Yaakov 4:9

9 Lament and mourn and weep. Let the tzechok (laughter) of you be changed to avelut (mourning), and the simcha of you be turned to tugah (sadness).

Yaakov 4:9 Meaning and Commentary

James 4:9

Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep
Not in a bare external way; not by afflicting the body with fastings and scourgings, by renting of garments, and clothing with sackcloth, and putting ashes on the head, and other such outward methods of humiliation; but afflicting the soul is meant, an inward mourning and weeping over the plague of the heart, the impurity of nature, and the various sins of life; after a godly sort, and because contrary to a God of infinite love and grace; in an evangelical way, looking to Jesus, and being affected with the pardoning grace and love of God in Christ.

Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness;
meaning their carnal joy, on account of their friendship with the world, and their enjoyment of the things of it, since they consumed them on their lusts, and which betrayed enmity to God.

Yaakov 4:9 In-Context

7 Submit yourselves in mishma’at (obedience) to Hashem. Resist Hasatan, and he will flee from you.

8 Draw near to Hashem and Hashem will draw near to you. Cleanse your yadayim (hands), you chote’im (sinners)! And purify your levavot, you anashim of double mind! [TEHILLIM 73:28; ZECHARYAH 1:3; MALACHI 3:7; YESHAYAH 1:16; TEHILLIM 24:4; 119:113; YIRMEYAH 4:14]

9 Lament and mourn and weep. Let the tzechok (laughter) of you be changed to avelut (mourning), and the simcha of you be turned to tugah (sadness).

10 Be humbled before Hashem and He will exalt you. [IYOV 5:11]

11 Do not speak lashon hora against an Ach b’Moshiach. The one speaking against an Ach b’Moshiach or setting himself up as a shofet (judge) of his Ach b’Moshiach speaks against the Torah and sets himself up as shofet of the Torah. Now if the Torah you judge, you are not Shomrei HaTorah but a shofet.