James 4:9 (DBY)

Passage

Be wretched, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and [your] joy to heaviness.

Nearby Context

James 4:7 Subject yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse [your] hands, sinners, and purify [your] hearts, ye double-minded.

James 4:9 Be wretched, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and [your] joy to heaviness.

James 4:10 Humble yourselves before [the] Lord, and he shall exalt you.

James 4:11 Speak not against one another, brethren. He that speaks against [his] brother, or judges his brother, speaks against [the] law and judges [the] law. But if thou judgest [the] law, thou art not doer of [the] law, but judge.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "wretched", "mourn", "weep", "laughter", "turned", "mourning", and "heaviness". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "wretched" and "mourn", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "Draw near to God and he will..." into verse 10's "Humble yourselves before the Lord and he...", so "wretched" and "mourn" 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 "wretched" and "mourn" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.