Whereas you do not know about tomorrow: the confidence of the business people is unfounded. They make plans only in reference to this world. They do not know anything about the future, which starts tomorrow.
There are two problems in this verse. The first is the exact sense of the indefinite relative pronoun rendered as whereas by Revised Standard Version. The Revised Standard Version rendering obviously takes it adverbially, with the force of bringing out a contrary argument. This is the understanding of those translations that render the relative as “why” (New International Version) or “yet” (so Revised English Bible, New Revised Standard Version). Others suggest that it should be taken in the classical sense of “you are those who…,” referring back to “you who say…” in 4.13. In this case we can identify those who know nothing about what will happen in the future as the same ones who make plans to do something. Those translations favoring this interpretation normally place a dash before “you”; for example, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow … and making money’—you who know nothing about tomorrow!” (Moffatt; similarly New American Bible). Either understanding is possible. Actually, if the exact relationship of this verse with the previous one is not marked, that is, if the indefinite relative whereas is left untranslated, the next statement is in fact saying something contrary to the previous verse. Note, for example, the Good News Translation rendering: “You don’t even know what your life tomorrow will be!” One way to overcome this problem is to say “You people who talk like this don’t know…” or “You people who say such things don’t know….”
The next problem has to do with the structure of the first part of the sentence, which to some extent is compounded by variants in the Greek text. The UBS Greek New Testament takes the first half of the verse as a single sentence; that is, there is no punctuation between “you do not know the thing [with the singular article] tomorrow” and “what is your life.” If these two clauses are joined together, the resultant rendering will be something like what Good News Translation has done: “You don’t even know what your life tomorrow will be!” (so also La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée, Bible en français courant; similarly New American Standard Bible and Barclay). On this interpretation James can be understood as saying that these business people are ignorant of what the conditions of their life will be tomorrow.
The other alternative is to separate this part of the verse into two sentences. In this case translators usually adopt in the first statement a form of the text with either the singular article (“the thing [or, course] of tomorrow”) or the plural (“the things [or, affairs] of tomorrow”). The resultant rendering is reflected in the Revised Standard Version rendering, you do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? The answer to this question is then given in the second half of this verse. This is essentially the interpretation adopted by New International Version, Revised English Bible, New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version. On this interpretation James appears to be emphasizing the uncertainty and shortness of life. It may be noted that some translations have rendered the first sentence also as a question; for example, “What do you know about tomorrow? How can you be so sure about your life?” (Contemporary English Version; so also Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).
There appears to be a stronger case for the second interpretation for the following reasons. First, what James goes on to say about the readers’ life as a mist or a “puff of smoke” shows that he seems to have the uncertainty of life in mind. Secondly, if the first half of the verse is taken as one sentence, we would have to take “what” as the object of the verb “know.” Normally we would expect “what” to follow closely after the verb “know” when it is the object of that verb. But in this instance the two are separated by a phrase, “the thing of tomorrow.” It seems more natural, then, to take “what” as introducing a separate question relating to “your life.”
Tomorrow in certain languages will be expressed as “when the sun rises again” or “when a new day comes.” So we may translate you do not know about tomorrow as “You people who say this don’t even know what will happen after the sun rises again” or “You people who talk like this don’t even know what will happen when a new day comes.”
For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes: what is sure about life, according to James, is its uncertainty. You are a mist is of course referring to “your life” (“Your life is like a mist,” Barclay). The word mist can also mean “smoke,” and so it has been rendered as “a puff of smoke” by a number of translations (Good News Translation, Translator’s New Testament, New American Bible). It is used here as a metaphor indicating the uncertainty and shortness of life. It is like a mist that evaporates quickly under the sun, or like smoke blown away by the wind. The metaphor you are a mist is best rendered in some languages as a simile; for example, “you are like a mist” or “you are like a puff of smoke” (Good News Translation). Observe a play on words here; in the Greek appears and vanishes are both participles, literally “appearing” and “disappearing.” Life appears just for a little while, but like a mist or a puff of smoke it disappears quickly before anyone notices it. No one can be certain when death will come.
Quoted with permission from Loh, I-Jin and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Letter from James. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .