James 4:13

New Living Translation

Look here, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit."

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
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:

Revised Standard Version
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain";

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Go to now ye that saye: to daye and to morow let vs go into soche a citie and continue there a yeare and bye and sell and wynne:

Hebrew Names Version
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow let's go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade, and get gain."

New American Standard Bible
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit."

New Century Version
Some of you say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to some city. We will stay there a year, do business, and make money."

Update Bible Version
Come now, you that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade, and will gain:

Webster's Bible Translation
Come 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:

English Standard Version
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"—

World English Bible
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow let's go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade, and get gain."

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go to such a city, and continue there a year, and traffick, and get gain:

Weymouth's New Testament
Come, you who say, "To-day or to-morrow we will go to this or that city, and spend a year there and carry on a successful business,"

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And who art thou, that demest thi neiybore? Lo! now ye, that seien, To dai ethir to morewe we schulen go in to thilke citee, and there we schulen dwelle a yeer, and we schulen make marchaundise, and we schulen make wynning;

English Revised Version
Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade, and get gain:

Berean Standard Bible
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit."

Contemporary English Version
You should know better than to say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to the city. We will do business there for a year and make a lot of money!"

Amplified Bible
Come now [and pay attention to this], you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and carry on our business and make a profit."

American Standard Version
Come now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade, and get gain:

Bible in Basic English
How foolish it is to say, Today or tomorrow we will go into this town, and be there for a year and do business there and get wealth:

Complete Jewish Bible
Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such-and-such a city, stay there a year trading and make a profit"!

Darby Translation
Go 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,

International Standard Version
Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town, stay there a year, conduct business, and make money."Proverbs 27:1; Luke 12:18;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
But what shall we say of them who say, To-day or tomorrow we will go to this city, or that, and work there one year, and negotiate, and make gain?

Murdock Translation
But what shall we say of those, who say: To-day or to-morrow we will go to such or such a city, and will abide there a year; and we will traffic, and get gain?

King James Version (1611)
Goe to now ye that say, To day or to morrow wee will goe into such a city and continue there a yere, and buy, and sell, and get gaine:

New Life Bible
Listen! You who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this city and stay a year and make money."

New Revised Standard
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money."

Geneva Bible (1587)
Goe to now ye that say, To day or to morowe we will goe into such a citie, and continue there a yeere, and bye and sell, and get gaine,

George Lamsa Translation
What then shall we say of those who say, Today or tomorrow we will go to a certain city, and will work there a year, and will trade and prosper?

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Come now! ye that say - Today or To-morrow, we will journey unto this city here, and will spend there a year, and will trade and get gain, -

Douay-Rheims Bible
But who art thou that judgest thy neighbour? Behold, now you that say: To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and there we will spend a year and will traffic and make our gain.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Go to nowe ye that say, to day and to morowe let vs go into such a citie, and continue there a yere, and bye and sell, and wynne:

Good News Translation
Now listen to me, you that say, "Today or tomorrow we will travel to a certain city, where we will stay a year and go into business and make a lot of money."

Christian Standard Bible®
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”

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:

Lexham English Bible
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there, and carry on business and make a profit,"

Literal Translation
Come now, those saying, Today or tomorrow we will go into this city, and we will spend one year there, and we will trade and will make a profit,

Young's Literal Translation
Go, now, ye who are saying, `To-day and to-morrow we will go on to such a city, and will pass there one year, and traffic, and make gain;'

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Go to now ye that saye: to daye & to morow let vs go into soche a citie and continue there a yeare, and bye and sell, and wynne:

Mace New Testament (1729)
As for you, who affirm, "to-day, or, to-morrow we will go to such a city, we will stay there a whole year, there we will traffic, and find our account."

THE MESSAGE
And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, "Today—at the latest, tomorrow—we're off to such and such a city for the year. We're going to start a business and make a lot of money." You don't know the first thing about tomorrow. You're nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, "If the Master wills it and we're still alive, we'll do this or that."

New English Translation
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town and spend a year there and do business and make a profit."

New King James Version
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will [fn] go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit";

Simplified Cowboy Version
Here's somethin' for all who go around saying stuff like, "Today I'm gonna ride into town and tomorrow I'm gonna start breakin' horses and start my own business."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit."

Contextual Overview

¹¹ Don't speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God's law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. ¹² God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor? ¹³ Look here, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit." ¹⁴ How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it's here a little while, then it's gone. ¹⁵ What you ought to say is, "If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that." ¹⁶ Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Go to: James 5:1, Genesis 11:3, Genesis 11:4, Genesis 11:7, Ecclesiastes 2:1, Isaiah 5:5

To day: Proverbs 27:1, Isaiah 56:12, Luke 12:17-20

and buy: Isaiah 24:2, Isaiah 56:11, Ezekiel 7:12, 1 Corinthians 7:30

Reciprocal: Genesis 27:45 - then I Judges 19:9 - to morrow 1 Kings 19:2 - to morrow 1 Kings 22:27 - until I come in peace 2 Kings 5:5 - go 2 Chronicles 33:21 - two years Job 17:11 - purposes Psalms 4:6 - many Psalms 10:3 - boasteth Psalms 121:8 - thy going out Ecclesiastes 10:14 - a man Jeremiah 18:11 - go to Lamentations 3:37 - saith Ezekiel 28:5 - and by Malachi 1:4 - but Luke 12:19 - for Acts 24:25 - when Romans 15:28 - I will 1 Corinthians 7:29 - that both Hebrews 3:7 - To day

Cross-References

Job 15:22
They dare not go out into the darkness for fear they will be murdered.

