most against truth; the ὑπερήφανος sins most against love." This extract will serve to show the fitness of ἀλαζονεία rather than ὑπερηφανία in the passage before us. The verse should be rendered, as in R.V., "But now ye glory (καυχᾶσθε) in your vauntings: all such glorying (καύχησις) is evil." Καύχησις is the act, not the matter (καύχημα), of glorying.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(16) But now . . . .--How different is the case with you, cries St. James; you actually glory and delight in your own self-confidence and presumption, and every such rejoicing is evil. The word for "boastings" is the same as that translated "the pride of life" in 1John 2:16--i.e., its braggart boastfulness, not the innocent gladness of living. It is the trust of the "ungodly" (Psalm 10:6, "There shall no harm happen unto me"), and the mistaken confidence of even such godly men as Job (Job 29:18, "shall die in my nest"), before the Almighty instructs them by trouble, and loss, and pain.
