Dear Mr. Bluedorn,
Would you mind giving me a literal translation of James 4:5. I am reading it from two different languages and they simply say different things. Gracias! Carolina
XT (XT = eXegetical Translation, 2000 etc.)
1 What {is} the cause of {hostile} conflicts and {contentious} disputes among you? {It is, is it} not, from this cause: from those pleasures [/cravings] of yours, which serve as soldiers [/wage war] among your members.
2 You are {always} strongly desiring, and yet you are never possessing; you are {always, speaking spiritually,} committing murder and coveting, and yet you are never able to obtain {your pleasures}; you are {always contentiously} disputing and having {hostile} conflicts. You are never possessing because of your never {rightly} making a {spiritual} claim [/petitioning {prayer}].
3 You are {always formally} making a claim, and yet you are never {actually} taking possession {of the thing claimed}, because you are {always} making the claim with wrong {motives, namely:} that you may freely spend [/consume] {the thing claimed} on your pleasures.
4 {O you} adulterers and adulteresses {speaking spiritually}! You do know, {do you} not, that friendliness with [/active fondness toward] the world is enmity with [/active hostility toward] God? So then, whoever may prefer [/choose] to be a {fond} friend of the world, he {thereby} makes himself a {hostile} enemy of God.
5 Or are you {in the habit of} thinking that the Scripture is {recurrently} saying {this} for no {effective} purpose: {that} the spirit {— the inner personality —} which He has caused to dwell in us is {continually} yearning toward envy [/resentfulness].
6 Yet He does grant a superior [/greater] grace. For this reason He says, “God arrays Himself in battle against [/opposes] {those who are} proud [/haughty /arrogant], but He grants grace to {those who are} lowly [/humble /unpretentious].” [Proverbs 3:34]
7 So then, put yourselves in submission under God: take a stand against [/resist] the devil, {for only} then will he flee for safety from you;
8 draw close to God, {for only} then will He draw close to you; {outwardly} cleanse {your} hands, {O you} sinners, and {inwardly} purify {your} hearts, {O you who are, practically speaking} between two opinions;
9 lament, and mourn, and weep aloud, let your laughter be changed into mourning, and your joy into shame [/dejection /horror];
10 cause yourselves to be humbled in the sight of the Lord, {for only} then shall He lift you up [/exalt you].
Read the rest of the article here.
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