Darby Bible
James 4:14
14ye who do not know what will be on the morrow, ([for] what [is] your life? It is even a vapour, appearing for a little while, and then disappearing,)
James 4:14 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)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.
- New International Version (NIV)Why, 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.
- English Standard Version (ESV)yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
- New King James Version (NKJV)whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
Context of James 4:14
12One is the lawgiver and judge, who is able to save and to destroy: but who art thou who judgest thy neighbour? 13Go to now, ye who say, To-day or to-morrow will we go into such a city and spend a year there, and traffic and make gain, ye who do not know what will be on the morrow, ([for] what [is] your life? It is even a vapour, appearing for a little while, and then disappearing,) 15instead of your saying, If the Lord should [so] will and we should live, we will also do this or that. 16But now ye glory in your vauntings: all such glorying is evil.
Read all of James 4James 4:14 word by word
οἵτινες οὐκ ἐπίστασθε τὸ τῆς αὔριον ποία ἡ ζωὴ ὑμῶν. ἀτμὶς γάρ ἐστε ἡ πρὸς ὀλίγον φαινομένη ἔπειτα καὶ ἀφανιζομένη·Read the interlinear
Cross-references for James 4:14
- James 1:10and the rich in his humiliation, because as [the] grass's flower he will pass away.
- Job 7:6My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.
- Job 9:25And my days are swifter than a runner: they flee away, they see no good.
- Job 14:1Man, born of woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.
- Psalms 39:5Behold, thou hast made my days [as] hand-breadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before thee; verily, every man, [even] the high placed, is altogether vanity. Selah.
- Psalms 89:47Remember, as regards me, what life is. Wherefore hast thou created all the children of men to be vanity?
- Psalms 90:5Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are [as] a sleep: in the morning they are like grass [that] groweth up:
- Psalms 102:3For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as a firebrand.
- 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 separateth me from the thrum: — from day to night thou wilt make an end of me.
- 1 Peter 1:24Because all flesh [is] as grass, and all its glory as [the] flower of grass. The grass has withered and [its] flower has fallen;
- 1 Peter 4:7But the end of all things is drawn nigh: be sober therefore, and be watchful unto prayers;
- 1 John 2:17And the world is passing, and its lust, but he that does the will of God abides for eternity.
Commentaries on James 4:14
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 14Whereas ye know not - This verse should be read in a parenthesis. It is not only impious, but grossly absurd, to speak thus concerning futurity, when ye know not what a day may bring forth. Life is utterly precarious; and God has not put it within the power of all the creatures he has made to command one moment of what is future. It is even a vapour - · It is a smoke, always fleeting, uncertain, evanescent, and obscured with various trials and…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 14Whereas, ye know not what shall be on the morrow - They formed their plans as if they knew; the apostle says it could not be known. They had no means of ascertaining what would occur; whether they would live or die; whether they would be prospered, or would be overwhelmed with adversity. Of the truth of the remark made by the apostle here, no one can doubt; but it is amazing how men act as if it were false. We have no power of penetrating the future so as…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 11-17Verses 11-17 Our lips must be governed by the law of kindness, as well as truth and justice. Christians are brethren. And to break God's commands, is to speak evil of them, and to judge them, as if they laid too great a restraint upon us. We have the law of God, which is a rule to all; let us not presume to set up our own notions and opinions as a rule to those about us, and let us be careful that we be not condemned of the Lord. "Go to now," is a call to…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 13-16Traveling merchants relied on their own determination to overcome poverty and low social status. James encourages acknowledging God's providence. He also warns against making arrogant plans beyond one's control.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 13-1514. what--literally, "of what nature" is your life? that is, how evanescent it is. It is even--Some oldest authorities read, "For ye are." Bengel, with other old authorities, reads, "For it shall be," the future referring to the "morrow" (Jas 4:13-15). The former expresses, "Ye yourselves are transitory"; so everything of yours, even your life, must partake of the same transitoriness. Received text has no old authority. and then vanisheth…Read the comment
Topics related to James 4:14
In the dictionaries
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
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