James 1:23
New International Version
Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror

New Living Translation
For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.

English Standard Version
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.

Berean Standard Bible
For anyone who hears the word but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror,

Berean Literal Bible
because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, this one is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror,

King James Bible
For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

New King James Version
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;

New American Standard Bible
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;

NASB 1995
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;

NASB 1977
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;

Legacy Standard Bible
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;

Amplified Bible
For if anyone only listens to the word without obeying it, he is like a man who looks very carefully at his natural face in a mirror;

Christian Standard Bible
Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror.

American Standard Version
For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror:

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
For if a man will be a hearer of the word and not a doer of it, this one is like one who sees his face in a mirror,

Contemporary English Version
If you hear the message and don't obey it, you are like people who stare at themselves in a mirror

Douay-Rheims Bible
For if a man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a glass.

English Revised Version
For if any one is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror:

GOD'S WORD® Translation
If someone listens to God's word but doesn't do what it says, he is like a person who looks at his face in a mirror,

Good News Translation
If you listen to the word, but do not put it into practice you are like people who look in a mirror and see themselves as they are.

International Standard Version
For if anyone hears the word but is not obedient to it, he is like a man who looks at himself in a mirror

Literal Standard Version
because, if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, this one has been like to a man viewing his natural face in a mirror,

Majority Standard Bible
For anyone who hears the word but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror,

New American Bible
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror.

NET Bible
For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror.

New Revised Standard Version
For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror;

New Heart English Bible
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his natural face in a mirror;

Webster's Bible Translation
For if any is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

Weymouth New Testament
For if any one listens but does not obey, he is like a man who carefully looks at his own face in a mirror.

World English Bible
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror;

Young's Literal Translation
because, if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, this one hath been like to a man viewing his natural face in a mirror,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Hearing and Doing
22Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves. 23For anyone who hears the word but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror, 24and after observing himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.…

Cross References
1 Corinthians 13:12
Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

James 1:24
and after observing himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.


Treasury of Scripture

For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like to a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

See on ch.

James 2:14-26
What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? …

Jeremiah 44:16
As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.

Ezekiel 33:31,32
And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness…

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James 1
1. James greets the twelve tribes among the nations;
2. exhorts to rejoice in trials and temptations;
5. to ask patience of God;
13. and in our trials not to impute our weakness, or sins, to him,
19. but rather to hearken to the word, to meditate on it, and to do thereafter.
26. Otherwise men may seem, but never be, truly religious.














(23) He is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass.--The Apostle points grimly to an example of this self-deception. He (literally, this) is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror. Not a "glass," but a mirror of polished steel, such as are still used in the East. "His natural face," or the face of his birth--the real appearance, that is, which the reflection of the Word of God, properly looked into, will afford the inquirer.

Verses 23, 24. - Illustration from life, showing the folly of being led astray. His natural face (τὸ πρόσωπον τῆς γενέσεως αὐτοῦ); literally, the face of his birth. The expression is an unusual one, but there is no doubt of its meaning. In a glass; rather, in a mirror, ἐν ἐσόπτρῳ: cf. 1 Corinthians 13:12, Δἰ ἐσόπτρου. The mirror of burnished brass.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
For
ὅτι (hoti)
Conjunction
Strong's 3754: Neuter of hostis as conjunction; demonstrative, that; causative, because.

anyone
τις (tis)
Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 5100: Any one, some one, a certain one or thing. An enclitic indefinite pronoun; some or any person or object.

who hears
ἀκροατὴς (akroatēs)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 202: A hearer of, a listener to. From akroaomai; a hearer.

[the] word
λόγου (logou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3056: From lego; something said; by implication, a topic, also reasoning or motive; by extension, a computation; specially, the Divine Expression.

but
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

does not carry it out
ποιητής (poiētēs)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 4163: (a) a maker, poet, (b) a doer, carrier out, performer. From poieo; a performer; specially, a 'poet'.

is like
ἔοικεν (eoiken)
Verb - Perfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1503: To be like, resemble. Apparently a primary verb; to resemble.

a man [who]
ἀνδρὶ (andri)
Noun - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 435: A male human being; a man, husband. A primary word; a man.

looks
κατανοοῦντι (katanoounti)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2657: To take note of, perceive, consider carefully, discern, detect, make account of. From kata and noieo; to observe fully.

at his
αὐτοῦ (autou)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

face
πρόσωπον (prosōpon)
Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 4383: From pros and ops; the front, i.e. The countenance, aspect, appearance, surface; by implication, presence, person.

in
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

a mirror,
ἐσόπτρῳ (esoptrō)
Noun - Dative Neuter Singular
Strong's 2072: A mirror, looking-glass (made of highly polished metal). From eis and a presumed derivative of optanomai; a mirror.


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NT Letters: James 1:23 For if anyone is a hearer (Ja Jas. Jam)
James 1:22
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