4
Things to Avoid
1 1What is the source of quarrels and
Aconflicts among you?
2Is not the source your pleasures that wage
Bwar in your members?
2 You lust and do not have;
so you
Acommit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain;
so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.
3 You ask and
Ado not receive, because you ask
1with wrong motives, so that you may spend
it 2on your pleasures.
4 You
Aadulteresses, do you not know that friendship with
Bthe world is
Chostility toward God?
DTherefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
5 Or do you think that the Scripture
Aspeaks to no purpose: “
1He
2jealously desires
Bthe Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”?
6 But
AHe gives a greater grace. Therefore
it says, “
BGoᴅ ɪs oᴘᴘosᴇᴅ ᴛo ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʀoᴜᴅ, ʙᴜᴛ ɢɪvᴇs ɢʀᴀcᴇ ᴛo ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴜᴍʙʟᴇ.”
7 ASubmit therefore to God.
BResist the devil and he will flee from you.
8 ADraw near to God and He will draw near to you.
BCleanse your hands, you sinners; and
Cpurify your hearts, you
Ddouble-minded.
9 ABe miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 AHumble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
11 ADo not speak against one another,
Bbrethren. He who speaks against a brother or
Cjudges his brother, speaks against
Dthe law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not
Ea doer of the law but a judge
of it. 12 There is
only one
ALawgiver and Judge, the One who is
Bable to save and to destroy; but
Cwho are you who judge your neighbor?
13 ACome now, you who say, “
BToday or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”
14 1Yet you do not know
2what your life will be like tomorrow.
AYou are
just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
15 1Instead,
you ought to say, “
AIf the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”
16 But as it is, you boast in your
1arrogance;
Aall such boasting is evil.
17 Therefore,
Ato one who knows
the 1right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.