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Thursday, June 5th, 2025
the Seventh Week after Easter
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Read the Bible

Easy-to-Read Version

James 4:16

But now you are proud and boast about yourself. All such boasting is wrong.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Boasting;   Covetousness;   Presumption;   Thompson Chain Reference - Boasting;   Humility-Pride;   The Topic Concordance - Boasting;   Evil;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Anxiety;   Boasting;   Time;   Work;   World;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Ordinances of the Gospel;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - James, the General Epistle of;   Holman Bible Dictionary - James, the Letter;   Pride;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Judas;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Boasting;   Humility ;   Pride;   Wicked (2);  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Glory;   James, Epistle of;   Vainglory;  

Devotionals:

- Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life - Devotion for December 6;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
King James Version (1611)
But now yee reioyce in your boastings: all such reioycing is euill.
King James Version
But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
English Standard Version
As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
New American Standard Bible
But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.
New Century Version
But now you are proud and you brag. All of this bragging is wrong.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.
Berean Standard Bible
As it is, you boast in your proud intentions. All such boasting is evil.
Contemporary English Version
Yet you are stupid enough to brag, and it is wrong to be so proud.
Complete Jewish Bible
But as it is, in your arrogance you boast. All such boasting is evil.
Darby Translation
But now ye glory in your vauntings: all such glorying is evil.
Geneva Bible (1587)
But nowe ye reioyce in your boastings: all such reioycing is euill.
George Lamsa Translation
But now they are proud in their boasting: all such pride is evil.
Good News Translation
But now you are proud, and you boast; all such boasting is wrong.
Lexham English Bible
But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
Literal Translation
but now you boast in your presumptions. All such boasting is evil.
Amplified Bible
But as it is, you boast [vainly] in your pretension and arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
American Standard Version
But now ye glory in your vauntings: all such glorying is evil.
Bible in Basic English
But now you go on glorying in your pride: and all such glorying is evil.
Hebrew Names Version
But now you glory in your boasting. All such boasting is evil.
International Standard Version
But you boast about your proud intentions. All such boasting is evil.1 Corinthians 5:6;">[xr]
Etheridge Translation
They glory in their pride. All glorying such as this is from the Evil.
Murdock Translation
They glory in their vaunting. All such glorying is evil.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
But now ye reioyce in your boastinges: All such reioycyng is euyll.
English Revised Version
But now ye glory in your vauntings: all such glorying is evil.
World English Bible
But now you glory in your boasting. All such boasting is evil.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
But now ye glory in your boastings: all such glorying is evil.
Weymouth's New Testament
But, as the case stands, it is in mere self-confidence that you boast: all such boasting is evil.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And now ye maken ful out ioye in youre pridis; euery siche ioye is wickyd.
Update Bible Version
But now you glory in your vauntings: all such glorying is evil.
Webster's Bible Translation
But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
New English Translation
But as it is, you boast about your arrogant plans. All such boasting is evil.
New King James Version
But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
New Living Translation
Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.
New Life Bible
But instead you are proud. You talk loud and big about yourselves. All such pride is sin.
New Revised Standard
As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Whereas, now, are ye boasting in your pretensions: - All boasting like this, is, wicked,
Douay-Rheims Bible
But now you rejoice in your arrogancies. All such rejoicing is wicked.
Revised Standard Version
As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
But nowe ye reioyce in youre bostinges. All soche reioysynge is evyll.
Young's Literal Translation
and now ye glory in your pride; all such glorying is evil;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But nowe ye reioyce in youre bostinges. All soche reioysynge is euell.
Mace New Testament (1729)
you triumph in your vain projects, but your presumption is vicious.
THE MESSAGE
As it is, you are full of your grandiose selves. All such vaunting self-importance is evil. In fact, if you know the right thing to do and don't do it, that, for you, is evil.
Simplified Cowboy Version
But no, you've got everything figured out and you're expecting God just to go along with whatever you want to do. There ain't nothin' right about doing things that way.

