James 4:1–6

¹¹Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

¹⁷For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

²³But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

¹⁴But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

⁷Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

¹⁵Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

¹⁶For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

¹⁷And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

⁹¶ The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

¹⁶These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.

¹⁷But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

¹⁸How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.

¹⁴As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

⁵Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

³Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

¹⁴But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

¹⁵This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

¹⁶For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

¹⁷But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

¹⁸And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

³Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

²¹For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

²²Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:

²³All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

¹⁸For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.

⁵But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

⁶And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?

⁷If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

⁸And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

³For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

⁹But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

²That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

³For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

⁴He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,

⁵Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

⁶But godliness with contentment is great gain.

⁷For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

⁸And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

⁹But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

¹⁰For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

¹⁹For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

⁵For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

⁴⁴Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

²⁴Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

⁷¶ Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

⁸For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

⁵If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

⁹And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

¹⁰For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

¹¹If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

¹²Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

¹³If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

¹⁰Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

⁹But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

¹⁰For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

¹GO to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

²Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

³Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

⁴Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

⁵Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

¹⁹So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

⁵¶ Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:

¹²But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.

⁸There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.

¹⁴And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

²²And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

⁶But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

⁷For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

¹FROM whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

⁸The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

⁴Then shall they cry unto the Lord, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.

¹⁸If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

¹⁹But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.

¹²There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men.

¹³Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts:

⁸For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?

⁹Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?

¹⁰Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?

¹AND he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.

²And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.

¹³Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.

¹⁴Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.

¹³And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

³⁸But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?

²²But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.

²⁸Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

²⁷The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?

¹⁵And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

¹⁶¶ Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

⁴¹They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the Lord, but he answered them not.

¹²When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.

¹¹¶ Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.

³⁰But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.

¹⁵Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

¹⁶For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

⁷Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

¹⁹If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

²⁴¶ No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

¹⁰For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

¹⁴I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

²⁷Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

²³He that hateth me hateth my Father also.

²⁴If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.

¹⁰For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

¹THEN said the Lord unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.

⁷The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.

⁴A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.

²⁷For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.

²⁷But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.

³⁹But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:

⁸Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.

¹⁸When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.

²Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.

³¶ But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore.

¹⁵And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

²Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.

¹⁶And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

¹⁹What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

²⁹And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!

³For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

²¹And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

¹FRET not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.

⁵¶ And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

¹⁴For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.

¹AND when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.

¹¹And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

³⁵If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;

¹⁰The soul of the wicked desireth evil: his neighbour findeth no favour in his eyes.

⁹And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,

⁴¶ Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

⁸And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

⁵But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

⁶And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?

¹⁶They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the Lord.

²⁹Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

¹³The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.

¹⁷For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

³⁷And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.

⁴²Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?

¹²And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

³⁴Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly.

⁵Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

¹²Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.

⁶Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.

²³A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.

¹⁶¶ These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

¹⁷A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

⁴By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life.

¹¹The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

¹²For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:

²⁹When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.

¹⁷And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

¹⁴I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

¹⁵For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

¹¹For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

³⁷Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

²⁶Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.

⁵²He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.

³³The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.

³Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

¹²And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,

²⁷Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord.

²³And humbled not himself before the Lord, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more.

¹²For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

²⁰But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:

²¹And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.

²²And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this;

²³But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:

³And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me.

⁴Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to morrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast:

¹¹Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them.

⁶¶ We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so.

⁷Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kir-hareseth shall ye mourn; surely they are stricken.

¹⁰Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.

¹¹Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him.

¹²Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.

⁸For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?

⁹Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?

¹⁰As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;

¹¹Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?

¹²Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.

¹³For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:

¹⁴And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.

¹⁹His prayer also, and how God was intreated of him, and all his sin, and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up groves and graven images, before he was humbled: behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers.

⁹The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.

¹⁰Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.

⁷For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.

¹²When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.