Jacques 4

1 D’où viennent les guerres, et d’où les batailles parmi vous? N’est-ce pas de cela, de vos voluptés qui combattent dans vos membres?

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 Vous convoitez, et vous n’avez pas; vous tuez et vous avez d’ardents désirs, et vous ne pouvez obtenir; vous contestez et vous faites la guerre; vous n’avez pas, parce que vous ne demandez pas;

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 vous demandez, et vous ne recevez pas, parce que vous demandez mal, afin de le dépenser pour vos voluptés.

[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 Adultères, ne savez-vous pas que l’amitié du monde est inimitié contre Dieu? Quiconque donc voudra être ami du monde, se constitue ennemi de Dieu.

[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 Ou pensez-vous que l’écriture parle en vain? L’Esprit qui demeure en nous, désire-t-il avec envie?

(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 Mais il donne une plus grande grâce. C’est pourquoi il dit: « Dieu résiste aux orgueilleux, mais il donne [la] grâce aux humbles ».

[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 Soumettez-vous donc à Dieu. Résistez au diable, et il s’enfuira de vous.

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 Approchez-vous de Dieu, et il s’approchera de vous. Nettoyez vos mains, pécheurs, et purifiez vos cœurs, vous qui êtes doubles de cœur.

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 Sentez vos misères, et menez deuil et pleurez. Que votre rire se change en deuil, et votre joie en tristesse.

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 Humiliez-vous devant le Seigneur, et il vous élèvera.

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

11 Ne parlez pas l’un contre l’autre, frères. Celui qui parle contre son frère ou qui juge son frère, parle contre la loi et juge la loi. Or si tu juges la loi, tu n’es pas un observateur de la loi, mais un juge.

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 Un seul est législateur et juge, celui qui peut sauver et détruire; mais toi, qui es-tu qui juges ton prochain?

[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 À vous maintenant, qui dites: Aujourd’hui ou demain nous irons dans telle ou telle ville, et nous y passerons une année, et nous trafiquerons et nous gagnerons,

[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 vous qui ne savez pas ce [qui arrivera] le jour de demain; (car qu’est-ce que votre vie? car elle n’est qu’une vapeur paraissant pour un peu de temps et puis disparaissant; )

[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 au lieu de dire: Si le Seigneur le veut et si nous vivons, nous ferons aussi ceci ou cela.

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

16 Mais maintenant vous vous glorifiez dans vos vanteries. Toute jactance pareille est mauvaise.

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

17 Pour celui donc qui sait faire le bien et qui ne le fait pas, pour lui c’est pécher.

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