GOD'S WORD Translation GW
New International Version NIV
8 Come close to God, and he will come close to you. Clean up your lives, you sinners, and clear your minds, you doubters.
8
Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Be miserable, mourn, and cry. Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into gloom.
9
Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves in the Lord's presence. Then he will give you a high position.
10
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
11 Brothers and sisters, stop slandering each other. Those who slander and judge other believers slander and judge God's teachings. If you judge God's teachings, you are no longer following them. Instead, you are judging them.
11
Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.
12 There is only one teacher and judge. He is able to save or destroy you. So who are you to judge your neighbor?
12
There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
13 Pay attention to this! You're saying, "Today or tomorrow we will go into some city, stay there a year, conduct business, and make money."
13
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”
14 You don't know what will happen tomorrow. What is life? You are a mist that is seen for a moment and then disappears.
14
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.
15 Instead, you should say, "If the Lord wants us to, we will live and carry out our plans."
15
Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
16 However, you brag because you're arrogant. All such bragging is evil.
16
As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.
17 Whoever knows what is right but doesn't do it is sinning.
17
If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.