< James 4 >
1 Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don’t they come from your pleasures that war in your members?
你們中間的戰爭是從那裏來的?爭端是從那裏來的?豈不是從你們肢體中戰鬥的私慾來的嗎?
2 You lust, and don’t have. You murder and covet, and can’t obtain. You fight and make war. You don’t have, because you don’t ask.
你們貪戀,若得不到,於是便要兇殺;你們嫉妒,若不能獲得,於是就要爭鬥,起來交戰。你們得不到,是因為你們不求;
3 You ask, and don’t receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
你們求而不得,是因為你們求的不當,想要浪費在你們的淫樂中。
4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
淫亂的人啊!你們不知道:與世俗友好,就是與天主為仇嗎?所以誰若願意作世俗的朋友,就成了天主的仇敵。
5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously”?
『天主以嫉妒愛慕他在我們內所安置的神靈,』或者你們以為聖經的這句話是白說的嗎?
6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
但他還賜更大的恩寵呢,為此說:『天主拒絕驕傲人,卻賞賜恩寵於謙遜人。』
7 Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
所以,你們要服從天主,對抗魔鬼,魔鬼就必逃避你們;
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded.
你們要親近天主,天主就必親近你們。罪人們,你們務要潔淨你們的手;三心兩意的人,你們務要清潔你們的心!
9 Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
你們要感到可憐,要悲哀,要哭泣;讓你們的喜笑變成悲哀,歡樂變成憂愁。
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.
你們務要在上主面前自謙自卑,他必要舉揚你們。
11 Don’t speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother and 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.
弟兄們,你們不要彼此詆毀。詆毀弟兄或判斷自己弟兄的,就是詆毀法律,判斷法律;若是你判斷法律,你便不是守法者,而是審判者。
12 Only one is the lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge another?
只有一位是立法者和審判者,就是那能拯救人,也能消滅人的天主;然而你是誰,你竟判斷近人?
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow let’s go into this city and spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.”
好!現在你們說:「今天或明天,我們要往這城和那城去,在那裏住一年,作買賣獲利。」
14 Yet you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
其實,關於明天的事,你們還不知道;你們的生命是什麼?你們原來不過是一股蒸氣,出現片刻,以後就消失了。
15 For you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.”
你們倒不如這樣說:「上主若願意,我們就可以活著,就可以作這事或者那事。」
16 But now you glory in your boasting. All such boasting is evil.
可是現在,你們卻猖狂自誇,這樣的自誇,都是邪惡的。
17 To him therefore who knows to do good and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.
所以人若知道該行善,卻不去行,這就是他的罪