James 4:13 (LSB)

Passage

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”

Nearby Context

James 4:11 Do not slander one another, brothers. He who slanders a brother or judges his brother, slanders the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it.

James 4:12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you who judge your neighbor?

James 4:13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”

James 4:14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

James 4:15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "come", "today", "tomorrow", "such", "city", "spend", and "year". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "come" and "today", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 12's "There is only one Lawgiver and Judge..." into verse 14's "Yet you do not know what your...", so "come" and "today" 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 "come" and "today" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.