James 4:8-17 ▼

8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

9 Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom.

10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

11 Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother and judges him speaks against the law and judges it. And if you judge the law, you are not a practitioner of the law, but a judge of it.

12 There is only one Lawgiver, the One who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge the other?

13 Come now, you who say, “Today and tomorrow let us go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.”

14 You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, let us live and do this or that.”

16 As it is, you boast in your proud intentions. All such boasting is evil.

17 Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do, yet fails to do it, is guilty of sin.