100 Andrew M. Bowden more vocabulary to the discourse than any other section of the Epistle44; and (2) the tone of the Epistle immediately changes after this paragraph. The brotherly tone will step into the background as James will call the readers adulterers, double minded, sinners, and enemies of God (4,4.8) and will blast them with ten imperatives in 4,7-10. Such an abrupt change signals the letter’s “big idea” and explains the intense tone. Finally, 3,13-18 is one of James’ clearest allusions to the prophetic LXX. According to Jobes, James’ phrase “Who is wise (τίς σοφός) and understanding (ἐπιστήμων) among you?” (3,13) echoes Hosea 14,10, a passage in which God’s people are rebuked for covenant unfaithfulness and which asks, “Who is wise (τίς σοφός) and will understand (συνίημι) these things?”45. Additionally, James’ reference to the fruit of righteousness (καρπὸς δικαιοσύνης) (3,18) appears in identical form in Amos 6,12. These observations are significant for our study, implying that the center of James alludes to the prophetic OT, and especially to the Twelve, who “speak primarily a message that God’s people are covenant violators who have become morally and spiritually as bad as the surrounding nations”46. The significance of James’ references in 3,13-18, the heart of his Epistle, cannot be understated, implying (1) that his message, like the Prophets’, is a similar call to repentance, and (2) that prophetic language undergirds James as a whole, since the letter’s center pulsates so clearly with the heartbeat of the prophets. This section’s third paragraph (4,1-10), like the previous, begins with another interrogative, this time marked by πόθεν (4,1)47. It continues through v. 10, where the third section of the body begins with a vocative and prohibitory present imperative (μὴ καταλαλεῖτε ἀλλήλων, ἀδελφοί). Some interpreters, grappling with James’ forceful tone in this paragraph and the absence of the vocative “brother”, argue that a different audience is addressed than the “brothers” of the previous sections. A better solution, however, is that the brothers are now being directly chastised. This is especially clear, since 4,1 begins in parallel fashion to 3,13 by 44 Varner, The Book of James: A New Perspective, A Linguistic Commentary Applying Discourse Analysis (The Woodlands, TX 2010) 30. 45 Jobes, “Minor Prophets”, 138. 46 Ibid., 137. 47 Numerous lexical clues indicate that this paragraph (4,1-10) relates to the previous (3,13-18). 3,18 instructed believers to sow righteousness by means of peace; 4,1 immediately asks from whence come wars. In 4,2, the intended audience is full of the demonic wisdom that was characterized in 3,14 by ζῆλον, and therefore are to resist the devil (4,7). Their ζῆλον, rather than producing the righteous fruit of wisdom, has produced all the wicked actions James said it would — they are murderers, adulterers, and acting like enemies of God.