James 4

1 Whence [are] wars and fightings among you? not thence — out of your passions, that are as soldiers 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 ye desire, and ye have not; ye murder, and are zealous, and are not able to attain; ye fight and war, and ye have not, 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 ye ask, and ye receive not, because evilly ye ask, that in your pleasures ye may spend [it].

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 ye not known that friendship of the world is enmity with God? whoever, then, may counsel to be a friend of the world, an enemy of God he is set.

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 Do ye think that emptily the Writing saith, 'To envy earnestly desireth the spirit that did dwell in us,'

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

6 and greater grace he doth give, wherefore he saith, 'God against proud ones doth set Himself up, and to lowly ones He doth give grace?'

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 nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you; cleanse hands, ye sinners! and purify hearts, ye two-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 exceeding afflicted, and mourn, and weep, let your laughter to mourning be turned, 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 shall exalt you.

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

11 Speak not one against another, brethren; he who is speaking against a brother, and is judging his brother, doth speak against law, and doth judge law, and if law thou dost judge, thou art 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; thou — who art thou that dost judge 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, ye who are saying, 'To-day and to-morrow 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 do not know the thing of the morrow; for what is your life? for it is a vapour that is appearing for a little, 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 of your saying, 'If the Lord may will, we shall live, and do this or that;'

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

16 and now ye 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, sin it is to him.

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