James 4:13

Listen. Some of you talk like this, you say, “Tomorrow we will go to that town over there, and we will buy things for a little bit of money, and then we will sell them for a lot of money. We will keep on doing that for a year. That’s how we will get plenty of money to keep for ourselves.”

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

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:

In Context

12God made his law, and he is the only judge. He is the only one that can blame anybody. He can save somebody, or he can kill somebody. But you can’t do that. You are not God, so you can’t make yourself a judge and rubbish other people.

14You talk like that. You say, “Tomorrow,” but you don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Will you still be alive tomorrow? You know, your life is like a puff of smoke, it doesn’t last long. You are alive today, but maybe tomorrow you will die.

Read all of James 4

Cross References

Genesis 11:3Then they said to each other, “Look, we can make bricks here. So come on, let’s do that. We will bake them properly so that they are good strong bricks, and we will use them to build a city here. So come on, let’s build a big tall building in that city. It will be so tall that it will go right up into the sky.” You see, they had bricks and tar instead of stones and cement. And they said, “If we do that, everyone will think we are smart. Then we will not go and live all over the earth, but we will stay together right here.”

Luke 12:17The man looked at it all and said to himself, ‘My sheds are not big enough for all this seed food. Where will I put it all?’

James 5:1Now I’m talking to rich people that cheated people to get money for themselves. You mob listen to me. You are going to get big trouble, so you can start to cry right now, and you can be really sad.

Matthew Henry on James 4:12-17

Caution against Slander; Caution against Presumption. ( a. d. 61.) 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… Read the whole commentary →

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