James 4
Revised Geneva Translation
4 From where are wars and contentions among you? Do they not come from your sensual pleasures, which fight in your members?
2 You lust, and do not have. You envy and desire immoderately and cannot obtain. You fight and war and get nothing, because you do not ask.
3 You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss, so that you might spend it on your pleasures.
4 You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that the amity of the world is the enmity of God? Therefore, whoever will be a friend of the world, makes himself the enemy of God.
5 Do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit that dwells in us longs enviously”?
6 But it offers more grace, and therefore says, “God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.
7 Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. And purge your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Suffer afflictions and sorrow, and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into heaviness.
10 Cast yourselves down before the Lord, and He will lift you up.
11 Do not speak evil of one another, brothers. The one who speaks evil of his brother, or the one who condemns his brother, speaks evil of the Law, and condemns the Law. And if you condemn the Law, you are not an observer of the Law, but a judge.
12 There is one Lawgiver, Who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into a certain city and continue there a year and buy and sell and gain a profit.”
14 And yet, you cannot say what shall happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is but a vapor that appears for a little time and afterward vanishes away.
15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, and if we live, we will do this or that”.
16 But now you exult in your boastings. All such boasting is evil.
17 Therefore, to him who knows how to do well, and does not do so, to him it is sin.
James 4
English Standard Version
Warning Against Worldliness
4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions[a] are (A)at war within you?[b] 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask (B)wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 (C)You adulterous people![c] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? (D)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 (E)that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But (F)he gives more grace. Therefore it says, (G)“God opposes the proud but (H)gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. (I)Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 (J)Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. (K)Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and (L)purify your hearts, (M)you double-minded. 9 (N)Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 (O)Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
11 (P)Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.[d] The one who speaks against a brother or (Q)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 (R)one lawgiver and (S)judge, he who is able to save and (T)to destroy. But (U)who are you to judge your neighbor?
Boasting About Tomorrow
13 Come now, you who say, (V)“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 (W)you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, (X)“If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. (Y)All such boasting is evil. 17 (Z)So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Footnotes
- James 4:1 Greek pleasures; also verse 3
- James 4:1 Greek in your members
- James 4:4 Or You adulteresses!
- James 4:11 Or brothers and sisters
© 2019, 2024 by Five Talents Audio. All rights reserved.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
