James 4

1 What causes wars and contentions among you? Is it not the cravings which are ever at war within you for various pleasures?

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 You covet things and yet cannot get them; you commit murder; you have passionate desires and yet cannot gain your end; you begin to fight and make war. You have not, because you do not pray;

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 or you pray and yet do not receive, because you pray wrongly, your object being to waste what you get on some pleasure or another.

[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 You unfaithful women, do you not know that friendship with the world means enmity to God? Therefore whoever is bent on being friendly with the world makes himself an enemy to God.

[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 Or do you suppose that it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "The Spirit which He has caused to dwell in our hearts yearns jealously over us"?

(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 But He gives more abundant grace, as is implied in His saying, "God sets Himself against the haughty, but to the lowly He gives grace."

[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 Submit therefore to God: resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.

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 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you who are half-hearted towards God.

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 Afflict yourselves and mourn and weep aloud; let your laughter be turned into grief, and your gladness into shame.

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 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

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

11 Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. The man who speaks evil of a brother-man or judges his brother-man speaks evil of the Law and judges the Law. But if you judge the Law, you are no longer one who obeys the Law, but one who judges it.

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 The only real Lawgiver and Judge is He who is able to save or to destroy. Who are you to sit in judgement on your fellow man?

[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 Come, you who say, "To-day or to-morrow we will go to this or that city, and spend a year there and carry on a successful business,"

[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 when, all the while, you do not even know what will happen to-morrow. For what is the nature of your life? Why, it is but a mist, which appears for a short time and then is seen no more.

[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 Instead of that you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we shall live and do this or that."

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

16 But, as the case stands, it is in mere self-confidence that you boast: all such boasting is evil.

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

17 If, however, a man knows what it is right to do and yet does not do it, he commits a sin.

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