James 4
Worldwide English (New Testament)
4 Why do you fight and quarrel? It is because your feelings are fighting inside of you. That is why you fight.
2 You want something but you cannot get it. Then you kill. You want something very much and cannot get it. So you quarrel and fight. You do not get it because you do not ask God for it.
3 You ask for it, but you do not get it, because you ask in a wrong way. You want to use it for yourselves and not for others.
4 You people promised God you would be true to him, but you did not stay true! Do you not know that if you love the world you hate God? Anyone who wants to be a lover of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
5 The holy writings say, `God gave his Spirit to live in us. And that Spirit wants us for himself.' Do you think this means nothing?
6 But God helps you even more than that. That is why the holy writings say, `God fights against those who are proud, but he helps those who are not proud.'
7 So let God control you. Fight the devil and he will run away from you.
8 Come to God and he will come to you. You bad people, make your hands clean! You love what is good and what is wrong at the same time. Make your hearts clean.
9 Be sad about this, and cry. Turn your laughing into crying. Stop being happy. Be sad.
10 Do not be proud before the Lord. Then he will lift you up.
11 My brothers, do not say wrong things about each other. A man who says wrong things about his brother or judges his brother is saying wrong things about God's law and he is judging God's law. If you judge the law, you are not obeying the law, but you are a judge.
12 God made the law and he is the judge. And he is the one who can save you or kill you. Who are you that you should judge your neighbour?
13 Listen to me! You say, `Today or tomorrow we will go to that town. We will stay there a year. We will buy and sell and get rich.' But you do not know what will happen to you tomorrow.
14 What is your life like? It is like a cloud. It is here for a little while and then it is gone.
15 You should say `If the Lord wants to do it, we will live and do this or that.'
16 But now you talk about the big things you will do. All that kind of talk is wrong!
17 But if a person knows what he should do and he does not do it, he has done something wrong.
James 4
King James Version
4 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
James 4
English Standard Version
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”? 6 But (F)he gives more grace. Therefore it says, (G)“God opposes the proud but (H)gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. (I)Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 (J)Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. (K)Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and (L)purify your hearts, (M)you double-minded. 9 (N)Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 (O)Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
11 (P)Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.[d] The one who speaks against a brother or (Q)judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only (R)one lawgiver and (S)judge, he who is able to save and (T)to destroy. But (U)who are you to judge your neighbor?
Boasting About Tomorrow
13 Come now, you who say, (V)“Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For (W)you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, (X)“If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. (Y)All such boasting is evil. 17 (Z)So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Footnotes
- James 4:1 Greek pleasures; also verse 3
- James 4:1 Greek in your members
- James 4:4 Or You adulteresses!
- James 4:11 Or brothers and sisters
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The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
