James · Majority Standard Bible
James 4 Majority Standard Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you?
1 Πόθεν πόλεμοι καὶ μάχαι ἐν ὑμῖν; οὐκ ἐντεῦθεν, ἐκ τῶν ἡδονῶν ὑμῶν τῶν στρατευομένων ἐν τοῖς μέλεσιν ὑμῶν;
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.
2 ἐπιθυμεῖτε, καὶ οὐκ ἔχετε· φονεύετε καὶ ζηλοῦτε, καὶ οὐ δύνασθε ἐπιτυχεῖν· μάχεσθε καὶ πολεμεῖτε, [καὶ] οὐκ ἔχετε, διὰ τὸ μὴ αἰτεῖσθαι ὑμᾶς·
3 And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.
3 αἰτεῖτε καὶ οὐ λαμβάνετε, διότι κακῶς αἰτεῖσθε, ἵνα ἐν ταῖς ἡδοναῖς ὑμῶν δαπανήσητε.
4 You adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy 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 do you think the Scripture says without reason that the Spirit who dwells in us yearns with envy?
5 ἢ δοκεῖτε ὅτι κενῶς ἡ γραφὴ λέγει, πρὸς φθόνον ἐπιποθεῖ τὸ πνεῦμα ὃ κατῴκησεν ἐν ἡμῖν;
6 But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
6 μείζονα δὲ δίδωσι χάριν· διὸ λέγει· ὁ Θεὸς ὑπερηφάνοις ἀντιτάσσεται, ταπεινοῖς δὲ δίδωσι χάριν.
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
7 Ὑποτάγητε οὖν τῷ Θεῷ. ἀντίστητε τῷ διαβόλῳ, καὶ φεύξεται ἀφ᾽ ὑμῶν·
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 ἐγγίσατε τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ἐγγιεῖ ὑμῖν. καθαρίσατε χεῖρας ἁμαρτωλοὶ καὶ ἁγνίσατε καρδίας δίψυχοι.
9 Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom.
9 ταλαιπωρήσατε καὶ πενθήσατε καὶ κλαύσατε· ὁ γέλως ὑμῶν εἰς πένθος μεταστραφήτω καὶ ἡ χαρὰ εἰς κατήφειαν.
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.
10 ταπεινώθητε ἐνώπιον τοῦ Κυρίου, καὶ ὑψώσει ὑμᾶς.
11 Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother and 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.
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 Lawgiver, the One who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge the other?
12 εἷς ἐστιν ὁ νομοθέτης καὶ κριτής, ὁ δυνάμενος σῶσαι καὶ ἀπολέσαι· σὺ δὲ τίς εἶ ὃς κρίνεις τὸν ἕτερον;
13 Come now, you who say, “Today and tomorrow let us go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.”
13 Ἄγε νῦν οἱ λέγοντες· σήμερον καὶ αὔριον πορευσόμεθα εἰς τήνδε τὴν πόλιν καὶ ποιήσομεν ἐκεῖ ἐνιαυτὸν ἕνα καὶ ἐμπορευσόμεθα καὶ κερδήσομεν·
14 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.
14 οἵτινες οὐκ ἐπίστασθε τὸ τῆς αὔριον· ποία γὰρ ἡ ζωὴ ὑμῶν; ἀτμὶς γάρ ἔσται ἡ πρὸς ὀλίγον φαινομένη, ἔπειτα [δὲ] καὶ ἀφανιζομένη·
15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, let us live and do this or that.”
15 ἀντὶ τοῦ λέγειν ὑμᾶς, ἐὰν ὁ Κύριος θελήσῃ, καὶ ζήσομεν καὶ ποιήσομεν τοῦτο ἢ ἐκεῖνο.
16 As it is, you boast in your proud intentions. All such boasting is evil.
16 νῦν δὲ καυχᾶσθε ἐν ταῖς ἀλαζονείαις ὑμῶν· πᾶσα καύχησις τοιαύτη πονηρά ἐστιν.
17 Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do, yet fails to do it, is guilty of 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)