James 4–5

Subject Yourselves to God

4From where are conflicts and from where are quarrels among you? Is it not from this, from your pleasures that wage war among your members? ²You desire and do not have; you murder and are filled with envy, and are not able to obtain; you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. ³You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, in order that you may spend it on your pleasures.

⁴Adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵Or do you think that in vain the scripture says, “The spirit which he caused to dwell in us desires jealously”?^{a 6}But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says,

“God opposes the proud,

but gives grace to the humble.”^b

⁷Therefore subject yourselves to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded! ⁹Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your^* joy to gloominess. ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

¹¹Do not speak evil of one another, brothers. The one who speaks evil of a brother or judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of the law.^{c 12}There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your^* neighbor?

Arrogant Boasting About the Future

¹³Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there, and carry on business and make a profit,” ¹⁴you who do not know what will happen tomorrow^d, what your life will be like^e. For you are a smoky vapor that appears for a short time and then disappears. ¹⁵Instead you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷Therefore, to the one who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Woes on the Rich Who Oppress Others

5Come now, you rich people, weep and cry aloud over the miseries that are coming upon you! ²Your wealth has rotted, and your clothing has become moth-eaten. ³Your gold and silver have become corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you, and it will consume your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days. ⁴Behold, the wages that were held back by you from the workers who reap your fields cry out, and the cries of the reapers have come to the ears of the Lord of hosts. ⁵You have lived self-indulgently on the earth^a and have lived luxuriously. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter. ⁶You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous person; he does not resist you.

Exhortation to Patience

⁷Therefore be patient, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the soil, being patient concerning it until it receives the early and late rains. ⁸You also be patient. Strengthen your hearts, because the coming of the Lord is near. ⁹Brothers, do not complain against one another, in order that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge stands before the doors! ¹⁰Brothers, take as an example of perseverance and endurance the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹Behold, we consider blessed those who have endured. You have heard about the patient endurance of Job, and you saw the outcome from the Lord, that the Lord is compassionate and merciful. ¹²Now above all, my brothers, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no, no, in order that you may not fall under judgment.

The Effective Prayer of Faith

¹³Is anyone among you suffering misfortune? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praise. ¹⁴Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the elders of the church and they should pray over him, anointing him with olive oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins he will be forgiven^b. ¹⁶Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much. ¹⁷Elijah was a human being^c with the same nature as us, and he prayed fervently^d for it not to rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. ¹⁸And he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the earth produced its fruit.

¹⁹My brothers, if anyone among you should wander away from the truth and someone turns him back, ²⁰he should know that the one who turns a sinner back from the error of his way will save that person’s^e soul from death, and will cover over a great number of sins.