James 2:10 BSB — MannaFest

James 2:10

Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is become guilty of all.

KJV

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

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Commentary

4 voices

Gregory the Dialogist

Morals on the Book of Job 19.32 (604)

Surely, when we are clothed with a garment, we are surrounded on every side, and so he is "clothed with righteousness as with a garment," who defends himself on every side with good practice, and leaves no part of his conduct naked to sin; for he that is just in some deeds and unjust in others, it is as if he covered over this side, and exposed that one naked; nor are those henceforth good deeds, which are defiled by other evil deeds springing up.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Not that all sins are equal, but that all carry the same contempt of the authority of the Lawgiver, and so bind over to such punishment as is threatened on the breach of that law. This shows us what a vanity it is to think that our good deeds will atone for our bad deeds, and plainly puts us upon looking for some other atonement.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, etc. - This is a rabbinical form of speech. In the tract Shabbath, fol. 70, where they dispute concerning the thirty-nine works commanded by Moses, Rabbi Yochanan says: But if a man do the whole, with the omission of one, he is guilty of the whole, and of every one. In Bammidar rabba, sec. 9, fol. 200, and in Tanchum, fol.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

You thus break the whole law, though not the whole of the law, because you offend against love, which is the fulfilling of the law. If any part of a man be leprous, the whole man is judged to be a leper.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

13 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
ὅστις	hostis	Whoever	G3748 →
γὰρ	gar	for	G1063 →
ὅλον	holon	all	G3650 →
τὸν	ton	the	G3588 →
νόμον	nomon	law	G3551 →
τηρήσῃ,	tērēsē	may keep,	G5083 →
πταίσῃ	ptaisē	may stumble	G4417 →
δὲ	de	but	G1161 →
ἐν	en	in	G1722 →
ἑνί,	heni	one [point],	G1520 →
γέγονεν	gegonen	he has become	G1096 →
πάντων	pantōn	of all	G3956 →
ἔνοχος.	enochos	guilty.	G1777 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Galatians 3:10
All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
leads to
- Deuteronomy 27:26
  ‘Cursed is he who does not put the words of this law into practice.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- Romans 8:7
  because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
- Romans 3:19–20
  Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
- Deuteronomy 11:26–28
  See, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse—
- James 2:9–11
  But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
Through
Deuteronomy 27:26
‘Cursed is he who does not put the words of this law into practice.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
leads to
- Galatians 3:10
  All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
- Deuteronomy 28:15–68
  If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
- Romans 10:5
  For concerning the righteousness that is by the law, Moses writes: “The man who does these things will live by them.”

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About James

The Feeding of the Multitude — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)

James: the study guide →Read chapter 2 →The featured study →

Continue: James 2 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About James

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About James