The Greek that is translated as “judge” in English is translated in Noongar as birdiyar djonanykarinyang or “boss of testing/judgement” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
See also judge.
judge vs. condemn
The Greek terms krino and katakrino/katadikazo that are translated as “judge” and “condemn” respectively in English are translated with only one term in Kutu (tagusa). (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
See also do not condemn.
complete verse (James 5:9)
Following are a number of back-translations of James 5:9:
- Uma: “Relatives, let’s not grumble and accuse each other, so that we don’t get hit with punishment. For the Lord, there he is at the door! He will decide everything.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “My brothers, don’t complain-against/blame each other so that God will not drop judgment on you. Soon the judge will come, he is already there like at the door.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Do not, Brothers, become disgusted with each other so that God will not punish you. The one who will investigate our activities will soon come; it’s as if he is already at the door.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “Don’t be complaining-about-each-other brothers, so that you will not be condemned to be punished, because the arrival of the one-who-will-judge is of-course near.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “Put far from you the habit/nature of always pointing out faults in your companion, so that you won’t be sentenced by God to judgment. Because the arrival of this Judge is really coming close.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “Listen, my dear brethren, do not accuse each other in order that you will not be brought to judgment. Because the judge who will make judgment is God. Now it is getting time for him to come.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Honorary "rare" construct denoting God (“standing”)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, tatteo-rare-ru (立っておられる) or “standing” is used.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Translation commentary on James 5:9
Some scholars have difficulty seeing any connection between this verse and the previous verse. However, there are some indications that the two verses are related. For one thing there is the thought about the coming of judgment. For another the call to refrain from complaining against each other (verse 9) can be taken as one aspect of the call to be patient (verse 7). The saying in verse 9, then, may be taken as a second plea for patience.
Do not grumble, brethren, against one another: the urgency of the appeal is seen in repeating the direct address brethren. Here again this is best rendered as “brothers and sisters,” “fellow believers,” “fellow Christians,” or just “friends” (Good News Translation). The primary meaning of the verb “to grumble” is “to groan.” This causes some problem in that, to some people, groaning seems to be out of place here. The problem is in the exact meaning of the verb in the present context. The verb is usually used absolutely without an object in the New Testament. It is used to refer to intensive feelings of groaning accompanying a prayer (Mark 7.34) and of the groaning of the whole creation, including human beings, waiting to be set free (Rom 8.23). But here in this context it is used with an object, against one another. Conditioned by the object the verb means more “to complain,” “to grumble,” or even “to blame.” We may therefore render the imperative as “Do not complain against one another” (Good News Translation) or “do not blame your troubles on one another” (Revised English Bible). The imperative is in the present tense, meaning that it may be referring to a habitual action, and so it may be rendered as “Do not keep complaining….”
The reason for not complaining is that you may not be judged. Complaining against others may be considered passing judgment on others. This is something forbidden by Christ in Matt 7.1. And in this passage we find the same expression used there, that you may not be judged. The subject of judgment is clearly God, and so we can render the clause as “so that God will not judge you” (Good News Translation). See 2.4; 4.11, for comments on the translation of judge.
Behold, the Judge is standing at the doors: to reinforce his prohibition James adds that God’s judgment is near. Here he uses the demonstrative particle behold to call the readers’ attention to his warning, and this may be rendered as “see” (New Revised Standard Version) or “look.” See 5.4 for a comment on the translation of behold. The identity of the Judge is debated. Because of the parallel thought with “the coming of the Lord” in verses 7-8, where the Lord is identified as Christ, some scholars suggest that the Judge refers to Christ. However, the reference is most likely to be to God. In the previous sentence the subject of judgment is already identified as God. Then in 4.12 there is a strong affirmation that there is one judge alone, and there the reference is to the coming judgment of God. This being the case, in some languages it will be more meaningful to translate the phrase the Judge as “God, the Judge,” or simply to use a pronoun, since the previous sentence identifies God as the Judge: for example, “… so that God will not judge you. He [God] is….” The expression at the doors is literally “before the doors” (American Standard Version). It is sometimes taken to refer to a place, namely the city gate, where judgment takes place. But it is more likely that it conveys a sense of nearness, giving a vivid picture that the Judge is about to arrive, indeed his foot is already on the doorstep. In cultures where standing at the doors will not be a meaningful metaphor, we may translate, for example, “He [God] is near, ready to appear” (compare Good News Translation).
