What Does James 2:6 Mean in the King James?
But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse exposes the bargain of denying the poor honor while rich people use their power to drag you into court.
THE MEANING
You are shown two acts side by side: the poor person is treated as lacking honor, while wealthy people press their power against you and drag you into court. The verse makes status visible through what it permits people to do to one another; poverty does not make someone less worthy, and wealth does not make power harmless.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that poverty marks a person as less worthy of honor, while wealth marks its holder as safe or right.
THE ROOT
ἠτιμάσατε
ētimasate
GROWS FROM
τιμ- (τιμή, timē)
Honor, worth, value.
“despised” in this verse is ētimasate. ἠτιμάσατε comes from ἀτιμάζω (atimazō, to dishonor or treat as without honor). The charge is more than inward dislike: it names the act of withholding regard and value from a person.
ALSO GROWS
timē: Honor, worth, value.
τιμή
This is the honor and value denied when the poor are despised.
timaō: To honor, value, treat as worthy of regard.
τιμάω
Its positive sense makes clear that despising the poor is an act that strips away regard.
καταδυναστεύουσιν
katadynasteuousin
GROWS FROM
δυναστ-
dynast-
Ruling power exercised over others; in this verb, domination or oppression.
“oppress” in this verse is katadynasteuousin. The rich are described by what they do with their power: they press it down upon others and haul them before the courts. The word places their social force beside the poor person’s denied honor.
ALSO GROWS
dynastēs: A ruler or potentate, one who holds power.
δυνάστης
The word family links oppression with the exercise of authority, not merely with wealth itself.
dynamis: Power, capacity, might.
δύναμις
It makes the force behind the rich people’s action visible: power is being used against the reader.
πτωχόν
ptōchon
GROWS FROM
πτωχ- (ptōch-, πτωχός)
A beggar or materially destitute person, dependent on aid.
The word names material destitution and dependence; it does not name lesser worth. In this sentence, the act that strips away honor belongs to the verb “despised,” not to the word “poor.”
ALSO GROWS
ptōcheia: Poverty, destitution.
πτωχεία
The same word family names the condition the poor person lives in.
ptōcheuō: To be poor or become poor.
πτωχεύω
The shared stem connects the person described as poor with the condition of poverty, without making that condition a measure of dignity.
THE PATTERN
The treatment of poor people reveals whether wealth and power protect human dignity or strip it away.
He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor.Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.THE THREAD
Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?The verb in James, ἠτιμάσατε (ētimasate, “you dishonored”), belongs to the same τιμή (timē, “honor and value”) word family as “dishonourest” here. James names the poor being denied honor; Romans shows a claim to honor God undone by the act itself.
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