1 What causes wars and quarrels among you? Is it not your different desires which are ever at war within your bodies? You desire things and cannot have them, and so you commit murder.
2 You covet things, but cannot acquire them, and so you quarrel and fight. You do not have them, because you do not ask for them.
3 You ask and fail to get them, because you ask with evil, selfish motives, to spend them on your pleasures.
4 You faithless wives! Do you not know that the friendship of the world means enmity with God? So whoever wants to be a friend to the world puts himself down as an enemy to God.
5 Or, do you think that the Scripture means nothing when it says, "He jealously yearns for the Spirit that He causes to dwell in your hearts"?
6 But He gives a greater spiritual blessing. He says, "God opposes haughty people but blesses humble people."
7 So then, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will fly from you.
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Get your hands clean, you sinners. Get your hearts purified, you double-minded.
9 Be miserable, mourn ... and weep aloud. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you high.
11 Stop talking against one another, brothers. Whoever is in the habit of talking against a brother or of criticizing his brother is criticizing and condemning the law. But if you are in the habit of criticizing the law, you are not a practicer but a critic of the law.
12 There is but one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who has the power to save and to destroy; then who are you that you presume to judge your brother?
13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we are going to such and such a city and stay a year, go into business and make money,"
14 although you do not have the slightest knowledge of tomorrow. What is the nature of your life? It is really nothing but a mist which appears for a little while and then disappears.