James 4:7-17

New International Version

⁷Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil,^(A) and he will flee from you. ⁸Come 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) ⁹Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.^(F) ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.^(G)

¹¹Brothers 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. ¹²There 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

¹³Now 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) ¹⁴Why, 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) ¹⁵Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will,^(R) we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.^(S) ¹⁷If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.^(T)

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Footnotes

James 4:11 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family.

Isaiah 11:1-9

New International Version

The Branch From Jesse

11 A shoot^(A) will come up from the stump^(B) of Jesse;^(C)
    from his roots a Branch^(D) will bear fruit.^(E)
²The Spirit^(F) of the Lord will rest on him—
    the Spirit of wisdom^(G) and of understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and of might,^(H)
    the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
³and he will delight in the fear^(I) of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,^(J)
    or decide by what he hears with his ears;^(K)
⁴but with righteousness^(L) he will judge the needy,^(M)
    with justice^(N) he will give decisions for the poor^(O) of the earth.
He will strike^(P) the earth with the rod of his mouth;^(Q)
    with the breath^(R) of his lips he will slay the wicked.^(S)
⁵Righteousness will be his belt^(T)
    and faithfulness^(U) the sash around his waist.^(V)

⁶The wolf will live with the lamb,^(W)
    the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling^[a] together;
    and a little child will lead them.
⁷The cow will feed with the bear,
    their young will lie down together,
    and the lion will eat straw like the ox.^(X)
⁸The infant^(Y) will play near the cobra’s den,
    and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s^(Z) nest.
⁹They will neither harm nor destroy^(AA)
    on all my holy mountain,^(AB)
for the earth^(AC) will be filled with the knowledge^(AD) of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.