Jacob 4

1 Where do conflicts and quarrels among you come from? Do they not come from your passions that war in your members?

Where do the wars and disputes among you come from? Is it not precisely from your pleasures, the ones at war in your members?

2 You lust, and do not have. You kill, covet, and cannot obtain. You fight and make war. You do not have, because you do not ask.

You crave and do not have; you murder and covet and are not able to obtain; you fight and war. You do not have because you do not ask.

3 You ask, and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it for your pleasures.

You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so that you may lavish it on your pleasures.

4 You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? So whoever may want to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, "The Ruach which he made to dwell in us yearns jealously"?

Or do you suppose that the Scripture says in vain that the Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously?

6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

But He gives greater grace; therefore He says: “God resists proud ones, but gives grace to humble ones.”

7 Be subject therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Therefore 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.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Sinners, cleanse your hands! Double-minded, purify your hearts!

9 Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom.

Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into dejection.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Humble yourself before the Lord and He will exalt you.

11 Do not speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.

Brothers, do not speak evil of one another. Because the one speaking against a brother and judging his brother speaks against a law and judges a law. So if you judge a law you are not a law-doer but a judge.

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

The Lawgiver and Judge is One, the one who is able to save and to destroy. So who are you (sg) to be judging someone who is different?

13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow let us go into this city, and spend a year there, trade, and make a profit."

Come now, you who say, “Today and tomorrow let us travel to that certain city, spend a year there, do business and make a profit;”

14 Whereas you do not know what tomorrow will be like. What is your life? For you are a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

whereas you do not know anything about the morrow. For what is our life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time but then vanishes away.

15 For you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that."

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

16 But now you glory in your boasting. All such boasting is evil.

But now you boast in your arrogant pretensions. All such boasting is malignant.

17 To him therefore who knows to do good, and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Therefore, to the one knowing to do good and not doing it, to him it is sin.