James · Bible in Basic English
James 4 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 What is the cause of wars and fighting among you? is it not in your desires which are at war in your bodies?
1 Πόθεν πόλεμοι καὶ μάχαι ἐν ὑμῖν; οὐκ ἐντεῦθεν, ἐκ τῶν ἡδονῶν ὑμῶν τῶν στρατευομένων ἐν τοῖς μέλεσιν ὑμῶν;
2 You are burning with desire, and have not your desire, so you put men to death; you are full of envy, and you are not able to get your desire, so you are fighting and making war; you have not your desire, because you do not make request for it.
2 ἐπιθυμεῖτε, καὶ οὐκ ἔχετε· φονεύετε καὶ ζηλοῦτε, καὶ οὐ δύνασθε ἐπιτυχεῖν· μάχεσθε καὶ πολεμεῖτε, [καὶ] οὐκ ἔχετε, διὰ τὸ μὴ αἰτεῖσθαι ὑμᾶς·
3 You make your request but you do not get it, because your request has been wrongly made, desiring the thing only so that you may make use of it for your pleasure.
3 αἰτεῖτε καὶ οὐ λαμβάνετε, διότι κακῶς αἰτεῖσθε, ἵνα ἐν ταῖς ἡδοναῖς ὑμῶν δαπανήσητε.
4 O you who are false to God, do you not see that the friends of this world are not God's friends? Every man desiring to be a friend of this world makes himself a hater of God.
4 μοιχοὶ καὶ μοιχαλίδες! οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι ἡ φιλία τοῦ κόσμου ἔχθρα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐστιν; ὃς ἂν οὖν βουληθῇ φίλος εἶναι τοῦ κόσμου, ἐχθρὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ καθίσταται.
5 Or does it seem to you that it is for nothing that the holy Writings say, The spirit which God put into our hearts has a strong desire for us?
5 ἢ δοκεῖτε ὅτι κενῶς ἡ γραφὴ λέγει, πρὸς φθόνον ἐπιποθεῖ τὸ πνεῦμα ὃ κατῴκησεν ἐν ἡμῖν;
6 But he gives more grace. So that the Writings say, God is against the men of pride, but he gives grace to those who make themselves low before him.
6 μείζονα δὲ δίδωσι χάριν· διὸ λέγει· ὁ Θεὸς ὑπερηφάνοις ἀντιτάσσεται, ταπεινοῖς δὲ δίδωσι χάριν.
7 For this cause be ruled by God; but make war on the Evil One and he will be put to flight before you.
7 Ὑποτάγητε οὖν τῷ Θεῷ. ἀντίστητε τῷ διαβόλῳ, καὶ φεύξεται ἀφ᾽ ὑμῶν·
8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Make your hands clean, you evil-doers; put away deceit from your hearts, you false in mind.
8 ἐγγίσατε τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ἐγγιεῖ ὑμῖν. καθαρίσατε χεῖρας ἁμαρτωλοὶ καὶ ἁγνίσατε καρδίας δίψυχοι.
9 Be troubled, with sorrow and weeping; let your laughing be turned to sorrow and your joy to grief.
9 ταλαιπωρήσατε καὶ πενθήσατε καὶ κλαύσατε· ὁ γέλως ὑμῶν εἰς πένθος μεταστραφήτω καὶ ἡ χαρὰ εἰς κατήφειαν.
10 Make yourselves low in the eyes of the Lord and you will be lifted up by him.
10 ταπεινώθητε ἐνώπιον τοῦ Κυρίου, καὶ ὑψώσει ὑμᾶς.
11 Do not say evil against one another, my brothers. He who says evil against his brother or makes himself his brother's judge, says evil against the law and is judging the law: and in judging the law you become, not a doer of the law but a judge.
11 Μὴ καταλαλεῖτε ἀλλήλων, ἀδελφοί. ὁ καταλαλῶν ἀδελφοῦ καὶ κρίνων τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ καταλαλεῖ νόμου καὶ κρίνει νόμον· εἰ δὲ νόμον κρίνεις, οὐκ εἶ ποιητὴς νόμου, ἀλλὰ κριτής.
12 There is only one judge and law-giver, even he who has the power of salvation and of destruction; but who are you to be your neighbour's judge?
