| King James Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? | 1What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? |
| 2Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. | 2You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. |
| 3Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. | 3And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure. |
| 4Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. | 4You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. |
| 5Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? | 5Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. |
| 6But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. | 6And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” |
| 7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. | 7So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. |
| 8Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. | 8Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. |
| 9Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. | 9Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. |
| 10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. | 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor. Warning against Judging Others |
| 11Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. | 11Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. |
| 12There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? | 12God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor? Warning about Self-Confidence |
| 13Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: | 13Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” |
| 14Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. | 14How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. |
| 15For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. | 15What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” |
| 16But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. | 16Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil. |
| 17Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. | 17Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. |
| King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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