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Textual source voice · 8 quotations

James Quotes: Sources, Meanings & Themes

Browse quotations represented under James with named sources, context notes, meanings and recurring themes.

About this source voice

Context for this collection

New Testament epistle source voice

Common themes

Wisdom, listening, anger, gifts, conduct and practical religious instruction.

Source identified1
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.”

The verse directs attention toward the source of what is received as good, making gratitude a response to gifts rather than a claim of self-sufficiency.

Source details

James 1:17 in the King James Version; the verse continues with language about God’s constancy.

Source identified2
Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.

“Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.”

Good judgment starts by hearing more quickly than speaking or reacting, especially when anger is close to the surface.

Source details

James 1:19 in the King James Version, pairing readiness to listen with restraint in speech and anger.

Source identified4
For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

“For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.”

Anger is not automatically justified by intensity; the verse separates human wrath from the moral outcome a person may claim to be pursuing.

Source details

James 1:20 in the King James Version, immediately following the instruction to be slow to wrath.

Source identified5
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.

“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.”

The line places human flourishing inside mutual care: strength, resources, attention, or opportunity become responsibilities toward other people.

Source details

James 1:27 in the King James Version.