Read & explore together
Do Not Boast about Tomorrow
James 4:13–17 warns people who speak about tomorrow with strong confidence. The passage turns attention from planned profit and self-assurance to human weakness, the Lord’s will, and the duty to do known good.
Understanding the passage
The setting of these words
In these verses, James directly addresses people describing a future trip, a year of trading, and expected profit. He answers their confidence by stressing that tomorrow is unknown and life is brief. The passage then contrasts boastful speech with words shaped by the Lord’s will and obedient action.
James 4:13–17Main takeaway
This passage says that boastful confidence about tomorrow is evil, and it calls people to speak and act humbly under the Lord’s will and to do the good they know to do.
Follow the letter’s teaching
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01A bold plan for the futureJames begins by quoting people who speak with certainty about what they will do: go to a city, stay a year, trade, and make a profit.
Explanation
James begins by quoting people who speak with certainty about what they will do: go to a city, stay a year, trade, and make a profit. The words pile up detailed expectations about tomorrow and the year ahead. The focus is on confident speech about future success.
02Human life is uncertain and briefJames answers that confidence with two reminders. First, they do not know what tomorrow will be like.
Explanation
James answers that confidence with two reminders. First, they do not know what tomorrow will be like. Second, human life is like a vapour that appears briefly and then vanishes. The picture makes human plans look fragile and temporary rather than secure and lasting.
03Speech shaped by the Lord’s willInstead of speaking as though the future is settled by human intention, James says they ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.”
Explanation
Instead of speaking as though the future is settled by human intention, James says they ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.” Even continued life is included here. Their words should recognise dependence on the Lord’s will.
04Boasting is evil, and known good must be doneJames names their present attitude plainly: they boast, and such boasting is evil. He then adds a searching conclusion.
Explanation
James names their present attitude plainly: they boast, and such boasting is evil. He then adds a searching conclusion. Sin includes failing to do the good a person knows. So this teaching is not only about words concerning tomorrow, but also about obedient action now.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What parts of the speakers’ plan in James 4:13 make it sound settled and confident?
List the details they name about time, place, length of stay, activity, and expected result.
02Why does James use the picture of a vapour when talking about tomorrow?
Connect the image with his statement that people do not know what tomorrow will be like.
03What two changes does James call for in these verses?
Look for the replacement for boasting in James 4:15 and the responsibility named in James 4:17.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
James 4:13–17
13Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow let’s go into this city and spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.”
14Yet you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
15For you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.”
16But now you glory in your boasting. All such boasting is evil.
17To him therefore who knows to do good and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.