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 5:9
5:9a
Do not complain about one another: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as complain refers to being discontented with others and blaming them for problems. Blaming others is a way of judging them. It is accusing them of doing something wrong. So this “grumbling” leads to the consequent action mentioned in 5:9b. (See 4:11 and Matthew 7:1.)
Some other ways to translate this clause are:
Don’t grumble against each other (New International Version (2011 Revision))
-or-
Do(plur) not talk against your fellow believers or accuse them
one another: The phrase one another refers to other Christians. Christians should not grumble against one another. See examples above for ways to translate this.
brothers: Notice that the Berean Standard Bible places the word brothers at the end of 5:9a. In some languages, it is more natural to place it at the beginning of the verse. For example:
Brothers and sisters, do not complain against each other (New Century Version)
The word brothers last occurred in 5:7a.
5:9b
so that you will not be judged: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as so that you will not be judged indicates the basis for what James wrote in 5:9a. It indicates that James’ readers will be judged if they continue grumbling about one another.
Some other ways to translate this clause are:
or you will be judged guilty (New Century Version)
-or-
if you(plur) do, you will be condemned
will not be judged: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as will not be judged here describes part of the process of judging. It is the part when a judge decides and declares that a person is guilty/wrong. Connected with this decision and pronouncement is the idea that the person will be punished. Here James was saying that the Lord will declare guilty the person who grumbles about another Christian brother.
Some other ways to translate this are:
will not be condemned
-or-
will not be declared/pronounced to be wrong
-or-
will not be guilty of sin
God’s judgment here does not refer to eternal condemnation and punishment in hell. The word judged also occurs with a similar meaning in 2:12a and 2:13a.
James did not say who would do the judging. There are two possibilities:
(1) It is the Lord Jesus Christ.
(2) It is God the Father. For example:
so that God will not judge you (Good News Translation)
It is preferable that you do not distinguish between God the Father and Jesus here. So if you must say who will judge, it is recommended that you say “the Lord.” In 5:8, James said that the Lord would soon come, and in 5:9c he said that the Judge is standing at the door. It is likely that he was thinking about the same event. (In 4:12 James said that there was only one Judge, God, the Lawgiver. But most commentators think that here James is thinking of Christ, who is soon to come back (see Martin, page 192; Hiebert, page 301; SSA, page 146; cf. Ropes, page 297; Laws, page 213).)
5:9c
Look: In Greek, this sentence begins with a word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Look and the Revised Standard Version translates as “behold”. This word calls attention to something surprising. The New International Version (2011 Revision) uses an exclamation mark at the end of the sentence to show this surprise.
Some other ways to translate this word are:
Do not be surprised!
-or-
Listen to this!
You should use whatever expression is natural in your language for showing surprise. This same word occurs in 5:4a–b.
the Judge: Commentators disagree as to whether the Judge refers to the Lord Jesus Christ or to God the Father. If you have made explicit who will judge in 5:9b, you will need to make sure that this refers to the same person.
If you need to make it clear that James is not referring to a human judge it is recommended that you say “the Lord.” For example:
the Lord, the one who will judge all people
standing at the door: This is a Greek idiom. It means “nearly here” (as in Matthew 24:33). There are at least two ways to translate this idiom:
• Keep the idiom. For example:
stands before the gates! (NET Bible)
-or-
right outside the door (Contemporary English Version)
• Translate the meaning. For example:
ready to appear. (Good News Translation)
-or-
ready to come! (New Century Version)
© 2012 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
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.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.