James 4:13–5:6

Warning against Boasting

^13*Now listen to me, you that say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to a certain city, where we will stay a year and go into business and make a lot of money.” ^14*You don’t even know what your life tomorrow will be! You are like a puff of smoke, which appears for a moment and then disappears. ¹⁵What you should say is this: “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶But now you are proud, and you boast; all such boasting is wrong.

¹⁷So then, those who do not do the good they know they should do are guilty of sin.

Warning to the Rich

5And now, you rich people, listen to me! Weep and wail over the miseries that are coming upon you! ^2*Your riches have rotted away, and your clothes have been eaten by moths. ^3*Your gold and silver are covered with rust, and this rust will be a witness against you and will eat up your flesh like fire. You have piled up riches in these last days. ^4*You have not paid any wages to those who work in your fields. Listen to their complaints! The cries of those who gather in your crops have reached the ears of God, the Lord Almighty. ⁵Your life here on earth has been full of luxury and pleasure. You have made yourselves fat for the day of slaughter. ⁶You have condemned and murdered innocent people, and they do not resist you.^c