James 4:4-15
New International Version
4 You adulterous(A) people,[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world(B) means enmity against God?(C) Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.(D) 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us[b]?(E) 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil,(G) and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.(H) Wash your hands,(I) you sinners, and purify your hearts,(J) you double-minded.(K) 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.(L) 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.(M)
11 Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another.(N) Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister[d] or judges them(O) speaks against the law(P) and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it,(Q) but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge,(R) the one who is able to save and destroy.(S) But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?(T)
Boasting About Tomorrow
13 Now listen,(U) you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”(V) 14 Why, 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.(W) 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will,(X) we will live and do this or that.”
Footnotes
- James 4:4 An allusion to covenant unfaithfulness; see Hosea 3:1.
- James 4:5 Or that the spirit he caused to dwell in us envies intensely; or that the Spirit he caused to dwell in us longs jealously
- James 4:6 Prov. 3:34
- 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.
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
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