James 4

1 What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you?

Where do quarrels and disputes among you come from? Do they not come from your desires that fight among your members?

2 You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask.

You desire, and you do not have. You kill and covet, and you are not able to obtain. You fight and quarrel. You do not possess because you do not ask.

3 And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.

You ask and do not receive because you ask badly, in order that you may use it for your desires.

4 You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.

You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility against God? So whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

5 Or do you think the Scripture says without reason that the Spirit He caused to dwell in us yearns with envy?

Or do you think the scripture says in vain, “The Spirit he caused to live in us is deeply jealous”?

6 But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

But God gives more grace, so the scripture says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

So submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Come close to God, and he will come close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

9 Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom.

Grieve, mourn, and cry! Let your laughter turn into sadness and your joy into gloom.

10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

11 Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. And if you judge the law, you are not a practitioner of the law, but a judge of it.

Do not speak against one another, brothers. The person who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks against the law and judges the law. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Only one is the lawgiver and judge. He is the one who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you, you who judge your neighbor?

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.”

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this city, spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.”

14 You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Who knows what will happen tomorrow, and what is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then disappears.

15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.”

Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.”

16 As it is, you boast in your proud intentions. All such boasting is evil.

But now you are boasting about your arrogant plans. All such boasting is evil.

17 Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do, yet fails to do it, is guilty of sin.

So for anyone who knows to do good but does not do it, for him it is sin.