James 4

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Where do these wars and battles between yourselves first start? Is it not precisely in the desiresfighting inside your own selves?	1 Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from? Is it not from your passions that make war within your members?
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;	2 You covet but do not possess. You kill and envy but you cannot obtain; you fight and wage war. You do not possess because you do not ask.
3 when you do pray and do not receive, it is because you prayed wrongly, wanting to indulge yourpassions.	3 You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
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.	4 Adulterers! Do you not know that to be a lover of the world means enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wants to be a lover of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
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.'?	5 Or do you suppose that the scripture speaks without meaning when it says, "The spirit that he has made to dwell in us tends toward jealousy"?
6 But he has given us an even greater grace, as scripture says: God opposes the proud but he accordshis favour to the humble.	6 But he bestows a greater grace; therefore, it says: "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
7 Give in to God, then; resist the devil, and he wil run away from you.	7 So submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 The nearer you go to God, the nearer God wil come to you. Clean your hands, you sinners, and clearyour minds, you waverers.	8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you of two minds.
9 Appreciate your wretchedness, and weep for it in misery. Your laughter must be turned to grief, yourhappiness to gloom.	9 Begin to lament, to mourn, to weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection.
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord and he wil lift you up.	10 Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.
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.	11 Do not speak evil of one another, brothers. Whoever speaks evil of a brother or judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
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?	12 There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save or to destroy. Who then are you to judge your neighbor?
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.'	13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we shall go into such and such a town, spend a year there doing business, and make a profit"--
14 You never know what wil happen tomorrow: you are no more than a mist that appears for a little whileand then disappears.	14 you have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears.
15 Instead of this, you should say, 'If it is the Lord's wil , we shal stil be alive to do this or that.'	15 Instead you should say, "If the Lord wills it, we shall live to do this or that."
16 But as it is, how boastful and loud -- mouthed you are! Boasting of this kind is always wrong.	16 But now you are boasting in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
17 Everyone who knows what is the right thing to do and does not do it commits a sin.	17 So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is a sin.