James 4
1 From where [are] wars and fightings among you? [Is it] not from here, out of your passions warring in your members?
Where do quarrels and disputes among you come from? Do they not come from your desires that fight among your members?
2 You desire, and do not have, [so] you murder; and you are zealous, and are not able to attain, [so] you fight and war; and you do not have, because of your not asking;
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 you ask, and you do not receive, because you ask badly, that you may spend [it] in your pleasures.
You ask and do not receive because you ask badly, in order that you may use it for your desires.
4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Have you not known that friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whoever, then, may intend to be a friend of the world, he is designated [as] 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 that the Writing says emptily, “The Spirit that has dwelt 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 [God] gives greater grace, for this reason it says, “God sets Himself up against proud ones, and He gives grace to lowly ones.”
But God gives more grace, so the scripture says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
7 Be subject, then, to God; stand up against 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 hands, you sinners! And purify hearts, you split-souled!
Come close to God, and he will come close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Be exceedingly afflicted, and mourn, and weep, let your laughter be turned to mourning, and the joy to heaviness;
Grieve, mourn, and cry! Let your laughter turn into sadness and your joy into gloom.
10 be made low before the LORD, and He will exalt you.
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
11 Do not speak against one another, brothers; he who is speaking against a brother, and is judging his brother, speaks against law, and judges law, and if you judge law, you are not a doer of law but a judge.
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 One is the lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy; you—who are you that judges the other?
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 Go, now, you who are saying, “Today and tomorrow we will go on to such a city, and will pass there one year, and traffic, and make gain,”
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this city, spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.”
14 who does not know the thing of tomorrow; for what is your life? For it is a vapor that is appearing for a little [while], and then is vanishing;
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 may will, 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 but now you glory in your pride; all such glorying is evil;
But now you are boasting about your arrogant plans. All such boasting is evil.
17 to him, then, knowing to do good, and not doing [it], it is sin to him.
So for anyone who knows to do good but does not do it, for him it is sin.
