James 4:1-12 ▼

1 What causes conflicts and quarrels among you⁺? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you⁺ \passions warring among your members?/?

2 You⁺ crave what you⁺ do not have; you⁺ kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You⁺ quarrel and fight. You⁺ do not have, because you⁺ do not ask.

3 And when you⁺ do ask, you do not receive, because you⁺ ask with wrong motives, that you⁺ may squander it on your⁺ pleasures.

4 You adulteresses ! Do you⁺ not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God {Theou}? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself (is appointed) an enemy of God.

5 Or do you⁺ think the Scripture says without reason that the Spirit {pneuma} He caused to dwell in us yearns with envy?

6 But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God {Theos} opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble .”

7 Submit yourselves, then, to God {Theō}. Resist the devil {diabolō}, and he will flee from you⁺.

8 Draw near to God {Theō}, and He will draw near to you⁺. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

9 Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your⁺ laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom.

10 Humble yourselves before the Lord {Kyriou}, and He will exalt you⁺.

11 Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. And if you judge the law, you are not a practitioner of the law, but a judge of it.

12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?