James 4

Legacy Standard Bible

Draw Near to God

4 ^[a]What is the source of quarrels and ^(A)conflicts among you? ^[b]Is not the source your pleasures that wage ^(B)war in your members? ² You lust and do not have, so you ^(C)murder. You are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. ³ You ask and ^(D)do not receive, because you ask ^[c]with wrong motives, so that you may spend it ^[d]on your pleasures. ⁴ You ^(E)adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with ^(F)the world is ^(G)hostility toward God? ^(H)Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world sets himself as an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think that the Scripture ^(I)speaks to no purpose: “^[e]He ^[f]jealously desires ^(J)the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? ⁶ But ^(K)He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “^(L)God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” ^7 (M)Be subject therefore to God. ^(N)Resist the devil and he will flee from you. ^8 (O)Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. ^(P)Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and ^(Q)purify your hearts, you ^(R)double-minded. ^9 (S)Be miserable and mourn and cry. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. ^10 (T)Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

^11 (U)Do not slander one another, ^(V)brothers. He who slanders a brother or ^(W)judges his brother, slanders ^(X)the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not ^(Y)a doer of the law but a judge of it. ¹² There is only one ^(Z)Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is ^(AA)able to save and to destroy. But ^(AB)who are you who judge your neighbor?

Life Is a Vapor

^13 (AC)Come now, you who say, “^(AD)Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” ^14 [g]Yet you do not know ^[h]what your life will be like tomorrow. ^(AE)You are a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. ^15 [i]Instead, you ought to say, “^(AF)If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” ¹⁶ But as it is, you boast in your ^[j]arrogance. ^(AG)All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ Therefore, ^(AH)to one who knows to do the ^[k]right thing and does not do it, to him it is sin.