Contextual Overview

11 Brothers and sisters, don't say anything against each other. If you criticize your brother or sister in Christ or judge them, you are criticizing and judging the law they follow. And when you are judging the law, you are not a follower of the law. You have become a judge. 12 God is the one who gave us the law, and he is the Judge. He is the only one who can save and destroy. So it is not right for you to judge anyone. 13 Some of you say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to some city. We will stay there a year, do business, and make money." Listen, think about this: 14 You don't know what will happen tomorrow. Your life is like a fog. You can see it for a short time, but then it goes away. 15 So you should say, "If the Lord wants, we will live and do this or that." 16 But now you are proud and boast about yourself. All such boasting is wrong. 17 If you fail to do what you know is right, you are sinning.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

James 3:14, Psalms 52:1, Psalms 52:7, Proverbs 25:14, Proverbs 27:1, Isaiah 47:7, Isaiah 47:8, Isaiah 47:10, 1 Corinthians 4:7, 1 Corinthians 4:8, 1 Corinthians 5:6, Revelation 18:7

Reciprocal: Judges 9:19 - rejoice 1 Samuel 11:15 - rejoiced greatly Job 20:5 - the joy Psalms 10:3 - boasteth Jeremiah 11:15 - thou doest evil Hosea 9:1 - Rejoice Amos 6:13 - which Acts 8:39 - and he Romans 1:30 - boasters Romans 2:23 - that makest Galatians 5:26 - desirous Philippians 3:19 - whose glory 2 Timothy 3:2 - boasters

Cross-References

Genesis 3:8
During the cool part of the day, the Lord God was walking in the garden. The man and the woman heard him, and they hid among the trees in the garden.
Genesis 4:14
You are forcing me to leave the land, and I will not be able to be near you or have a home! Now I must wander from place to place, and anyone I meet could kill me."
Exodus 20:18
During all this time, the people in the valley heard the thundering and saw the lightning on the mountain. They saw smoke rising from the mountain and heard the sound of the trumpet. They were afraid and shook with fear. They stood away from the mountain and watched.
2 Kings 13:23
But the Lord was kind to the Israelites. He had mercy and showed his care for them because of his agreement with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He did not want them to be destroyed. He has never completely left them.
2 Kings 24:20
The Lord became so angry with Jerusalem and Judah that he threw them away. Zedekiah rebelled and refused to obey the king of Babylon.
Job 1:12
The Lord said to Satan, "All right, do whatever you want with anything that he has, but don't hurt Job himself." Then Satan left the meeting.
Job 2:7
So Satan left the meeting with the Lord and gave Job painful sores all over his body, from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head.
Job 20:17
He will never again enjoy so much wealth— rivers flowing with honey and cream.
Psalms 5:11
But let those who trust in you be happy forever. Protect and strengthen those who love your name.
Psalms 68:2
May your enemies be scattered like smoke blown away by the wind. May your enemies be destroyed like wax melting in a fire.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But now ye rejoice in your boastings,.... Of tomorrow, and of the continuance of life, and of going to such a place, and abiding there for such a time, and of trading and trafficking with great success, to the obtaining of much gain and riches; see

Proverbs 27:1

all such rejoicing is evil; wicked and atheistical, as expressing a neglect of and independence on Providence; arrogating and ascribing too much to themselves, their power and will, as if they had their lives and fortunes in their own hands, and at their own dispose, when all depend upon the will of God. The Syriac version renders it, "all such rejoicing is from evil"; from an evil heart, and from the evil one, Satan.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But now ye rejoice in your boastings - That is, probably, in your boastings of what you can do; your reliance on your own skill and sagacity. You form your plans for the future as if with consummate wisdom, and are confident of success. You do not anticipate a failure; you do not see how plans so skilfully formed can fail. You form them as if you were certain that you would live; as if secure from the numberless casualties which may defeat your schemes.

All such rejoicing is evil - It is founded on a wrong view of yourselves and of what may occur. It shows a spirit forgetful of our dependence on God; forgetful of the uncertainty of life; forgetful of the many ways by which the best-laid plans may be defeated. We should never boast of any wisdom or skill in regard to the future. A day, an hour may defeat our best-concerted plans, and show us that we have not the slightest power to control coming events.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 16. But now ye rejoice in your boastings — Ye glory in your proud and self-sufficient conduct, exulting that ye are free from the trammels of superstition, and that ye can live independently of God Almighty. All such boasting is wicked, πονηραεστιν, is impious. In an old English work, entitled, The godly man's picture drawn by a Scripture pencil, there are these words: "Some of those who despise religion say, Thank God we are not of this holy number! They who thank God for their unholiness had best go ring the bells for joy that they shall never see God."


 
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