1 W hence wars and fightings among you? not thence -- out of your passions, that are as soldiers in your members?

What leads to strife (discord and feuds) and how do conflicts (quarrels and fightings) originate among you? Do they not arise from your sensual desires that are ever warring in your bodily members?

2 y e desire, and ye have not; ye murder, and are zealous, and are not able to attain; ye fight and war, and ye have not, because of your not asking;

You are jealous and covet and your desires go unfulfilled; you become murderers. You burn with envy and anger and are not able to obtain, so you fight and war. You do not have, because you do not ask.

3 y e ask, and ye receive not, because evilly ye ask, that in your pleasures ye may spend.

you do ask and yet fail to receive, because you ask with wrong purpose and evil, selfish motives. Your intention is to spend it in sensual pleasures.

4 A dulterers and adulteresses! have ye not known that friendship of the world is enmity with God? whoever, then, may counsel to be a friend of the world, an enemy of God he is set.

You unfaithful wives! Do you not know that being the world’s friend is being God’s enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God.

5 D o ye think that emptily the Writing saith, `To envy earnestly desireth the spirit that did dwell in us,'

Or do you suppose that the Scripture is speaking to no purpose that says, The Spirit Whom He has caused to dwell in us yearns over us and He yearns for the Spirit with a jealous love?

6 a nd greater grace he doth give, wherefore he saith, `God against proud ones doth set Himself up, and to lowly ones He doth give grace?'

But He gives us more and more grace ( power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully). That is why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it).

7 b e subject, then, to God; stand up against the devil, and he will flee from you;

So be subject to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8 d raw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you; cleanse hands, ye sinners! and purify hearts, ye two-souled!

Come close to God and He will come close to you. sinners, get your soiled hands clean; wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts.

9 b e exceeding afflicted, and mourn, and weep, let your laughter to mourning be turned, and the joy to heaviness;

be deeply penitent and grieve, even weep. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your mirth to dejection and heartfelt shame.

10 b e made low before the Lord, and He shall exalt you.

Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

11 S peak not one against another, brethren; he who is speaking against a brother, and is judging his brother, doth speak against law, and doth judge law, and if law thou dost judge, thou art not a doer of law but a judge;

brethren, do not speak evil about or accuse one another. He that maligns a brother or judges his brother is maligning and criticizing the Law and judging the Law. But if you judge the Law, you are not a practicer of the Law but a censor and judge.

12 o ne is the lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy; thou -- who art thou that dost judge the other?

One only is the Lawgiver and Judge Who is able to save and to destroy. who are you that pass judgment on your neighbor?

13 G o, now, ye who are saying, `To-day and to-morrow we will go on to such a city, and will pass there one year, and traffic, and make gain;'

Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a city and spend a year there and carry on our business and make money.

14 w ho do not know the thing of the morrow; for what is your life? for it is a vapour that is appearing for a little, and then is vanishing;

Yet you do not know about what may happen tomorrow. What is the nature of your life? You are but a wisp of vapor (a puff of smoke, a mist) that is visible for a little while and then disappears.

15 i nstead of your saying, `If the Lord may will, we shall live, and do this or that;'

You ought instead to say, If the Lord is willing, we shall live and we shall do this or that.

16 a nd now ye glory in your pride; all such glorying is evil;

But as it is, you boast in your presumption and your self-conceit. All such boasting is wrong.

17 t o him, then, knowing to do good, and not doing, sin it is to him.

So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin.