James 4

1 a hinge ni ji vii ni hama ni katu kabi ye ni mi mbi/

Now I will tell you why you are fighting among yourselves and quarreling with each other [RHQ]. It is [RHQ] because each of you wants to do evil things [PRS]. You keep on wanting to do things that are not [what God wants you to do].

2 son ndi na nafe na bi wuundu tiengu bina fena bi tsi ni vii u zizan bina fena don bina mye na

There are things that you [very much] desire to have, but you do not get [those things, so] you [want to] kill [HYP] [those who hinder you from getting them]. You desire what [other people have], but you are unable to get [what you desire, so] you quarrel and fight [with one another] [HYP]. You do not have [what you desire] because you do not ask [God for it].

3 bi bre ndi na fe na don bina bre ni kon ndindi ma na bi son ndi bi tie ndu niwu ni kon meme ma

[And even when] you do ask [him], he does not give you [what you ask for] because you are asking for the wrong reason. [You are asking for things] in order that you may use them just to (enjoy yourselves/make yourselves happy).

4 biyi bii tie kan binato na tie kpan ni ngbungblu ahi kwatre rji?

[Like] a woman who is unfaithful to her husband, you [are being unfaithful to God and not obeying him any more] [MET]. Those who are behaving as evil people do [MTY] (OR, Those who love [the evil pleasures of] this world) are hostile toward God. Perhaps you do not realize that [RHQ]. So those who decide to act as evil people do [MTY] become enemies of God.

5 bisi ya ndi ikpe wa nasi hla ahe megen? ibrji tsratsra wa a he ni i mbua nitie ngu kpukpo me?

(Surely you remember that [God told us in] the Scriptures that he eagerly desires that his Spirit, who lives in us, will help us to love [God] only!/Do you think that it is for no reason that [God told us in] the Scriptures that he strongly desires that his Spirit, who lives in us, will help us to love [God] only?) [RHQ] God has a reason for desiring that.

6 irji nno zizi babran itre rji tre ndi irji ni kamani ndrji u sentu ani tie zizi ni ndrji u katugyi

[It is because] he is kind [to us and he] wants very much to help us. That is why (someone said/[King Solomon] wrote) [in the Scriptures], “God opposes those who are proud, but he helps those who are humble.”

7 nnotumbi ni rji kambi ni shetan ani tsutsu di kon yuwuu

So submit yourselves to God. (Resist the devil/Refuse to do what the devil wants), and [as a result] he will run away from you.

8 whie ye ni rji u wawu me ni whie ni yi ngla wo mbi biyi bi latre ngla sron mbi biyi bi sron ha

Come near [spiritually] to God, and [as a result] he will come near to you. You who are sinners, stop doing what is wrong, and do only what is good [SYN, MET]. You who cannot decide [whether you will] ([commit yourselves to God/obey God completely]), stop thinking wrong thoughts, and think only pure thoughts [MTY].

9 losron kpukpome losron yi ndu nza mbi kati losron ngyri mbi ndu kati yi

Be sorrowful and weep/mourn [DOU] [because of the wrong things that you have done]. Do not laugh [DOU], ([enjoying only what you selfishly/enjoying only what you yourselves]) [desire]. Instead, be sad [because you have done what is wrong].

10 ka tu mbi gji ni shishi rji u wawu ni nzuyi wlunde.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and [as a result] he will honor you.

11 na tretre meme nitu vayi me na mrlivayi indji wa a tretre meme ma nitu vayima ko atron nitu vayi ma ani tretre meme ma nitu du nda ni bla tre nitu du a tsro ndi u na to ni nfutu na ukati indji u bla

My fellow believers, stop saying evil things about one another, [because] those who say something evil about a fellow believer and [are therefore] condemning [one who is like] a brother [to them] are really speaking against the law [that God gave us to obey]. [In this law, God commanded] [MTY] [us to love others], and those who say evil things about fellow believers, [it is as though] they are saying that we do not have to do what [God] commanded. If you [(sg)] say that you do not have to do what God commanded, you [(sg)] are not obeying God’s law. Instead, you [(sg)] are claiming that you [have the authority] to condemn [others].

12 indji riri nno du nda tretre wawuyi nito kpa cuwo nda kpa tie meme

[But in fact], there is only one who [has the authority to] tell [people] what is right to do and to condemn [them, and that is God]. He alone is able to save [people] or to destroy people. [So], (you [(sg)] certainly have no right to decide how God should punish other people./who are you to decide how God should punish other people?) [RHQ]

13 wo mba biyi a bi tre ndi iuwa komble ki hi ni gbu mu ndi tie se ri nikima ndi le ndi fe gbugbuu

[Some of you] are [arrogantly] saying, “Today or tomorrow we will go to a certain city. We will spend a year there and we will buy and sell things and earn a lot of money.” Now, you listen to me!

14 ahi nhato kpe wa ni te imblea ka son me ni he ni he u he na kpalu wa ani rij niton fie me nda ka kadoa

[You should not talk like that, because] you do not know what will happen tomorrow, and you do not know [how long] you will live! Your life [is short] [MET], [like] a mist that appears for a short time and then disappears.

15 nawa u katre ndi baci nita kpa yine u ki he ni mi bi vrli ki tie wayi ndi tie wamu

Instead of [what you are saying], you should say, “If the Lord wills/desires, we will live and do this or that.”

16 zizan u wuro ni san ni kpe wa uyo nimi sron mea bi bi wuro ni san kima ahi kpe memema

But what you are doing is boasting about all the things that you arrogantly [plan to do]. Your boasting like that is evil.

17 u indji wa ato kpe wa abi ndutiea nda na tieu na a hi latre ni wuu

So if anyone knows the right thing that he should do, [but] he does not do it, he is sinning.