James 4:14

Read it in 5 translations

KJV King James Version

Whereas ye know not what [shall be] on the morrow. For what [is] your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

BSB Berean Standard Bible

You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

WEB World English Bible

Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.

ASV American Standard Version

whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. What is your life? For ye are a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

YLT Young’s Literal Translation

who 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;

Surrounding context — James 4

11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of [his] brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

14 Whereas ye know not what [shall be] on the morrow. For what [is] your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

15 For that ye [ought] to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth [it] not, to him it is sin.

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Cross-references

1 Peter 1:24For all flesh [is] as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:Psalm 39:5Behold, thou hast made my days [as] an handbreadth; and mine age [is] as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state [is] altogether vanity. Selah.1 John 2:17And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.Psalm 102:3For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth.Job 7:6-7My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.James 1:10But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.Job 14:1-2Man [that is] born of a woman [is] of few days, and full of trouble.Job 9:25-26Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good.Psalm 90:5-7Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are [as] a sleep: in the morning [they are] like grass [which] groweth up.Psalm 89:47Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?1 Peter 4:7But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.Isaiah 38:12Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd’s tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day [even] to night wilt thou make an end of me.

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CLASSIC COMMENTARY & PREACHING

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