James 4 | English Standard Version

English Standard Version

Warning Against Worldliness

1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions^[1] are at war within you?^[2] (Ro 7:23; 1Pe 2:11) 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 wrongly, to spend it on your passions. (1Jo 5:14) 4 You adulterous people!^[3] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (Isa 54:5; Jer 2:2; Mt 6:24; Joh 15:19; 1Jo 2:15)

Isa 54:5Jer 2:2Mt 6:24Joh 15:191Jo 2:15

5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? (1Co 6:19; 2Co 6:16) 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (Pr 3:34; Isa 54:7; Isa 54:8; Mt 13:12; 1Pe 5:5)

Pr 3:34Isa 54:7Isa 54:8Mt 13:121Pe 5:5

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (Eph 4:27; Eph 6:11; 1Pe 5:8; 1Pe 5:9)

Eph 4:27Eph 6:111Pe 5:81Pe 5:9

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (2Ch 15:2; Isa 1:16; Jer 4:14; La 3:57; Zec 1:3; Mal 3:7; Lu 15:20; Jas 1:8)

2Ch 15:2Isa 1:16Jer 4:14La 3:57Zec 1:3Mal 3:7Lu 15:20Jas 1:8

9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. (Mt 5:4) 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (Isa 57:15; Lu 1:52; Jas 4:6) 11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.^[4] The one who speaks against a brother or 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. (Mt 7:1; 2Co 12:20; 1Pe 2:1; 1Pe 5:9)

Mt 7:12Co 12:201Pe 2:11Pe 5:9

12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? (Isa 33:22; Mt 10:28; Ro 14:4; Jas 5:9)

Isa 33:22Mt 10:28Ro 14:4Jas 5:9

Boasting About Tomorrow

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— (Pr 27:1; Lu 12:18) 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. (Job 7:7; Ps 102:3) 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” (Ac 18:21) 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (1Co 5:6) 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. (Lu 12:47; Lu 12:48; 2Pe 2:21)