James 4:9

James 4:9 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
• New International Version (NIV)Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

Context of James 4:9

7Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. 11Don’t criticize one another, brothers and sisters. Anyone who defames or judges a fellow believer defames and judges the law. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

James 4:9 word by word

ταλαιπωρήσατε καὶ πενθήσατε καὶ κλαύσατε· ὁ γέλως ὑμῶν εἰς πένθος μετατραπήτω καὶ ἡ χαρὰ εἰς κατήφειαν.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Be afflictedταλαιπωρέωtalaipōreō · to grieveG5003
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• mournπενθέωpentheō · to mournG3996
• weepκλαίωklaiō · to weepG2799
• letμεταστρέφωmetastrephō · to changeG3344
• yourσύsu · youG4771
• laughterὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• laughterγέλωςgelōs · laughterG1071
• toεἰςeis · towardG1519
• mourningπένθοςpenthos · griefG3997
• joyχαράchara · joyG5479
• heavinessκατήφειαkatēpheia · gloominessG2726

Cross-references for James 4:9

• James 5:1Come now, you rich people, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you.
• Psalms 119:67Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.
• Psalms 126:5Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy.
• Ecclesiastes 7:2It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, since that is the end of all mankind, and the living should take it to heart.
• Isaiah 22:12On that day the Lord God of Armies called for weeping, for wailing, for shaven heads, and for the wearing of sackcloth.
• Jeremiah 31:9They will come weeping, but I will bring them back with consolation. I will lead them to wadis filled with water, by a smooth way where they will not stumble, for I am Israel’s Father, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
• Ezekiel 7:16The survivors among them will escape and live on the mountains. Like doves of the valley, all of them will moan, each over his own iniquity.
• Ezekiel 16:63so that when I make atonement for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed, and never open your mouth again because of your disgrace. This is the declaration of the Lord God.’”
• Zechariah 12:10“Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at me whom they pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for him as one weeps for a firstborn.
• Matthew 5:4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
• Luke 6:21Blessed are you who are hungry now, because you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, because you will laugh.
• 2 Corinthians 7:10For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly grief produces death.
• Job 30:31My lyre is used for mourning and my flute for the sound of weeping.
• Proverbs 14:13Even in laughter a heart may be sad, and joy may end in grief.
• Ecclesiastes 2:2I said about laughter, “It is madness,” and about pleasure, “What does this accomplish?”
• Ecclesiastes 7:6for like the crackling of burning thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This too is futile.

Commentaries on James 4:9

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 9Be afflicted, and mourn - Without true and deep repentance ye cannot expect the mercy of God. Let your laughter be turned to mourning - It appears most evidently that many of those to whom St. James addressed this epistle had lived a very irregular and dissolute life. He had already spoken of their lust, and pleasures, and he had called them adulterers and adulteresses; and perhaps they were so in the grossest sense of the words. He speaks here of their…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 9Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep - That is, evidently, on account of your sins. The sins to which the apostle refers are those which he had specified in the previous part of the chapter, and which he had spoken of as so evil in their nature, and so dangerous in their tendency. The word rendered “be afflicted” means, properly, to endure toil or hardship; then to endure affliction or distress; and here means, that they were to afflict themselves - that is…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4-10James explains the causes of conflict among people: love for the world, divided loyalty, and arrogant criticism (4:11–12). He gives instructions that will fix these problems and lead to peace.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 99. Be afflicted--literally, "Endure misery," that is, mourn over your wretchedness through sin. Repent with deep sorrow instead of your present laughter. A blessed mourning. Contrast Is 22:12, 13; Lu 6:25. James does not add here, as in Jas 5:1, "howl," where he foretells the doom of the impenitent at the coming destruction of Jerusalem. heaviness--literally, "falling of the countenance," casting down of the eyes.Read the comment

Topics related to James 4:9

• Commandments
• Joy
• Repentance
• Worldliness

In the dictionaries

• Adulterer
• Amiss
• Consume
• Enmity
• Flee
• Hence
• Lust
• Resist
• Sin
• Unruly

Commentaries on James 4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings