Ya'akov 4
4
1From where do milchamot (wars) come? What is their goirem (driving force)? And from where come fights among you? Is it not from here, from the ta'avot (lusts) of you warring in your evarim (members)?
2You lust for something and you do not have it; you kill and you envy and you are not able to obtain. You get involved in machalokot (divisions of dissensions) and fights. You do not have because you fail to daven with your request.
3Or you make techinot (petitions) and you do not receive, because you ask wrongly, that on your ta'avot (lusts) you may spend what you receive.#4:3 Ps 18:41; 66:18
4No'efot (adulterers)! Do you not have da'as that to have shaichus (closeness, friendship, intimacy) with the Olam Hazeh is eyvah im Hashem (enmity with G-d)? Therefore, whoever chooses to make the Olam Hazeh his Oihev is made an Oyev (Enemy) of Hashem.#4:4 Isa 54:4; Jer 3:20; Hos 2:2-5; 3:1; 9:1
5Or do you think that in vain the Kitvei Hakodesh attests that Hashem yearns jealously over the Ruach Hakodesh He causes to dwell in us?
6But He gives all the more Chen v'Chesed! Therefore it says, Hashem LALETZIM HU YALITZ V'LA'ANAYIM YITEN CHEN#4:6 Prov 3:34 (Hashem opposes the proud mocker but gives grace to the humble).
7Submit yourselves in mishma'at (obedience) to Hashem. Resist HaSatan, and he will flee from you.
8Draw near to Hashem and Hashem will draw near to you. Cleanse your yadayim (hands), you chote'im (sinners)! And purify your levavot, you anashim of double mind!#4:8 Ps 73:28; Zech 1:3; Mal 3:7; Isa 1:16; Ps 24:4; 119:113; Jer 4:14
9Lament and mourn and weep. Let the tzechok (laughter) of you be changed to avelut (mourning), and the simcha of you be turned to tugah (sadness).
10Be humbled before Hashem and He will exalt you.#4:10 Job 5:11
11Do not speak lashon hora against an Ach b'Moshiach. The one speaking against an Ach b'Moshiach or setting himself up as a shofet (judge) of his Ach b'Moshiach speaks against the Torah and sets himself up as shofet of the Torah. Now if the Torah you judge, you are not Shomrei HaTorah but a shofet.
12One is the Mekhokek (Law-Giver) and HaShofet (The Judge), the One who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you, the one who has set yourself up as the shofet of your re'a (neighbor)?
13Come now, you who say, “Hayom (today) or makhar (tomorrow) we will go into this or that city and we will do business there a year and will sell and make a revach (profit).”
14Yet you do not even have da'as of what tomorrowʼs “yom” may bring. Look at your life! Are you not an ed (mist), appearing a short time, then indeed disappearing?#4:14 Job 7:7; Ps 39:5; 102:3; 144:4; Isa 2:22
15Instead of this, you ought to say “Im yirtzeh Hashem” (if the L-rd wills) “we will live, also we will do this or that.”
16But now you boast in your pretensions. All such ravrevanut (boastfulness) is ra'ah (evil, wickedness).
17To the one having da'as, therefore, knowing to do tov and not doing it, to him it is chet.
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Ya'akov 4: TOJB2011
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THE ORTHODOX JEWISH BIBLE
FOURTH EDITION © Artists For Israel Intl Inc., 2002-2011, 2021.
James 4
4
Give Yourselves to God
1Do you know where your fights and arguments come from? They come from the selfish desires that make war inside you. 2You want things, but you do not have them. So you are ready to kill and are jealous of other people. But you still cannot get what you want. So you argue and fight. You do not get what you want because you do not ask God. 3Or when you ask, you do not receive because the reason you ask is wrong. You want things only so that you can use them for your own pleasures.
4So, you people are not loyal to God! You should know that loving the world is the same as hating God. So if a person wants to be a friend of the world, he makes himself God’s enemy. 5Do you think the Scripture means nothing? It says, “The Spirit that God made to live in us wants us for himself alone.”# These words may be from Exodus 20:5. 6But God gives us even more grace, as the Scripture says,
“God is against the proud,
but he gives grace to the humble.” Proverbs 3:34
7So give yourselves to God. Stand against the devil, and the devil will run away from you. 8Come near to God, and God will come near to you. You are sinners. So clean sin out of your lives. You are trying to follow God and the world at the same time. Make your thinking pure. 9Be sad, cry, and weep! Change your laughter into crying. Change your joy into sadness. 10Humble yourself before the Lord, and he will honor you.
You Are Not the Judge
11Brothers, do not say bad things about each other. If you say bad things about your brother in Christ or judge him, then you are saying bad things about the law he follows. You are also judging the law he follows. And when you are judging the law, you are not a follower of the law. You have become a judge! 12God is the only One who makes laws, and he is the only Judge. He is the only One who can save and destroy. So it is not right for you to judge your neighbor.
Let God Plan Your Life
13Some of you say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to some city. We will stay there a year, do business, and make money.” 14But you do not know what will happen tomorrow! Your life is like a mist. You can see it for a short time, but then it goes away. 15So you should say, “If the Lord wants, we will live and do this or that.” 16But now you are proud and you brag. All of this bragging is wrong. 17And when a person knows the right thing to do, but does not do it, then he is sinning.
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.