New King James Version

English Standard Version

Pride Promotes Strife

Where do [a]wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?

1

Warning Against Worldliness

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passionsa are at war within you?b

2

You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and [b]war. [c]Yet you do not have because you do not ask.

2

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.

3

You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

3

You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

4

[d]Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

4

You adulterous people!c 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.

5

Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

5

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”?

6

But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”

6

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

7

Humility Cures Worldliness

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

7

Submit yourselves therefore 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 purify your hearts, you double-minded.

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 and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

9

Be wretched and 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 lift you up.

10

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

11

Do Not Judge a Brother

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

11

Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.d 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.

12

There is one [e]Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who[f] are you to judge [g]another?

12

There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

13

Do Not Boast About Tomorrow

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow [h]we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”;

13

Boasting About Tomorrow

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” —

14

whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

14

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.

15

Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

15

Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

16

But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

16

As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

17

Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

17

So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Parallel

New King James Version

English Standard Version

James 4

James 4