James 1:22

New Testament

19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. 20 For human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness. 21 So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. 23 For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror. 24 For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. 25 But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out—he will be blessed in what he does. 26 If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile.

Pirkei Avot 6:7

Mishnah
Rabbinic

7 Great is Torah for it gives life to those that practice it, in this world, and in the world to come, As it is said: “For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh” (Proverbs 4:22), And it says: “It will be a cure for your navel and marrow for your bones” (ibid. 3:8) And it says: “She is a tree of life to those that grasp her, and whoever holds onto her is happy” (ibid. 3:18), And it says: “For they are a graceful wreath upon your head, a necklace about your throat” (ibid. 1:9), And it says: “She will adorn your head with a graceful wreath; crown you with a glorious diadem” (ibid. 4:9) And it says: “In her right hand is length of days, in her left riches and honor” (ibid. 3:1, And it says: “For they will bestow on you length of days, years of life and peace” (ibid. 3:2).

 Notes and References

"... If it is reasonable to follow the traditional understanding that the 4Q420-21 fragments comprise a single work, one must address how the Sabbath legislation of 4Q421 11-13 impacts the assessment of the genre of this text. Given the halakhot, it is reasonable to agree with Tigchelaar that the "yoke of wisd[om]" in 4Q421 la ii-b 10 is an allusion to the law. But this does not refute the classification of the composition as a wisdom text. On the contrary, it supports this designation. As mentioned above, both Ben Sira and the Pirke Avot associate Torah with a yoke. The Qumran wisdom texts 4Q185 and 4Q525 associate wisdom with the Torah and this is also the case with the apocryphal work Baruch and the New Testament Letter of James (Pirkei Avot 6:7 praises the Torah with a string of citations from Proverbs 1-9; Consult also T.C. Penner, The Epistle of James and Eschatology: Re-reading an Ancient Christian Letter) ..."

Goff, Matthew J. Discerning Wisdom: The Sapiential Literature of the Dead Sea Scrolls (pp. 171-172) Brill, 2007

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