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

7So obey God's authority. Be strong against the Devil and he will run away from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Be clean in the way that you live. Stop doing wrong things. Make your minds clean. You cannot love sin and love God at the same time. Be sorry about your sins and weep. Stop laughing and instead be sad. Do not be happy but be very upset. 10Be humble in front of the Lord God. Then he will lift you up to a good place. 11My Christian friends, do not say bad things against each other. If you speak against another believer, you are really speaking against God's Law. If you judge another believer, then you are judging the law too. When you do that, you are not obeying the Law. You are giving yourself authority to decide what the Law says.

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 5:1Now, listen to me, you rich people. Weep and cry aloud, because many troubles will soon happen to you.
• Psalms 119:67Before you showed me what was right, I made mistakes, but now I obey your teaching.
• Psalms 126:5When people went out to plant their seeds, they were crying. But they will be happy when they bring in the harvest!
• Ecclesiastes 7:2If you go to a house where there is a funeral, that is better for you than to go to a party. Everyone will die one day. People should think about death while they are still alive.
• Isaiah 22:12At that time, the Lord Almighty told you to be very sad and weep. He told you to cut all the hair off your heads and to wear rough clothes.
• Jeremiah 31:9They will be weeping as they come. They will pray for my help as I lead them. I will lead them beside streams of fresh water, and on flat paths where they will not fall down. I will help them because I am a father for Israel's people. Ephraim is like my firstborn son.’
• Ezekiel 7:16Those who remain alive will escape. They will run to the mountains. They will be like doves that hunters have chased out of the valleys. They will cry aloud because of their sins.
• Ezekiel 16:63I will forgive you for your sins so that you are no longer guilty. Then you will remember your sins. You will be too ashamed to say anything. That is what the Almighty Lord says.” ’
• Zechariah 12:10I will cause the family of David and the people in Jerusalem to think seriously about me. Then they will know that I am kind to them. And they will want to pray to me. They will look at me whom they pierced (made holes in). They will weep about him as those that weep after the death of their only son. They will cry aloud as if their only son was dead.
• Matthew 5:4Happy are the people who are sad now. God will come near to help them.
• Luke 6:21Happy are you people that are hungry now. God will feed you until you are full. Happy are you people that are crying now. Later, you will laugh.
• 2 Corinthians 7:10People need to become sad in the way that God wants. When they are sad like that, it causes them to turn away from wrong things. Then God saves them from their sins. They will never be sorry about that! But when people become sad in the way that the world wants, it does not help them. They do not turn to God and they die in their spirits.
• Job 30:31Now, when I make music with my harp, I only sing funeral songs. When I make music with my flute, I do it for people who are weeping.’
• Proverbs 14:13Somebody may be upset, even when he is laughing. After his joy has gone, he will still be sad.
• Ecclesiastes 2:2I said, ‘It is foolish to laugh all the time. If I only try to please myself, it does not really help me.’
• Ecclesiastes 7:6If you use thorn bushes to make a fire, they make a lot of noise but they burn too quickly. When a foolish person laughs, their noise also has no purpose.

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