James 4:7-17

New International Version

⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil,^(A) and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you.^(B) Wash your hands,^(C) you sinners, and purify your hearts,^(D) you double-minded.^{(E) 9} Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.^{(F) 10} Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.^(G)

¹¹ Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another.^(H) Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister^[a] or judges them^(I) speaks against the law^(J) and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it,^(K) but sitting in judgment on it. ¹² There is only one Lawgiver and Judge,^(L) the one who is able to save and destroy.^(M) But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?^(N)

Boasting About Tomorrow

¹³ Now listen,^(O) you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”^{(P) 14} Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.^{(Q) 15} Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will,^(R) we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.^{(S) 17} If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.^(T)