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
Easy-to-Read Version
Give Yourselves to God
4 Do you know where your fights and arguments come from? They come from the selfish desires that make war inside you. 2 You want things, but you don’t get them. So you kill and are jealous of others. But you still cannot get what you want. So you argue and fight. You don’t get what you want because you don’t ask God. 3 Or when you ask, you don’t receive anything, because the reason you ask is wrong. You only want to use it for your own pleasure.
4 You people are not faithful to God! You should know that loving what the world has is the same as hating God. So anyone who wants to be friends with this evil world becomes God’s enemy. 5 Do you think the Scriptures mean nothing? The Scriptures say, “The Spirit God made to live in us wants us only for himself.”[a] 6 But the kindness God shows is greater. As the Scripture says, “God is against the proud, but he is kind to the humble.”[b]
7 So give yourselves to God. Stand against the devil, and he will run away from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. You are sinners, so clean sin out of your lives.[c] You are trying to follow God and the world at the same time. Make your thinking pure. 9 Be sad, be sorry, and cry! Change your laughter into crying. Change your joy into sadness. 10 Be humble before the Lord, and he will make you great.
You Are Not the Judge
11 Brothers and sisters, don’t say anything against each other. If you criticize your brother or sister in Christ or judge them, you are criticizing and judging the law they follow. And when you are judging the law, you are not a follower of the law. You have become a judge. 12 God is the one who gave us the law, and he is the Judge. He is the only one who can save and destroy. So it is not right for you to judge anyone.
Let God Plan Your Life
13 Some of you say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to some city. We will stay there a year, do business, and make money.” Listen, think about this: 14 You don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Your life is like a fog. You can see it for a short time, but then it goes away. 15 So you should say, “If the Lord wants, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But now you are proud and boast about yourself. All such boasting is wrong. 17 If you fail to do what you know is right, you are sinning.
Footnotes
- James 4:5 “The Spirit … himself” Other possible translations: “God strongly desires the spirit that he made to live in us.” Or “The spirit that he made to live in us is full of envious desires.” See Ex. 20:5.
- James 4:6
Quote from Prov. 3:34. - James 4:8 so clean sin out of your lives Literally, “so wash your hands.”
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