Translation commentary on James 4:10

This verse picks up the thought expressed in verse 6. There the author assures his readers that “God … gives grace to the humble,” and now he appeals to his readers for humility: Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. Here the Lord refers to God. For people to be Humble before God means to recognize their own limitation and poverty on the one hand, and to acknowledge that their greatest need is God on the other. It is to submit themselves totally to God and willingly accept his absolute right to order their lives. Humility is self-abasement. Only if someone is willing to come to God with self-abasement will he or she be able to expect the joy of the great reversal: and he will exalt you. This reflects Jesus’ own teaching: “and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matt 23.12). Other possible ways to render this first clause are “Make yourselves low before the Lord” or “Consider yourselves to be insignificant [or, unimportant] and the Lord great.” The verb exalt means to put someone in a position of privilege and honor. The clause he will exalt you may be rendered “he will give you honor” or “he will honor you.” It is possible to restructure the two clauses in the following way:
• If you make yourselves low before the Lord [or, God], he will honor you.

Quoted with permission from Loh, I-Jin and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Letter from James. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator's Notes on James 4:10

4:10a

Humble yourselves before the Lord: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Humble yourselves is a command that literally means “Make yourselves low.” Here it refers to making our attitudes low. It means “Submit yourselves” to the authority and greatness of God.

Some other ways to translate this clause are:

Be humble in the Lord’s presence (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Don’t be too proud in the Lord’s presence (New Century Version)

This verb is related to the adjective humble in 4:6d.

before the Lord: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as before the Lord can also be translated as:

to the Lord
-or-
in front of the Lord

the Lord: The word Lord also occurs in 3:9a. See the Note there for translation advice.

4:10b

and: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as and here introduces what God will do if and when people obey the command in the previous verse. Another way to translate this conjunction is:

Then (God’s Word)

He will exalt you: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as He will exalt you contrasts with “humble yourselves” in 4:10a. James meant that God would honor this person and make this person truly great.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

he will lift you up in honor (New Living Translation (2004 Revision))
-or-
he will honor you (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
he will give you a high position (God’s Word)

James did not say when God will do this. If you must be specific, it is best to translate this in a way that includes both this life and the future life.

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.