Boasting About Tomorrow

13 Come now, you who say, (A)“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 (B)you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, (C)“If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. (D)All such boasting is evil. 17 (E)So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

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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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Footnotes

  1. James 4:14 Literally “the circumstance of tomorrow”
  2. James 4:14 Literally “of what sort your life”