The Message Bible MSG
English Standard Version ESV
13 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."
13
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"--
14 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.
14
yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
15 Instead, make it a habit to say, "If the Master wills it and we're still alive, we'll do this or that."
15
Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."
16 As it is, you are full of your grandiose selves. All such vaunting self-importance is evil.
16
As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
17 In fact, if you know the right thing to do and don't do it, that, for you, is evil.
17
So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.