Revelation 16:9
Everyone was burned by this blast of heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had control over all these plagues. They did not repent of their sins and turn to God and give him glory.

Revelation 16:11
and they cursed the God of heaven for their pains and sores. But they did not repent of their evil deeds and turn to God.

Revelation 16:21
There was a terrible hailstorm, and hailstones weighing as much as seventy-five pounds fell from the sky onto the people below. They cursed God because of the terrible plague of the hailstorm.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Go to now, ye that say,.... The apostle passes from exposing the sin of detraction, and rash judgment, to inveigh against those of presumption and self-confidence; and the phrase, "go to now", is a note of transition, as well as of attention, and contains the form of a solemn and grave address to persons, who either think within themselves, or vocally express, the following words, or the like unto them:

today, or tomorrow, we will go into such a city; in such a country, a place of great trade and merchandise; as Tyre then was in Phoenicia, Thessalonica in Macedonia, Ephesus in Asia, and others: some render this as an imperative, or as an exhortation, "let us go", which does not alter the sense.

And continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain; as is customary for merchants to do; nor does the apostle design by this to condemn merchandise, and the lawful practice of buying and selling, and getting gain; but that men should not resolve upon those things without consulting God, and attending to his will, and subjecting themselves to it; and without considering the uncertainty and frailty of human life; as well as should not promise and assure themselves of success, of getting gain and riches, as if those things were in their own power, and had no dependence upon the providence and blessing of God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Go to now - The apostle here introduces a new subject, and refers to another fault which was doubtless prevalent among them, as it is everywhere, that of a presumptuous confidence respecting the future, or of forming plans stretching into the future, without any proper sense of the uncertainty of life, and of our absolute dependence on God. The phrase “go to now,” (ἄγε νῦν age nun,) is a phrase designed to arrest attention, as if there were something that demanded their notice, and especially, as in this case, with the implied thought that that to which the attention is called is wrong. See James 5:1. Compare Genesis 11:7; Isaiah 1:18.

Ye that say - You that form your plans in this manner or that speak thus confidently of what you will do in the future. The word say here probably refers to what was in their thoughts, rather than to what was openly expressed.

Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city - That is, they say this without any proper sense of the uncertainty of life, and of their absolute dependence on God.

And continue there a year - Fixing a definite time; designating the exact period during which they would remain, and when they would leave, without any reference to the will of God. The apostle undoubtedly means to refer here to this as a mere specimen of what he would reprove. It cannot be supposed that he refers to this single case alone as wrong. All plans are wrong that are formed in the same spirit. “The practice to which the apostle here alludes,” says the editor of the Pictorial Bible, “is very common in the East to this day, among a very respectable and intelligent class of merchants. They convey the products of one place to some distant city, where they remain until they have disposed of their own goods and have purchased others suitable for another distant market; and thus the operation is repeated, until, after a number of years, the trader is enabled to return prosperously to his home. Or again, a shopkeeper or a merchant takes only the first step in this process - conveying to a distant town, where the best purchases of his own line are to be made, such goods as are likely to realise a profit, and returning, without any farther stop, with a stock for his own concern. These operations are seldom very rapid, as the adventurer likes to wait opportunities for making advantageous bargains; and sometimes opens a shop in the place to which he comes, to sell by retail the goods which he has bought.” The practice is common in India. See Roberts” Oriental Illustrations.

And buy and sell, and get gain - It is not improbable that there is an allusion here to the commercial habits of the Jews at the time when the apostle wrote. Many of them were engaged in foreign traffic, and for this purpose made long journeys to distant trading cities, as Alexandria, Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, etc. - Bloomfield.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 13. Go to now — αγε νυν. Come now, the same in meaning as the Hebrew הבה habah, come, Genesis 11:3; Genesis 11:4; Genesis 11:7. Come, and hear what I have to say, ye that say, c.

To-day, or to-morrow, we will go — This presumption on a precarious life is here well reproved and the ancient Jewish rabbins have some things on the subject which probably St. James had in view. In Debarim Rabba, sec. 9, fol. 261, 1, we have the following little story; "Our rabbins tell us a story which happened in the days of Rabbi Simeon, the son of Chelpatha. He was present at the circumcision of a child, and stayed with its father to the entertainment. The father brought out wine for his guests that was seven years old, saying, With this wine will I continue for a long time to celebrate the birth of my new-born son. They continued supper till midnight. At that time Rabbi Simeon arose and went out, that he might return to the city in which he dwelt. On the way he saw the angel of death walking up and down. He said to him, Who art thou? He answered, I am the messenger of God. The rabbin said, Why wanderest thou about thus? He answered, I slay those persons who say, We will do this, or that, and think not how soon death may overpower them: that man with whom thou hast supped, and who said to his guests, With this wine will I continue for a long time to celebrate the birth of my new-born son, behold the end of his life is at hand, for he shall die within thirty days." By this parable they teach the necessity of considering the shortness and uncertainty of human life; and that God is particularly displeased with those ...

"Who, counting on long years of pleasure here,

Are quite unfurnished for a world to come."

And continue there a year, and buy and sell — This was the custom of those ancient times; they traded from city to city, carrying their goods on the backs of camels. The Jews traded thus to Tyre, Sidon, Caesarea, Crete, Ephesus, Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, Rome, &c. And it is to this kind of itinerant mercantile life that St. James alludes. See at the end of this chapter (James 4:17).