1 From whence are warres and contentions among you? are they not hence, euen of your pleasures, that fight in your members? 2 Ye lust, and haue not: ye enuie, and desire immoderately, and cannot obtaine: ye fight and warre, and get nothing, because ye aske not. 3 Ye aske, and receiue not, because ye aske amisse, that ye might lay the same out on your pleasures. 4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, knowe ye not that the amitie of the world is the enimitie of God? Whosoeuer therefore will be a friend of the world, maketh himselfe the enemie of God. 5 Doe ye thinke that the Scripture sayeth in vaine, The spirit that dwelleth in vs, lusteth after enuie? 6 But the Scripture offereth more grace, and therefore sayth, God resisteth the proude, and giueth grace to the humble. 7 Submit your selues to God: resist the deuill, and he will flee from you. 8 Drawe neere to God, and he will drawe neere to you. Clense your handes, ye sinners, and purge your hearts, ye double minded. 9 Suffer afflictions, and sorrowe ye, and weepe: let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your ioy into heauinesse. 10 Cast downe your selues before the Lord, and he will lift you vp. 11 Speake not euill one of another, brethren. He that speaketh euill of his brother, or he that condemneth his brother, speaketh euill of ye Law, and condemneth the Lawe: and if thou condemnest the Lawe, thou art not an obseruer of the Lawe, but a iudge. 12 There is one Lawgiuer, which is able to saue, and to destroy. Who art thou that iudgest another man? 13 Goe to now ye that say, To day or to morowe we will goe into such a citie, and continue there a yeere, and bye and sell, and get gaine, 14 (And yet ye cannot tell what shalbe to morowe. For what is your life? It is euen a vapour that appeareth for a litle time, and afterward vanisheth away) 15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, and, if we liue, we will doe this or that. 16 But now ye reioyce in your boastings: all such reioycing is euill. 17 Therefore, to him that knoweth how to doe well, and doeth it not, to him it is sinne.
Friendship with the World
1 Why do you fight and argue with each other? Isn't it because you are full of selfish desires that fight to control your body? 2 You want something you don't have, and you will do anything to get it. You will even kill! But you still cannot get what you want, and you won't get it by fighting and arguing. You should pray for it. 3 Yet even when you do pray, your prayers are not answered, because you pray just for selfish reasons.
4 You people aren't faithful to God! Don't you know if you love the world, you are God's enemies? And if you decide to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. 5 Do you doubt the Scriptures that say, “God truly cares about the Spirit he has put in us”? 6 In fact, God treats us with even greater kindness, just as the Scriptures say,
“God opposes everyone
who is proud,
but he blesses all who are humble
with undeserved grace.”
7 Surrender to God! Resist the devil, and he will run from you. 8 Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Clean up your lives, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you people who can't make up your mind. 9 Be sad and sorry and weep. Stop laughing and start crying. Be gloomy instead of glad. 10 Be humble in the Lord's presence, and he will honor you.
Saying Cruel Things about Others
11 My friends, don't say cruel things about others! If you do, or if you condemn others, you are condemning God's Law. And if you condemn the Law, you put yourself above the Law and refuse to obey either it 12 or God who gave it. God is our judge, and he can save or destroy us. What right do you have to condemn anyone?
Warning against Bragging
13 You should know better than to say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to the city. We will do business there for a year and make a lot of money!” 14 What do you know about tomorrow? How can you be so sure about your life? It is nothing more than mist that appears for only a little while before it disappears. 15 You should say, “If the Lord lets us live, we will do these things.” 16 Yet you are stupid enough to brag, and it is wrong to be so proud. 17 If you don't do what you know is right, you have sinned.