James 3:13-4:12

English Standard Version

Wisdom from Above

¹³Who is wise and understanding among you? ^(A)By his good conduct let him show his works ^(B)in the meekness of wisdom. ¹⁴But if you have bitter ^(C)jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. ¹⁵This is not ^(D)the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, ^(E)demonic. ¹⁶For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. ¹⁷But ^(F)the wisdom from above is first pure, then ^(G)peaceable, gentle, open to reason, ^(H)full of mercy and good fruits, ^(I)impartial and ^(J)sincere. ¹⁸And ^(K)a harvest of righteousness ^(L)is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Warning Against Worldliness

4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions^[a] are ^(M)at war within you?^[b] ²You 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. ³You ask and do not receive, because you ask ^(N)wrongly, to spend it on your passions. ⁴^(O)You adulterous people!^[c] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? ^(P)Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit ^(Q)that he has made to dwell in us”? ⁶But ^(R)he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ^(S)“God opposes the proud but ^(T)gives grace to the humble.” ⁷Submit yourselves therefore to God. ^(U)Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸^(V)Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. ^(W)Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and ^(X)purify your hearts, ^(Y)you double-minded. ⁹^(Z)Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰^(AA)Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

¹¹^(AB)Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.^[d] The one who speaks against a brother or ^(AC)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. ¹²There is only ^(AD)one lawgiver and ^(AE)judge, he who is able to save and ^(AF)to destroy. But ^(AG)who are you to judge your neighbor?

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

Psalm 73:11-17

English Standard Version

¹¹And they say, ^(A)“How can God know?
    Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
¹²Behold, these are the wicked;
    always at ease, they ^(B)increase in riches.
¹³All in vain have I ^(C)kept my heart clean
    and ^(D)washed my hands in innocence.
¹⁴For all the day long I have been ^(E)stricken
    and ^(F)rebuked ^(G)every morning.
¹⁵If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
    I would have betrayed ^(H)the generation of your children.

¹⁶But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me ^(I)a wearisome task,
¹⁷until I went into ^(J)the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their ^(K)end.