⁴³ And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, “We have ^(A)ten shares in the king, and in David also we have more than you. Why then did you despise us? Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king?” ^(B)But the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, ^(A)divisions,

David Anointed King of Israel

5 Then all the tribes of Israel ^(A)came to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, ^(B)we are your bone and flesh.

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”?

¹⁴ But if you have bitter ^(A)jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. ¹⁵ This is not ^(B)the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, ^(C)demonic. ¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

² For ^(A)we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, ^(B)he is a perfect man, ^(C)able also to bridle his whole body. ³ If we put ^(D)bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. ⁴ Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. ⁵ So also the tongue is a small member, yet ^(E)it boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! ⁶ And ^(F)the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, ^(G)staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life,^[a] and set on fire by hell.^{[b] 7} For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, ⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, ^(H)full of deadly poison. ⁹ With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people ^(I)who are made in the likeness of God. ¹⁰ From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers,^[c] these things ought not to be so.

²⁰ for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

³ Do nothing from ^(A)selfish ambition or ^(B)conceit, but in ^(C)humility count others more significant than yourselves.

^26 (A)Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.