James 4:13-5:11

Christian Standard Bible

Our Will and God’s 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} Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like vapor 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 sin to know the good and yet not do it.^(D)

Warning to the Rich

5 Come now, you rich^(E) people, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you. ² Your wealth has rotted and your clothes are moth-eaten.^{(F) 3} Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days.^{(G) 4} Look! The pay that you withheld from the workers^(H) who mowed your fields cries out, and the outcry of the harvesters has reached the ears of the Lord of Armies.^{(I) 5} You have lived luxuriously on the earth and have indulged yourselves. You have fattened your hearts^(J) in a day of slaughter.^{(K) 6} You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous, who does not resist you.^(L)

Waiting for the Lord

⁷ Therefore, brothers and sisters, be patient until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.^{(M) 8} You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.^(N)

⁹ Brothers and sisters, do not complain about one another, so that you will not be judged. Look, the judge stands at the door!^(O)

¹⁰ Brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name as an example of suffering and patience. ¹¹ See, we count as blessed those who have endured.^[a] You have heard of Job’s endurance^(P) and have seen the outcome that the Lord brought about—the Lord is compassionate and merciful.^(Q)