James 4:14 (DBY)

Passage

ye who do not know what will be on the morrow, ([for] what [is] your life? It is even a vapour, appearing for a little while, and then disappearing,)

Nearby Context

James 4:12 One is the lawgiver and judge, who is able to save and to destroy: but who art *thou* who judgest thy neighbour?

James 4:13 Go to now, ye who say, To-day or to-morrow will we go into such a city and spend a year there, and traffic and make gain,

James 4:14 ye who do not know what will be on the morrow, ([for] what [is] your life? It is even a vapour, appearing for a little while, and then disappearing,)

James 4:15 instead of your saying, If the Lord should [so] will and we should live, we will also do this or that.

James 4:16 But now ye glory in your vauntings: all such glorying is evil.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "morrow", "life", "even", "vapour", "appearing", "little", and "disappearing". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "morrow" and "life", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 13's "Go to now ye who say To-day..." into verse 15's "instead of your saying If the Lord...", so "morrow" and "life" belong inside that flow. In James context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "morrow" and "life" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.