James 4:14 - An Understandable Version (2005 edition)

¹⁴ [For actually] you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. What is your life? For you are [like] a mist that appears briefly and then vanishes.

More versions

King James Version (Oxford) 1769

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.

Amplified Bible - Classic Edition

¹⁴ Yet you do not know [the least thing] about what may happen tomorrow. What is the nature of your life? You are [really] but a wisp of vapor (a puff of smoke, a mist) that is visible for a little while and then disappears [into thin air].

American Standard Version (1901)

¹⁴ whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. What is your life? For ye are a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

Common English Bible

¹⁴ You don’t really know about tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for only a short while before it vanishes.

Catholic Public Domain Version

¹⁴ consider that you do not know what will be tomorrow.

James 4:14 Cross References

1 Peter 1:24

For all forms of flesh are similar to grass, and all the splendor of [a person’s] flesh is like the flower [which blossoms] from the grass. [But as with] grass, [a person’s flesh] withers, and its flower [i.e., his splendor] falls off.

1 John 2:17

And the world, with its [physical and material] desires, is passing away, but the person who does what God wants will continue to live forever.

James 1:10

And the wealthy person [should be happy] that he is humbled [by God], because he will pass away like a flower [blossoming] from grass.

1 Peter 4:7

But the end of everything [as far as your lives are concerned] is near, so be sensible, and sober [so as to be] prayerful.