James 4:8-17 ▼

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

9 Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.

11 Do not speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12 Only one is the lawgiver and judge, who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

13 Come now, you who say, |Today or tomorrow let us go into this city, and spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.|

14 Whereas you do not know what tomorrow will be like. What is your life? For you are a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

15 For you ought to say, |If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.|

16 But now you glory in your boasting. All such boasting is evil.

17 To him therefore who knows to do good, and does not do it, to him it is sin.