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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>James 4 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/james/4.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/james/4-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > James 4</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../james/3.htm" title="James 3">◄</a> James 4 <a href="../james/5.htm" title="James 5">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">Friendship with the World</h3><p class="par"><span class="v59_4_1"><span class="reftext" id="Jas.4.1" class="v59_4_1">1</span>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? </span><span class="v59_4_2"><span class="reftext" id="Jas.4.2" class="v59_4_2">2</span>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. </span><span class="v59_4_3"><span class="reftext" id="Jas.4.3" class="v59_4_3">3</span>Yet even when you do pray, your prayers are not answered, because you pray just for selfish reasons.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v59_4_4"><span class="reftext" id="Jas.4.4" class="v59_4_4">4</span>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. </span><span class="v59_4_5"><span class="reftext" id="Jas.4.5" class="v59_4_5">5</span>Do you doubt the Scriptures that say, “God truly cares about the Spirit he has put in us”?<a href="#fn" id="link_Jas.4.5!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span><span class="v59_4_6"><span class="reftext" id="Jas.4.6" class="v59_4_6">6</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Jas.4.6!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> In fact, God treats us with even greater kindness, just as the Scriptures say,</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v59_4_6">“God opposes everyone</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v59_4_6">who is proud,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v59_4_6">but he blesses all who are humble</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v59_4_6">with undeserved grace.”</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="par"><span class="v59_4_7"><span class="reftext" id="Jas.4.7" class="v59_4_7">7</span>Surrender to God! Resist the devil, and he will run from you. </span><span class="v59_4_8"><span class="reftext" id="Jas.4.8" class="v59_4_8">8</span>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. </span><span class="v59_4_9"><span class="reftext" id="Jas.4.9" class="v59_4_9">9</span>Be sad and sorry and weep. Stop laughing and start crying. Be gloomy instead of glad. </span><span class="v59_4_10"><span class="reftext" id="Jas.4.10" class="v59_4_10">10</span>Be humble in the Lord's presence, and he will honor you.</span></p><h3 class="s1">Saying Cruel Things about Others</h3><p class="par"><span class="v59_4_11"><span class="reftext" id="Jas.4.11" class="v59_4_11">11</span>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 </span><span class="v59_4_12"><span class="reftext" id="Jas.4.12" class="v59_4_12">12</span>or God who gave it. God is our judge, and he can save or destroy us. What right do you have to condemn anyone?</span></p><h3 class="s1">Warning against Bragging</h3><p class="par"><span class="v59_4_13"><span class="reftext" id="Jas.4.13" class="v59_4_13">13</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Jas.4.13!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> <a href="#fn" id="link_Jas.4.13!x.2" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> 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!” </span><span class="v59_4_14"><span class="reftext" id="Jas.4.14" class="v59_4_14">14</span>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. </span><span class="v59_4_15"><span class="reftext" id="Jas.4.15" class="v59_4_15">15</span>You should say, “If the Lord lets us live, we will do these things.” </span><span class="v59_4_16"><span class="reftext" id="Jas.4.16" class="v59_4_16">16</span>Yet you are stupid enough to brag, and it is wrong to be so proud. </span><span class="v59_4_17"><span class="reftext" id="Jas.4.17" class="v59_4_17">17</span>If you don't do what you know is right, you have sinned.</span></p> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">4.5 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">God truly cares about the Spirit he has put in us: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">One possible meaning for the difficult Greek text; other translations are possible, such as, “the Spirit that God put in us truly cares.”</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Bible text from the Contemporary English Version 2nd Edition (CEV®) is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by American Bible Society, 101 North Independence Mall East, Floor 8, Philadelphia, PA 19106-2155 (<a href="http://www.americanbible.org">www.americanbible.org</a>). Learn more at <a href="http://www.cev.bible">www.cev.bible</a>. 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