The Text-Critical English New Testament
James 4
Friendship with the World
Where do wars and 1fights among you come from? Do they not come from your passions that wage war among your members? You desire but do not have. You murder and are jealous but cannot obtain what you want. You fight and war. 2You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 3Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? 4Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks in vain? The spirit that 5dwells in us desires to the point of envy, but God gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to 6God, but resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Speaking Evil Against One Another
Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. 7He who speaks evil against a brother 8and judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. Now if yoʋ judge the law, yoʋ are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one 9lawgiver—he who is able to save and destroy. 10But who are yoʋ to judge 11another?
Boasting About Tomorrow
Come now, you who say, “Today 12and tomorrow 13let us go to such and such a city, spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.” You do not know 14what will happen tomorrow. What is 15your life? 16It is a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, 17let us live and do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes; all such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and does not do it, for him it is sin.
Source notes (17)
- Footnote fights ¦ where do fights CT
- Footnote You 𝔐13 ¦ And you 𝔐7 ANT ¦ Yet you TR
- Footnote Adulterers and adulteresses 97.8% ¦ Adulteresses CT 1.8%
- Footnote Therefore whoever 𝔐12 • CT ¦ Whoever 𝔐8
- Footnote dwells ¦ he made to dwell CT
- Footnote God, but ¦ God; ANT PCK TR
- Footnote He ¦ For he PCK
- Footnote and 83.5% ¦ or CT 15.3%
- Footnote lawgiver ¦ lawgiver and judge ANT CT PCK SBL WH
- Footnote But who ¦ Who TR
- Footnote another ¦ yoʋr neighbor CT
- Footnote and ¦ or CT SCR
- Footnote let us ¦ we will ANT CT SCR
- Footnote what will happen ¦ about WH
- Footnote your ¦ our PCK
- Footnote It is ¦ You are CT {Note: The main Greek text literally reads It will be.}
- Footnote let us ¦ we will ANT CT SCR
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Full source notice & licence · CC BY 4.0 · SourceEdition imported 2026-11-09.