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Verse Commentaries:
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Jam_5:5. The ὡς of the Rec. (after G K, etc.) before ἐν ἠμέρᾳ is, according to the testimonies of A B à , to be regarded as an explanatory addition, and, with Lachm. and Tisch., to be left out; so also Wiesinger, Lange, Brückner; Reiche and Bouman, however, judge otherwise.
Jam_5:7. The Rec. after the second ἕως has the particle ἄν (so in à and many min.). Tisch. has omitted it, as, according to his statement, it is not found in A B G K, etc.; Lachm. has retained it (according to Tischendorf’s note: ex errore); so also Buttmann, who adduces no authority for its omission. Already Griesbach regarded ἄν as suspicious. Lachm. and Tisch. have omitted ὑετόν ; it is in A G K, etc., but is wanting in B à , etc.; its addition is easily explained, particularly as in the LXX. it is never wanting with πρώϊμος καὶ ὄψιμος .
Jam_5:9. The address ἀδελφοί , in A B, etc. (Lachm. Tisch.), stands before, in G à , etc. (Rec.), after κατʼ ἀλλήλων ; in K, etc., it is entirely wanting. Instead of κατακριθῆτε the simple verb κριθῆτε is, with Griesbach, Scholz, Lachm. Tisch., to be read, according to almost all authorities; so also the article ὁ before κριτής (which in the Rec. is wanting, against almost all authorities) is to be adopted.
Jam_5:10. The address according to the Rec. is ἀδελφοί μου (G K, à , etc.); in A B, etc., μου is wanting (Lachm. Tisch.); its correct position is after λάβετε , not after κακοπαθείας .
Instead of κακοπαθείας , à alone reads καλοκαγαθίας .
Before τῷ ὀνόματι , B à , etc., have the preposition ἐν (Lachm.): a correction apparently for the sake of simplification.— à alone omits τῷ .
Jam_5:11. It is difficult to decide whether we are to read, with the Rec. and Tisch., ὑπομένοντας (G K, etc.), or, with Lachm. and Wiesinger, ὑπομείναντας (A B à , etc.); yet the reading of the Rec. appears to have arisen from an endeavour to generalize the reference of the idea: Bouman certainly judges otherwise.
The Rec. εἴδετε , after B* (teste Majo) K à , etc., Oecumenius (Lachm.), is as a correction to be changed for the more difficult reading ἴδετε , attested by A B G, etc. (Tisch.).
After ἐστιν the Rec. has ὁ κύριος , according to A B (in B, however, the article is wanting) à , several min. vss. etc. (Lachm.); Griesbach regarded it as suspicious, and Tisch. has omitted it, after C K, many min. etc.; the omission can easily be explained from the fact that κυρίου directly precedes (so also Lange; Bouman wavers).
Jam_5:12. The reading εἰς ὑπόκρισιν (Ed. Steph., after G K, etc.) has probably arisen from the original ὑπὸ κρίσιν , these two words being taken as one, and then a preposition placed before them.
Jam_5:14. The αὐτόν after ἀλείψαντες is wanting in B; it was omitted as being self-evident.
Lachm. and Tisch. have, after A and some min., left out the article τοῦ before κυρίου ; yet G K à , many min. etc., attest its genuineness; in B also κυρίου is wanting; nevertheless Buttmann has received it, but without the article.
Jam_5:16. The reading of the Rec. is ἐξομολογεῖσθε ἀλλήλοις τὰ παραπτώματα , καὶ εὔχεσθε κ . τ . λ . (Tisch.); instead of which A B read ἐξομολογεῖσθε οὖν ἀλλήλοις τὰς ἁμαρτίας καὶ προσεύχεσθε κ . τ . λ . (Lachm.); for οὖν also K à , several min. Vulg. etc. testify: accordingly οὖν is to be considered as genuine; yet precisely this οὖν might mislead one to find in this verse an extension of the thought going before, and on this account to change the new expressions with the preceding, and thus, instead of παραπτώματα , to put again ἁμαρτίας , and instead of εὔχεσθε , for which also à testifies, and to put again προσεύχεσθε , whereas the opposite change cannot be well explained.
Jam_5:18. The Rec. ὑετὸν ἔδωκεν is found in B G K, almost all min. etc. (Tisch.); A, on the contrary, has ἔδωκεν ὑετόν (Lachm.); so also à , but with τόν before ὑετόν . It is possible that this change was occasioned by the following ἐβλάστησεν τὸν καρπόν .
Jam_5:19. Tisch. has omitted the pronoun μου after ἀδελφοί , yet the most important authorities, A B K à , etc., attest its genuineness.— à alone has, instead of the simple τῆς ἀληθείας , the combination τῆς ὁδοῦ τῆς ἀληθείας .
Jam_5:20. The reading γινώσκετε in B is occasioned by the address ἀδελφοί . Instead of the Rec. ψυχήν , after G K, many min. (Tisch.) Lachm. and Buttm. have adopted ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ . This αὐτοῦ is found in A à , some min. vss. etc. B has it, probably by an error of the scribe, not after ψυχήν , but after θανάτου .
B has as subscription Ἰακώβου ; A: Ἰακώβου ἐπιστολή ; others differently.