12 εἷς ἐστιν ὁ νομοθέτης καὶ κριτής, ὁ δυνάμενος σῶσαι καὶ ἀπολέσαι· σὺ δὲ τίς εἶ ὃς κρίνεις τὸν ἕτερον;
13 How foolish it is to say, Today or tomorrow we will go into this town, and be there for a year and do business there and get wealth:
13 Ἄγε νῦν οἱ λέγοντες· σήμερον καὶ αὔριον πορευσόμεθα εἰς τήνδε τὴν πόλιν καὶ ποιήσομεν ἐκεῖ ἐνιαυτὸν ἕνα καὶ ἐμπορευσόμεθα καὶ κερδήσομεν·
14 When you are not certain what will take place tomorrow. What is your life? It is a mist, which is seen for a little time and then is gone.
14 οἵτινες οὐκ ἐπίστασθε τὸ τῆς αὔριον· ποία γὰρ ἡ ζωὴ ὑμῶν; ἀτμὶς γάρ ἔσται ἡ πρὸς ὀλίγον φαινομένη, ἔπειτα [δὲ] καὶ ἀφανιζομένη·
15 But the right thing to say would be, If it is the Lord's pleasure and if we are still living, we will do this and that.
15 ἀντὶ τοῦ λέγειν ὑμᾶς, ἐὰν ὁ Κύριος θελήσῃ, καὶ ζήσομεν καὶ ποιήσομεν τοῦτο ἢ ἐκεῖνο.
16 But now you go on glorying in your pride: and all such glorying is evil.
16 νῦν δὲ καυχᾶσθε ἐν ταῖς ἀλαζονείαις ὑμῶν· πᾶσα καύχησις τοιαύτη πονηρά ἐστιν.
17 The man who has knowledge of how to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
17 εἰδότι οὖν καλὸν ποιεῖν καὶ μὴ ποιοῦντι, ἁμαρτία αὐτῷ ἐστιν.
Cross references (17)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 1 Peter 2:11; Galatians 5:17; Romans 7:23; James 1:14; Romans 8:7
- 2 John 16:24; Matthew 7:7–8; James 1:5; Luke 11:9–13; John 4:10
- 3 1 John 5:14; 1 John 3:22; James 1:6–7; James 4:1; Proverbs 15:8
- 4 1 John 2:15–16; Romans 8:7; Matthew 6:24; John 15:19; Galatians 1:10
- 5 2 Corinthians 6:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Numbers 11:29; Titus 3:3; Psalm 37:1
- 6 Matthew 23:12; Proverbs 3:34; 1 Peter 5:5; Psalm 138:6; Proverbs 18:12
- 7 1 Peter 5:8–9; Ephesians 4:27; Ephesians 6:11–12; 1 Peter 5:6; Luke 4:2–13
- 8 Psalm 145:18; Hebrews 10:22; Malachi 3:7; Zechariah 1:3; Isaiah 55:6–7
- 9 Matthew 5:4; 2 Corinthians 7:10–11; Luke 6:25; Proverbs 14:13; James 5:1–2
- 10 Psalm 147:6; Matthew 23:12; 1 Peter 5:6; Luke 14:11; James 4:6–7
- 11 1 Peter 2:1; James 5:9; Romans 2:1; Luke 6:37; Psalm 140:11
- 12 Romans 14:4; Romans 2:1; Matthew 10:28; Isaiah 33:22; James 5:9
- 13 Proverbs 27:1; Luke 12:17–20; Genesis 11:3–4; Ecclesiastes 2:1; Isaiah 24:2
- 14 1 Peter 1:24; Psalm 39:5; 1 John 2:17; Psalm 102:3; Job 7:6–7
- 15 Proverbs 19:21; Hebrews 6:3; Lamentations 3:37; Acts 18:21; Romans 1:10
- 16 Proverbs 27:1; 1 Corinthians 5:6; Psalm 52:7; Proverbs 25:14; Isaiah 47:10
- 17 John 9:41; John 13:17; John 15:22; 2 Peter 2:21; Luke 12:47–48
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
"For God," saith [the Scripture], "resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble." Let us cleave, then, to those to whom grace has been given by God.
And man, being a part of Thy creation, desires to praise Thee, man, who bears about with him his mortality, the witness of his sin, even the witness that Thou "resistest the proud," --yet man, this part of Thy creation, desires to praise Thee.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
"God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." Again, I will ask you another thing also.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
… man, very skilful in medicine, and much renowned therein, who had with his own proconsular hand put the Agonistic garland upon my distempered head, not, though, as a physician; for this disease Thou alone healest, who resistest the proud, and givest grace to the humble. But didst Thou fail me even by that old man, or forbear from healing my …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
But I pressed towards Thee, and was repelled by Thee that I might taste of death, for Thou "resistest the proud." But what prouder than for me, with a marvellous madness, to assert myself to be that by nature which Thou art?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)