Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the exclusive form (third group of people talking among each other).
Following are a number of back-translations of James 4:13:
Uma: “This is my advice to you who have high hearts [i.e., are haughty]. You speak like this: ‘Today or tomorrow morning, we (excl.) will leave for so-and-so village, we’ll (excl.) stay there for about a year doing business and we’ll (excl.) make a profit.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Listen to me, you the ones who say that tomorrow or the day after you will go to another country/place and live there for one year to trade in order to gain/earn much money.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Listen you who say, ‘Today, and if not then tomorrow, we will go to another town, and there we will do business for a year in order to get money.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “All right then, if there are some among you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we (excl.) are going to a different town to do-business there for a year so that we (excl.) will get-rich (lit. get-monied).’ Think-over this that I say.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Think too about this which I am saying, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we (excl.) will go to that city. About a year is how long we (excl.) will be there. We(excl.) will-go-into-business there so that money will increase.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “There are some who say among themselves: ‘Today or tomorrow let us go to some city. We will live there one year, we will find that to work at, we will gain money,’ they say. But those who speak like this should listen to this word here.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Come now: James shifts to a conversational style by calling for the attention of his readers. This expression is used only here and in 5.1 in the New Testament. It is a form of address, an attention getter, for which a number of equivalent expressions may be used; for example, “Now listen to me” (Good News Translation), “Listen carefully” (Japanese New Interconfessional Translation), “But wait” (Translator’s New Testament), “Stop and think a minute!” (Barclay), “Just a moment, now” (Phillips), “You should know better than…” (Contemporary English Version). The people addressed are you who say …, an imaginary group of business people who say what is said in the quotation.
Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain: what we have here are the typical plans of ordinary business people. Their business plans include setting the time of departure, selecting a location, determining the length of stay, projecting the profit, and so on. Notice that all four verbs are in the future tense: “will go,” “will spend,” “will trade,” and “will get gain.” This shows that their plans are firm and full of confidence and expectations. Notice also the progression Today … tomorrow … a year. In cultures where it is not natural to talk about particular times such as Today, tomorrow, or a year, we may translate, for example, “Very soon [or, In a little while] we will go to the town, where we will stay for a long time [or, for many moons].” The expression such and such a town is an idiomatic way of referring to a certain location without naming the place specifically. In this way the story can be applied to any city and any situation. Thus the idiom may be rendered as “this and that town” (Barclay, New International Version). Other translations restructure this as “we’ll go to the city” (Contemporary English Version), or “we will travel to a certain city” (Good News Translation); such a restructuring will be more natural in many languages. In cultures where large towns do not exist, but only villages of various sizes, we may express town as “a large village,” “a place with many houses,” or even “a large village with a strong wall [or, fence] around it.” The verb trade means “do business” (Translator’s New Testament) or “go into business” (Good News Translation). The expression get gain may be rendered more naturally as “make money” (Translator’s New Testament, New International Version) or “make a profit” (New American Bible). James is obviously not rebuking his readers for making detailed and wise business decisions in advance. The problem is that they make plans without the Great Planner; they leave God out of their planning.
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 .
In this section, James rebuked the merchants who made plans to get rich but did not think about God. It is not clear whether or not the people whom James was denouncing belonged to the Christian community. It may be that among the Jewish traders of the time there were some who claimed to follow Christ but were not living as they should. On the other hand, there were no doubt many rich traders and merchants outside the church (see the references to “the rich” in 2:6–7), and James’ words would have served as a warning to Christians not to desire to follow their example.
Some other possible headings for this section are:
Don’t Brag About Your Plans for the Future (God’s Word)
-or-
Warning against Boasting (Good News Translation)
Paragraph 4:13–17
James described the way traders made plans to get rich (4:13). Then he explained that those who think like that are ignoring God (4:14). He told them that instead they ought to submit to the Lord’s will (4:15). He reminded them that their behavior was arrogant (4:16) and warned them that God considered it sinful (4:17).
4:13a
Come now: The Greek expression that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as Come now is an idiomatic way of getting people’s attention. This expression introduces a warning. So you should use an expression that indicates that James was about to say something that his hearers would not be happy to hear.
Some other ways to translate this expression are:
Now listen to me (Good News Translation)
-or-
Pay attention to this! (God’s Word)
Here the word now is not the time word that means “at the present time.”
you who say: Some traders and merchants were talking (or at least thinking) in the way that follows. James was addressing these people. Some other ways to translate this phrase are:
Some of you say (New Century Version)
-or-
anyone who says
4:13b
Today or tomorrow: The phrase Today or tomorrow means “in the future” or “soon.” The traders intended to go and buy and sell goods, but they had not decided exactly when they would start their trip. (Commentators have suggested an alternative way to understand and punctuate the Greek text:Some of you say, “Today we will go…”, others say, “Tomorrow we will go….”This understanding is supported by Hiebert, page 274; Lenski, page 639; Tasker, page 101. However, as none of the major English versions have followed this punctuation of the text, it is recommended that you punctuate in accordance with the Berean Standard Bible, as in the notes. For support for this punctuation, see Adamson (1976), page 178, and Motyer, page 160.)
we will go: The traders meant that they would leave the place where they were and begin their journey to another place. The Good News Translation translates this as:
we will travel
we: James imagined traders who were making their plans. But it is uncertain who they may have been talking to. They may been making plans among themselves. Or they may have been telling other people what they planned to do. So for languages that have inclusive and exclusive forms for “we”, probably either could be used here.
to this or that city: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as this or that city refers to a city whose name was not important to James. The traders of whom James was speaking would have known the particular city they were going to. So the expression does not mean “some town or other, but we are not sure which one.” (Some commentators have not expressed themselves clearly and a number of English versions are ambiguous, but see Blass-Debrunner-Funk, §289; Liddell-Scott-Jones, 9th ed. The reference of the Greek hode is to a particular entity.)
Some languages have an expression to refer to a particular location without mentioning the name. When someone quotes another person’s words or tells a story, he can use this expression in place of a name. He does this when the exact name is not important. In English, the expressions “such and such” or “so and so” can be used for this purpose.
Some other ways to translate this phrase are:
to a certain city (Good News Translation)
-or-
to such-and-such a city (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
4:13c
spend a year there: The phrase spend a year there means “live in that city for a year”. For example:
We will stay there a year (New Century Version)
4:13d
carry on business: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as carry on business means “work buying and selling goods for profit.” Some other ways to translate this verb are:
do business (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
trade (Revised Standard Version)
4:13e
make a profit: The phrase make a profit means to gain money.
General Comment on 4:13a–e
In some languages, it may be more natural to change the order of some of the clauses in this verse. For example:
Some people are saying, 13b–e“Today or tomorrow we will go….” 13aNow, you who are saying such things, listen to me!
In some languages, it is more natural to use indirect speech here. For example:
aListen to me, those of you who say that btoday or tomorrow you are going to some city cto stay a year there dto trade and emake a profit.
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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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