James 4:9 (GNV)

Passage

Suffer afflictions, and sorrowe ye, and weepe: let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your ioy into heauinesse.

Nearby Context

James 4:7 Submit your selues to God: resist the deuill, and he will flee from you.

James 4:8 Drawe neere to God, and he will drawe neere to you. Clense your handes, ye sinners, and purge your hearts, ye double minded.

James 4:9 Suffer afflictions, and sorrowe ye, and weepe: let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your ioy into heauinesse.

James 4:10 Cast downe your selues before the Lord, and he will lift you vp.

James 4:11 Speake not euill one of another, brethren. He that speaketh euill of his brother, or he that condemneth his brother, speaketh euill of ye Law, and condemneth the Lawe: and if thou condemnest the Lawe, thou art not an obseruer of the Lawe, but a iudge.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "suffer", "afflictions", "sorrowe", "weepe", "laughter", "turned", "mourning", and "heauinesse". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "suffer" and "afflictions", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "Drawe neere to God and he will..." into verse 10's "Cast downe your selues before the Lord...", so "suffer" and "afflictions" 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 "suffer" and "afflictions" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.