James 4:10 (YLT)

Passage

be made low before the Lord, and He shall exalt you.

Nearby Context

James 4:8 draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you; cleanse hands, ye sinners! and purify hearts, ye two-souled!

James 4:9 be exceeding afflicted, and mourn, and weep, let your laughter to mourning be turned, and the joy to heaviness;

James 4:10 be made low before the Lord, and He shall exalt you.

James 4:11 Speak not one against another, brethren; he who is speaking against a brother, and is judging his brother, doth speak against law, and doth judge law, and if law thou dost judge, thou art not a doer of law but a judge;

James 4:12 one is the lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy; thou--who art thou that dost judge the other?

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "before", "lord", "shall", and "exalt". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "before" and "lord", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 9's "be exceeding afflicted and mourn and weep..." into verse 11's "Speak not one against another brethren he...", so "before" and "lord" 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 "before" and "lord" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.