James 4:3-15

English Standard Version

³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask ^(A)wrongly, to spend it on your passions. ^4 (B)You adulterous people!^[a] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? ^(C)Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit ^(D)that he has made to dwell in us”? ⁶ But ^(E)he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ^(F)“God opposes the proud but ^(G)gives grace to the humble.” ⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. ^(H)Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ^8 (I)Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. ^(J)Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and ^(K)purify your hearts, ^(L)you double-minded. ^9 (M)Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ^10 (N)Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

^11 (O)Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.^[b] The one who speaks against a brother or ^(P)judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. ¹² There is only ^(Q)one lawgiver and ^(R)judge, he who is able to save and ^(S)to destroy. But ^(T)who are you to judge your neighbor?

Boasting About Tomorrow

¹³ Come now, you who say, ^(U)“Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— ¹⁴ yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For ^(V)you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, ^(W)“If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”