James 2:6

ἠτιμάσατε : Cf., though in an entirely different connection, Sir 10:23, οὐ δίκαιον ἀτιμάσαι πτωχὸν συνετόν (δίκαιον is absent in the Hebrew); the R.V. “dishonoured” accurately represents the Greek, but the equivalent Hebrew word would be better rendered “despised” which is what the A.V. has. “Dishonouring” would imply the withholding of a right, “despising” would be rather the contempt accorded to the man because he was poor. There can be little doubt that it is the former which is intended here, but the idea of the latter must also have been present. οὐχ οἱ πλούσιοι καταδυναστεύουσιν ὑμῶν : the rich here probably refer to wealthy Jews, though it does not follow that “there could have been no question of rich Jews if the city and the temple had fallen” (Knowling), for the Epistle was addressed to Jews of the Dispersion, the bulk of whom were not affected, as far as their worldly belongings were concerned, by the Fall of Jerusalem. On the other hand, the possibility of the reference being to rich Jewish-Christians, or Gentile-Christians, cannot be dismissed off-hand, for on the assumption of a late date for the Epistle it is more likely that these would be meant. The writer is taxing his hearers both with bad treatment accorded to the poor, as well as pusillanimity with regard to the rich. The word καταδυν. only occurs once elsewhere in the N.T., Acts 10:38, … πάντας τοὺς καταδυναστευομένους ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου; but fairly frequently in the Septuagint, e.g., Amos 8:4; Wis 2:10; Wis 15:14. The accusative ὑμᾶς, which is the reading of א 1 A, etc., is in accordance with the frequent usage of the Septuagint, where καταδυν. often takes an accusative instead of the genitive. αὐτοὶ : “The pronoun αὐτὸς is used in the nominative, not only with the meaning ‘self' when attached to a subject, as in classical Greek, but also when itself standing for the subject, with a less amount of emphasis, which we might render ‘he for his part,' or ‘it was he who,' as in the next clause; it is disputed whether it does not in some cases lose its emphatic force altogether, as in Luke 19:2; Luke 24:31 ” (Mayor). ἕλκουσιν : See Matthew 10:7; Matthew 10:18. Cf. Acts 16:19, … ἐπιλαβόμενοι τὸν Παῦλον καὶ τὸν Σίλαν εἵλκυσαν εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἄρχοντας. κριτήρια : Cf. 1 Corinthians 6:2; 1 Corinthians 6:4, either Jewish (cf. the Peshiṭtâ rendering בית דינא) tribunals or Gentile ones.