What does James 1:19 mean?

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
James 1:19, King James Version

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The verse in its chapter

James 1:17-21

  1. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
  2. 18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
  3. 19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
  4. 20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
  5. 21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

Study note

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871) (public domain).

Wherefore--as your evil is of yourselves, but your good from God. However, the oldest manuscripts and versions read thus: "YE KNOW IT (so Eph 5:5; Heb 12:17), my beloved brethren; BUT (consequently) let every man be swift to hear," that is, docile in receiving "the word of truth" (Jam 1:18, Jam 1:21). The true method of hearing is treated in Jam 1:21-27, and Jam. 2:1-26. slow to speak-- (Pro 10:19; Pro 17:27-28; Ecc 5:2). A good way of escaping one kind of temptation arising from ourselves (Jam 1:13). Slow to speak authoritatively as a master or teacher of others (compare Jam 3:1): a common Jewish fault: slow also to speak such hasty things of God, as in Jam 1:13.

Cross references

Other Bible passages linked to this one, most cited first.

About the book of James

Author
James; tradition identifies him as the brother of Jesus (James 1:1)
When
c. AD 45 to 62
Period
Igreja primitiva, c. 30 a 70 d.C. (in Portuguese)

Authorship: the book itself or Christian tradition. Approximate dates, as in Carson and Moo, An Introduction to the New Testament, and Longman and Dillard, An Introduction to the Old Testament.

In the Mercy Bible Atlas (in Portuguese)

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