Bible Strands
James 4:14
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — James addresses believers who have just declared they will travel, trade, and profit in specific cities (v. 13). He interrupts their confident planning with a blunt correction.
The words — ἐπιστάσθε (epistasthe), "you know," is the hinge: the negative οὐκ ἐπιστάσθε ("you do not know") is a flat denial of the knowledge they just claimed. αὔριον (aurion), "next day," is the concrete thing they presume to own.
The thread — The same transience runs through Psalms 39:5 ("my days as handbreadths"), 1 Peter 1:24 ("all flesh is like grass"), and 1 John 2:17 ("the world is passing away").
Why it lands — It removes the reader from the position of owner of tomorrow and places them in the position of a creature whose span is not self-determined. The practical demand is to qualify every plan with dependence on God (v. 15).
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Cross-references
- 1 Peter 1:24 For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
- Psalms 39:5 You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah
- 1 John 2:17 The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.
- Psalms 102:3 For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers.
- Job 7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.
- Job 14:1 “Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.
- James 1:10 But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field.
- Job 9:25 My days are swifter than a runner; they flee without seeing good.
- Psalms 90:5 You sweep them away in their sleep; they are like the new grass of the morning—
- Psalms 89:47 Remember the briefness of my lifespan! For what futility You have created all men!