James 4:13-17
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Our Will and His Will
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”(A) 14 You don’t even know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes.(B)
15 Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.(C) 17 So it is a sin for the person who knows to do what is good and doesn’t do it.(D)
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James 4:13-17
Lexham English Bible
Arrogant Boasting About the Future
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there, and carry on business and make a profit,” 14 you who do not know what will happen tomorrow[a], what your life will be like[b]. For you are a smoky vapor that appears for a short time and then disappears. 15 Instead you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to the one who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
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- James 4:14 Literally “the circumstance of tomorrow”
- James 4:14 Literally “of what sort your life”
James 4:13-17
New International Version
Boasting About Tomorrow
13 Now listen,(A) you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”(B) 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.(C) 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will,(D) we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.(E) 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.(F)
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