James 4

The Message

Get Serious

4 ^1-2Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.

^2-3You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way.

^4-6You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that “he’s a fiercely jealous lover.” And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find. It’s common knowledge that “God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble.”

^7-10So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him make himself scarce. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.

^11-12Don’t bad-mouth each other, friends. It’s God’s Word, his Message, his Royal Rule, that takes a beating in that kind of talk. You’re supposed to be honoring the Message, not writing graffiti all over it. God is in charge of deciding human destiny. Who do you think you are to meddle in the destiny of others?

Nothing but a Wisp of Fog

^13-15And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, “Today—at the latest, tomorrow—we’re off to such and such a city for the year. We’re going to start a business and make a lot of money.” You don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. You’re nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, “If the Master wills it and we’re still alive, we’ll do this or that.”

^16-17As it is, you are full of your grandiose selves. All such vaunting self-importance is evil. In fact, if you know the right thing to do and don’t do it, that, for you, is evil.

James 4

New English Translation

Passions and Pride

4 Where do the conflicts and where^[a] do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this,^[b] from your passions that battle inside you?^[c] ²You desire and you do not have; you murder and envy and you cannot obtain; you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask; ³you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so you can spend it on your passions.

⁴Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God?^[d] So whoever decides to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy. ⁵Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says,^[e] “The spirit that God^[f] caused^[g] to live within us has an envious yearning”?^[h] ⁶But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.”^[i] ⁷So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you. ⁸Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded.^[j] ⁹Grieve, mourn,^[k] and weep. Turn your laughter^[l] into mourning and your joy into despair. ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.

¹¹Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters.^[m] He who speaks against a fellow believer^[n] or judges a fellow believer speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but its judge.^[o] ¹²But there is only one who is lawgiver and judge—the one who is able to save and destroy. On the other hand, who are you to judge your neighbor?^[p]

¹³Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town^[q] and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” ¹⁴You^[r] do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like?^[s] For you are a puff of smoke^[t] that appears for a short time and then vanishes. ¹⁵You ought to say instead,^[u] “If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶But as it is,^[v] you boast about your arrogant plans.^[w] All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷So whoever knows what is good to do^[x] and does not do it is guilty of sin.^[y]

Footnotes

James 4:1 tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.
James 4:1 tn Grk “from here.”
James 4:1 tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”
James 4:4 tn Grk “is hostility toward God.”
James 4:5 tn Grk “vainly says.”
James 4:5 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
James 4:5 tc The Byzantine text and a few other mss (P 5 33 436 442 1243 1611 1735 1852 2344 2492 M) have the intransitive κατῴκησεν (katōkēsen) here, which turns τὸ πνεῦμα (to pneuma) into the subject of the verb: “The spirit which lives within us.” But the more reliable and older witnesses (P⁷⁴ א B Ψ 049 1241 1739 al) have the causative verb, κατῴκισεν (katōkisen), which implies a different subject and τὸ πνεῦμα as the object: “The spirit that he causes to live within us.” Both because of the absence of an explicit subject and the relative scarcity of the causative κατοικίζω (katoikizō, “cause to dwell”) compared to the intransitive κατοικέω (katoikeō, “live, dwell”) in biblical Greek (κατοικίζω does not occur in the NT at all, and occurs much less frequently than κατοικέω in the LXX), it is easy to see why scribes would replace κατῴκισεν with κατῴκησεν. Thus, on internal and external grounds, κατῴκισεν is the preferred reading.
James 4:5 tn Interpreters debate the referent of the word “spirit” in this verse: (1) The translation takes “spirit” to be the lustful capacity within people that produces a divided mind (1:8, 14) and inward conflicts regarding God (4:1-4). God has allowed it to be in man since the fall, and he provides his grace (v. 6) and the new birth through the gospel message (1:18-25) to counteract its evil effects. (2) On the other hand the word “spirit” may be taken positively as the Holy Spirit and the sense would be, “God yearns jealously for the Spirit he caused to live within us.” But the word for “envious” or “jealous” is generally negative in biblical usage and the context before and after seems to favor the negative interpretation.sn No OT verse is worded exactly this way. This is either a statement about the general teaching of scripture or a quotation from an ancient translation of the Hebrew text that no longer exists today.
James 4:6 sn A quotation from Prov 3:34.
James 4:8 tn Or “two-minded” (the same description used in 1:8).
James 4:9 tn This term and the following one are preceded by καί (kai) in the Greek text, but contemporary English generally uses connectives only between the last two items in such a series.
James 4:9 tn Grk “let your laughter be turned.”
James 4:11 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
James 4:11 tn See note on the word “believer” in 1:9.
James 4:11 tn Grk “a judge.”
James 4:12 tn Grk “who judges your neighbor.”
James 4:13 tn Or “city.”
James 4:14 tn Grk “who” (continuing the description of the people of v. 13). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
James 4:14 tn Or “you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.”
James 4:14 tn Or “a vapor.” The Greek word ἀτμίς (atmis) denotes a swirl of smoke arising from a fire (cf. Gen 19:28; Lev 16:13; Joel 2:30 [Acts 2:19]; Ezek 8:11).
James 4:15 tn Grk “instead of your saying.”
James 4:16 tn Grk “but now.”
James 4:16 tn Or “you boast in your arrogance.” The translation in the text is based on two points: (1) The verb καυχάομαι (kauchaomai, “boast”) often uses the preposition ἐν (en) to indicate the focus of the boast (see BDAG 536 s.v. 1). (2) ἀλαζονεία (alazoneia, “arrogance”) here is plural and likely refers to the specific plans mentioned in v. 13.
James 4:17 tn Or “knows how to do what is good.”
James 4:17 tn Grk “to him it is sin.”

The Message (MSG)

New English Translation (NET)