CHAPTER 4

Draw Near to God

1 1What is the source of quarrels and aconflicts among you? 2Is not the source your pleasures that wage bwar in your members?

2 You lust and do not have, so you amurder. You are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.

3 You ask and ado not receive, because you ask 1with wrong motives, so that you may spend it 2on your pleasures.

4 You aadulteresses, do you not know that friendship with bthe world is cenmity toward God? dTherefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world sets himself as an enemy of God.

5 Or do you think that the Scripture aspeaks to no purpose: “1He 2jealously desires bthe Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”?

6 But aHe gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “bGod is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

7 aBe subject therefore to God. bResist the devil and he will flee from you.

8 aDraw near to God and He will draw near to you. bCleanse your hands, you sinners, and cpurify your hearts, you ddouble-minded.

9 aBe miserable and mourn and cry. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.

10 aHumble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

11 aDo not slander one another, bbrothers. He who slanders a brother or cjudges his brother, slanders dthe law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not ea doer of the law but a judge of it.

12 There is only one aLawgiver and Judge, the One who is bable to save and to destroy. But cwho are you who judge your neighbor?

Life Is a Vapor

13 aCome now, you who say, “bToday or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”

14 1Yet you do not know 2what your life will be like tomorrow. aYou are a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

15 1Instead, you ought to say, “aIf the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”

16 But as it is, you boast in your 1arrogance. aAll such boasting is evil.

17 Therefore, ato one who knows to do the 1right thing and does not do it, to him it is sin.