James 4 Parallel Bible Translations

James 4 ▼
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1 Where do the conflicts and where do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, from your passions that battle inside you? What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?
2 You desire and you do not have; you murder and envy and you cannot obtain; you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask; You 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. You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.
3 you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so you can spend it on your passions. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
4 Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? So whoever decides to be the world's friend makes himself God's enemy. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
5 Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, |The spirit that God caused to live within us has an envious yearning|? Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?
6 But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, |God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.| But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
7 So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into despair. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
11 Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. He who speaks against a fellow believer or judges a fellow believer speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but its judge. Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or 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. Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.
12 But there is only one who is lawgiver and judge--the one who is able to save and destroy. On the other hand, who are you to judge your neighbor? There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
13 Come now, you who say, |Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.| Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”
14 You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? For you are a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes. yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
15 You ought to say instead, |If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that.| Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.
17 So whoever knows what is good to do and does not do it is guilty of sin. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
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