Warning Against Worldliness

4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions1 are yat war within you?2 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask zwrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 aYou adulterous people!3 Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? bTherefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit cthat he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But dhe gives more grace. Therefore it says, e“God opposes the proud but dgives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. fResist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 gDraw near to God, and he will draw near to you. hCleanse your hands, you sinners, and ipurify your hearts, jyou double-minded. 9 kBe wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 lHumble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

11 mDo not speak evil against one another, brothers.4 The one who speaks against a brother or njudges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only oone lawgiver and pjudge, he who is able to save and qto destroy. But rwho are you to judge your neighbor?

Boasting About Tomorrow

13 Come now, you who say, s“Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For tyou are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, u“If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. vAll such boasting is evil. 17 wSo whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Warning to the Rich

5 Come now, xyou rich, weep and howl for the ymiseries that are coming upon you. 2 zYour riches have rotted and zyour garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. aYou have laid up treasure bin the last days. 4 Behold, cthe wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and dthe cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of ethe Lord of hosts. 5 fYou have lived on the earth in luxury and gin self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in ha day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and imurdered jthe righteous person. He does not resist you.

Patience in Suffering

7 Be patient, therefore, brothers,1 until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives kthe early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. lEstablish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord mis at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, nso that you may not be judged; behold, othe Judge is standing pat the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take qthe prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of rthe steadfastness of Job, and you have seen sthe purpose of the Lord, how tthe Lord is compassionate and merciful.

12 But above all, my brothers, udo not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

The Prayer of Faith

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him vsing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, wanointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And xif he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, yconfess your sins to one another and pray for one another, zthat you may be healed. aThe prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.2 17 Elijah was a man bwith a nature like ours, and che prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for dthree years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 eThen he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

19 My brothers, fif anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone gbrings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering hwill save his soul from death and iwill cover a multitude of sins.

1 Peter

Introduction

The readers of the apostle Peter’s letter were confused and discouraged by the persecution they were encountering because of their faith. Peter exhorted them to stand strong, repeatedly reminding them of Christ’s example, the riches of their inheritance in him, and the hope of his returning again to take them to heaven. Peter explained how Christians should respond when they suffer because of their beliefs. Called the “apostle of hope,” Peter’s primary message is to trust the Lord, live obediently no matter what your circumstances, and keep your hope fixed on God’s ultimate promise of deliverance. Suffering is to be expected, but it is temporary and yields great blessings for those who remain steadfast. Peter probably wrote this letter in the mid-60s a.d.