James 4

KING JAMES BIBLE	NEW JERUSALEM
1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?	1 Where do these wars and battles between yourselves first start? Is it not precisely in the desiresfighting inside your own selves?
2 Ye 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.	2 You want something and you lack it; so you kil . You have an ambition that you cannot satisfy; so youfight to get your way by force. It is because you do not pray that you do not receive;
3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.	3 when you do pray and do not receive, it is because you prayed wrongly, wanting to indulge yourpassions.
4 Ye 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.	4 Adulterers! Do you not realise that love for the world is hatred for God? Anyone who chooses the worldfor a friend is constituted an enemy of God.
5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?	5 Can you not see the point of the saying in scripture, 'The longing of the spirit he sent to dwel in us is ajealous longing.'?
6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.	6 But he has given us an even greater grace, as scripture says: God opposes the proud but he accordshis favour to the humble.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.	7 Give in to God, then; resist the devil, and he wil run away from you.
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.	8 The nearer you go to God, the nearer God wil come to you. Clean your hands, you sinners, and clearyour minds, you waverers.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.	9 Appreciate your wretchedness, and weep for it in misery. Your laughter must be turned to grief, yourhappiness to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.	10 Humble yourselves before the Lord and he wil lift you up.
11 Speak 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.	11 Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who slanders a brother, or condemns one, is speakingagainst the Law and condemning the Law. But if you condemn the Law, you have ceased to be subject to it andbecome a judge over it.
12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?	12 There is only one lawgiver and he is the only judge and has the power to save or to destroy. Who areyou to give a verdict on your neighbour?
13 Go 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:	13 Wel now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow, we are off to this or that town; we are going to spend ayear there, trading, and make some money.'
14 Whereas 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.	14 You never know what wil happen tomorrow: you are no more than a mist that appears for a little whileand then disappears.
15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.	15 Instead of this, you should say, 'If it is the Lord's wil , we shal stil be alive to do this or that.'
16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.	16 But as it is, how boastful and loud -- mouthed you are! Boasting of this kind is always wrong.
17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.	17 Everyone who knows what is the right thing to do and does not do it commits a sin.