James' letter is specifically addressed to the 12 Tribes in the dispersion. Thus we (and he) may assume that the recipients are familiar with the TANAK. The letter has been called the proverbs of the New Testament, since the things it says can generally be found in slightly different form in Proverbs. Because Proverbs was written over 1000 years earlier than James, it is useful to regard James as a cultural and linguistic update.