James 3:14
in James 3But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But if ye have bitter jealousy and faction in your heart, glory not and lie not against the truth.
KJV
But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
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This verse in James 3
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThe mature faithful should not have any bitterness or jealousy in them, since such things are not given by God but are conceived by diabolical fraud. For where there is jealousy there is strife, disloyalty and every kind of evil which divine authority condemns.
This site's exposition
bitter envying and strife
on James 3:14-16
But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth names a wisdom that masquerades as the real thing while contradicting it. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish, three sources named in ascending danger, this world, the fallen nature, and demonic influence behind both. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work, disorder and evil traced back to the same false wisdom rather than to circumstance.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Who is wise and has knowledge among you? Let him show by good conversation his working in mildness of wisdom. But if you have bitter zeal, and there be disputes in your hearts: glory not and be not liars against the truth. For this is …
The Medieval Church2 voices
People who love to rule and who boast of the wisdom of this world preached in opposition to the Orthodox teachers, envying them and mixing the human with the Divine in order to attract listeners to themselves by the novelty of their teaching, from which …
But if you have bitter zeal, and there are contentions in your hearts, do not glory, etc. He says 'bitter zeal' because there is also sweet zeal, from which also the apostle Simon rightly received the name of perfect heart. Which also Elijah had, when …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
If ye have bitter zeal - True Christian zeal is only the flame of love. Even in your hearts - Though it went no further. Do not lie against the truth - As if such zeal could consist with heavenly wisdom.
Your zeal for truth or orthodoxy, and your boasts of knowing more than others, if you employ these only to make others hateful, and to show your own spite and heart-burnings against them, are a shame to your profession of Christianity, and a downright contradiction to it. Lie not thus against the truth." Observe, 1. Envying and strife are opposed to the meekness of wisdom.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
If ye have bitter envying and strife - If ye be under the influence of an unkind, fierce, and contemptuous spirit, even while attempting or pretending to defend true religion, do not boast either of your exertions or success in silencing an adversary; ye have no religion, and no true wisdom, and to profess either is to lie against the truth. Let all writers on what is called polemic (fighting, warring) divinity lay this to heart.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts - If that is your characteristic. There is reference here to a fierce and unholy zeal against each other; a spirit of ambition and contention. Glory not - Do not boast, in such a case, of your qualifications to be public teachers. Nothing would render you more unfit for such an office than such a spirit. And lie not against the truth - You would lie against what is true by setting up a claim to the requisite qualifications for such an office, if this is your spirit. Men should seek no office or station which they could not properly seek if the whole truth about them were known.
The words behind it
18 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| εἰ | ei | If | G1487 → | 508 times |
| δὲ | de | however | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| ζῆλον | zelon | jealousy | G2205 → | |
| πικρὸν | pikron | bitter | G4089 → | |
| ἔχετε | echete | you have | G2192 → | 707 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἐριθείαν | eritheian | self-interest | G2052 → | |
| ἐν | en | in | G1722 → | 2738 times |
| τῇ | tea | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| καρδίᾳ | kardia | heart | G2588 → | 156 times |
| ὑμῶν, | humon | of you, | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| μὴ | me | not | G3361 → | 1066 times |
| κατακαυχᾶσθε | katakauchasthe | do boast [of it] | G2620 → | |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ψεύδεσθε | pseudesthe | do lie | G5574 → | |
| κατὰ | kata | against | G2596 → | 468 times |
| τῆς | tes | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἀληθείας. | aletheias | truth. | G225 → | 109 times |
εἰIf
eiG1487 →508 times
δὲhowever
deG1161 →2765 times
ζῆλονjealousy
zelonG2205 →
πικρὸνbitter
pikronG4089 →
ἔχετεyou have
echeteG2192 →707 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἐριθείανself-interest
eritheianG2052 →
ἐνin
enG1722 →2738 times
τῇthe
teaG3588 →19766 times
καρδίᾳheart
kardiaG2588 →156 times
ὑμῶν,of you,
humonG4771 →2973 times
μὴnot
meG3361 →1066 times
κατακαυχᾶσθεdo boast [of it]
katakauchastheG2620 →
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ψεύδεσθεdo lie
pseudestheG5574 →
κατὰagainst
kataG2596 →468 times
τῆςthe
tesG3588 →19766 times
ἀληθείας.truth.
aletheiasG225 →109 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Philippians 2:3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves.
it leads to
- Romans 12:10
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honoring one another.
- Galatians 5:26
Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another.
- Ephesians 5:21
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
- Ephesians 4:2
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
- Romans 12:10
Through
1 Corinthians 13:4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
it leads to
- 1 Peter 4:8
Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
- Ephesians 4:32
Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.
- Galatians 5:21–22
and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
- Proverbs 10:12
Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers all transgressions.
- 1 Peter 4:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
On this verse
On this chapter
About James
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on the Catholic Epistles; Cassiodorus, SUMMARY OF JAMES; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oecumenius, Commentary on James and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on James.