Verse Lens · Concise explanation
James 4:13 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 13. 13Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse quotes merchants confidently scripting city, duration, trade, and profit.
Read It With
- James 4:13–17
Read James 4:13 with 4:13–17. This verse quotes merchants confidently scripting city, duration, trade, and profit. The complete unit establishes this movement: Merchants who confidently script travel, time, trade, and profit ignore tomorrow and life's vapor-like brevity; plans should remain under the Lord's will, because boasting in control is evil and neglecting known good is sin.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The unit exposes another form of self-exaltation—treating the future as property—before James names economic injustice. Within that movement, this verse quotes merchants confidently scripting city, duration, trade, and profit.
Read James 4:13–17 together
Why these verses belong together: Commercial certainty is corrected by tomorrow's uncertainty, life's brevity, God's will, and responsibility for known good.
Verse 13. 13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
Verse 14. 14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Verse 15. 15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
Verse 16. 16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
Verse 17. 17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain”
In plain language: A detailed plan is voiced as certainty rather than contingency.
quotes merchants confidently scripting city, duration, trade, and profit. Plans become boastful when they treat life and outcome as owned.
Why it matters: The wording identifies this verse's distinct contribution to the complete unit.
How certain? strongWhat Remains True
Plans become boastful when they treat life and outcome as owned.
How It Can Shape Life
- Label assumptions and contingencies in financial and travel plans.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read James 4:13–17 — Plan under God's Will and Life's BrevitySources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: James 4:13–17, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording, clause relationships, and base text for original-language discussion.
Exact location: Faithlife SBLGNT repository, data/sblgnt/text/Jas.txt, 4:13–17
Open the James Greek text file ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible — James with translators' and textual notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2005–2026 online edition
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual alternatives, and interpretive notes.
Exact location: NET Bible official six-page James PDF, 4:13–17 translation and attached translator, study, and textual notes
Open the official NET James PDF ↗