James 4

1 Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don’t they come from your pleasures that war in your members?

Πόθεν πόλεμοι καὶ πόθεν μάχαι ἐν ὑμῖν; Οὐκ ἐντεῦθεν ἐκ τῶν ἡδονῶν ὑμῶν, τῶν στρατευομένων ἐν τοῖς μέλεσιν ὑμῶν;

2 You lust, and don’t have. You murder and covet, and can’t obtain. You fight and make war. You don’t have, because you don’t ask.

Ἐπιθυμεῖτε καὶ οὐκ ἔχετε· φονεύετε καὶ ζηλοῦτε, καὶ οὐ δύνασθε ἐπιτυχεῖν· μάχεσθε καὶ πολεμεῖτε. Οὐκ ἔχετε, διὰ τὸ μὴ αἰτεῖσθαι ὑμᾶς·

3 You ask, and don’t receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

αἰτεῖτε καὶ οὐ λαμβάνετε, διότι κακῶς αἰτεῖσθε, ἵνα ἐν ταῖς ἡδοναῖς ὑμῶν δαπανήσητε.

4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Μοιχαλίδες! Οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι ἡ φιλία τοῦ κόσμου, ἔχθρα τοῦ ˚Θεοῦ ἐστιν; Ὃς ἐὰν οὖν βουληθῇ φίλος εἶναι τοῦ κόσμου, ἐχθρὸς τοῦ ˚Θεοῦ καθίσταται.

5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously”?

Ἢ δοκεῖτε ὅτι κενῶς ἡ Γραφὴ λέγει, “Πρὸς φθόνον ἐπιποθεῖ τὸ ˚Πνεῦμα ὃ κατῴκισεν ἐν ἡμῖν;”

6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Μείζονα δὲ δίδωσιν χάριν. Διὸ λέγει, “Ὁ ˚Θεὸς ὑπερηφάνοις ἀντιτάσσεται, ταπεινοῖς δὲ δίδωσιν χάριν.”

7 Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Ὑποτάγητε οὖν τῷ ˚Θεῷ. Ἀντίστητε δὲ τῷ διαβόλῳ, καὶ φεύξεται ἀφʼ ὑμῶν.

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

Ἐγγίσατε τῷ ˚Θεῷ, καὶ ἐγγιεῖ ὑμῖν. Καθαρίσατε χεῖρας, ἁμαρτωλοί, καὶ ἁγνίσατε καρδίας, δίψυχοι.

9 Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

Ταλαιπωρήσατε, καὶ πενθήσατε, καὶ κλαύσατε. Ὁ γέλως ὑμῶν εἰς πένθος μετατραπήτω, καὶ ἡ χαρὰ εἰς κατήφειαν.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Ταπεινώθητε ἐνώπιον ˚Κυρίου, καὶ ὑψώσει ὑμᾶς.

11 Don’t speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother and judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

Μὴ καταλαλεῖτε ἀλλήλων, ἀδελφοί. Ὁ καταλαλῶν ἀδελφοῦ ἢ κρίνων τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ, καταλαλεῖ νόμου καὶ κρίνει νόμον. Εἰ δὲ νόμον κρίνεις, οὐκ εἶ ποιητὴς νόμου, ἀλλὰ κριτής.

12 Only one is the lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge another?

Εἷς ἐστιν νομοθέτης καὶ κριτής, ὁ δυνάμενος σῶσαι καὶ ἀπολέσαι. Σὺ δὲ τίς εἶ, ὁ κρίνων τὸν πλησίον;

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow let’s go into this city and spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.”

Ἄγε νῦν, οἱ λέγοντες, “Σήμερον ἢ αὔριον, πορευσόμεθα εἰς τήνδε τὴν πόλιν, καὶ ποιήσομεν ἐκεῖ ἐνιαυτὸν, καὶ ἐμπορευσόμεθα, καὶ κερδήσομεν.”

14 Yet you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

Οἵτινες οὐκ ἐπίστασθε τῆς αὔριον, ποία γὰρ ζωὴ ὑμῶν; Ἀτμὶς γάρ ἐστε, ἡ πρὸς ὀλίγον φαινομένη, ἔπειτα καὶ ἀφανιζομένη.

15 For you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.”

Ἀντὶ τοῦ λέγειν ὑμᾶς, “Ἐὰν ὁ ˚Κύριος θελήσῃ, καὶ ζήσομεν καὶ ποιήσομεν, τοῦτο ἢ ἐκεῖνο.”

16 But now you glory in your boasting. All such boasting is evil.

Νῦν δὲ καυχᾶσθε ἐν ταῖς ἀλαζονείαις ὑμῶν. Πᾶσα καύχησις τοιαύτη πονηρά ἐστιν.

17 To him therefore who knows to do good and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.

Εἰδότι οὖν καλὸν ποιεῖν, καὶ μὴ ποιοῦντι, ἁμαρτία αὐτῷ ἐστιν.