7Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded (those torn between their love of God and of the world). 9Grieve and mourn, and weep; change your laughter into mourning, and your joy to sadness. 10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.

11Do not criticize one another, brothers and sisters. Anyone who slanders or judges others, speaks against and criticizes the law; but you are not to judge the law, but to obey the law - not sit in judgment of it. 12There is only one Lawgiver, Who is able to both save and destroy. But you - who are you to judge your neighbor?

13Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that city, and spend a year doing business there, buying, selling, and making money”; 14Why? When you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. For what is your life? It is but a vapor that appears for a little time, and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live, and do this, or that”. 16But as it is, you ignorantly boast of your arrogant plans and schemes. Such boasting is evil. 17Remember, it is sin for anyone who knows what they should do, but does not do it.