Pride Promotes Strife

4 Where do ^[a]wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure ^(A)that war in your members? ² You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and ^[b]war. ^[c]Yet you do not have because you do not ask. ^3 (B)You ask and do not receive, ^(C)because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. ^4 [d]Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that ^(D)friendship with the world is enmity with God? ^(E)Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ^(F)“The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

⁶ But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

Humility Cures Worldliness

⁷ Therefore submit to God. ^(H)Resist the devil and he will flee from you. ^8 (I)Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. ^(J)Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and ^(K)purify your hearts, you double-minded. ^9 (L)Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ^10 (M)Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Do Not Judge a Brother

^11 (N)Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother ^(O)and judges his brother, speaks evil of 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 one ^[e]Lawgiver, ^(P)who is able to save and to destroy. ^(Q)Who^[f] are you to judge ^[g]another?

Do Not Boast About Tomorrow

¹³ Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow ^[h]we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; ¹⁴ whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? ^(R)It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, ^(S)“If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ But now you boast in your arrogance. ^(T)All such boasting is evil.

¹⁷ Therefore, ^(U)to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Do Not Love the World

^15 (A)Do not love the world or the things in the world. ^(B)If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

⁴¹ Jesus said to them, ^(A)“If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

^27 (A)nor give ^[a]place to the devil.

^11 (A)Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the ^[a]wiles of the devil.

Greeting to the Elect Pilgrims

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To the ^[a]pilgrims ^(A)of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ^2 (B)elect ^(C)according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, ^(D)in sanctification of the Spirit, for ^(E)obedience and ^(F)sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:

^(G)Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

A Heavenly Inheritance

^3 (H)Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who ^(I)according to His abundant mercy ^(J)has begotten us again to a living hope ^(K)through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

²¹ but took leave of them, saying, ^(A)“I^[a] must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem; but I will return again to you, ^(B)God willing.” And he sailed from Ephesus.