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James 4
Revised Geneva Translation
James 4
Revised Geneva Translation
4 From where are wars and contentions among you? Do they not come from your sensual pleasures, which fight in your members?
2 You lust, and do not have. You envy and desire immoderately and cannot obtain. You fight and war and get nothing, because you do not ask.
3 You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss, so that you might spend it on your pleasures.
4 You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that the amity of the world is the enmity of God? Therefore, whoever will be a friend of the world, makes himself the enemy of God.
5 Do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit that dwells in us longs enviously”?
6 But it offers more grace, and therefore says, “God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.
7 Submit yourselves 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 purge your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Suffer afflictions and sorrow, and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into heaviness.
10 Cast yourselves down before the Lord, and He will lift you up.
11 Do not speak evil of one another, brothers. The one who speaks evil of his brother, or the one who condemns his brother, speaks evil of the Law, and condemns the Law. And if you condemn the Law, you are not an observer of the Law, but a judge.
12 There is one Lawgiver, Who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into a certain city and continue there a year and buy and sell and gain a profit.”
14 And yet, you cannot say what shall happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is but a vapor that appears for a little time and afterward vanishes away.
15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, and if we live, we will do this or that”.
16 But now you exult in your boastings. All such boasting is evil.
17 Therefore, to him who knows how to do well, and does not do so, to him it is sin.
James 4
New International Version
James 4
New International Version
Submit Yourselves to God
4 What causes fights and quarrels(A) among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle(B) within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill.(C) 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 When you ask, you do not receive,(D) because you ask with wrong motives,(E) that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
4 You adulterous(F) people,[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world(G) means enmity against God?(H) Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.(I) 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us[b]?(J) 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil,(L) and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.(M) Wash your hands,(N) you sinners, and purify your hearts,(O) you double-minded.(P) 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.(Q) 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.(R)
11 Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another.(S) Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister[d] or judges them(T) speaks against the law(U) and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it,(V) but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge,(W) the one who is able to save and destroy.(X) But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?(Y)
Boasting About Tomorrow
13 Now listen,(Z) you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”(AA) 14 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.(AB) 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will,(AC) we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.(AD) 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.(AE)
Footnotes
- James 4:4 An allusion to covenant unfaithfulness; see Hosea 3:1.
- James 4:5 Or that the spirit he caused to dwell in us envies intensely; or that the Spirit he caused to dwell in us longs jealously
- James 4:6 Prov. 3:34
- James 4:11 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family.
Revised Geneva Translation (RGT)
© 2019 by Five Talents Audio
New International Version (NIV) 
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