James 4 · Verse 9

James 4:9

Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

James 4:9, King James Version

James 4:9 in other translations

BSB	Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom.
WEB	Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
ASV	Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
YLT	be exceeding afflicted, and mourn, and weep, let your laughter to mourning be turned, and the joy to heaviness;
DARBY	Be wretched, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
BBE	Be troubled, with sorrow and weeping; let your laughing be turned to sorrow and your joy to grief.
Webster	Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

What does James 4:9 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

9. Be afflicted--literally, "Endure misery," that is, mourn over your wretchedness through sin. Repent with deep sorrow instead of your present laughter. A blessed mourning. Contrast Is 22:12, 13; Lu 6:25. James does not add here, as in Jas 5:1, "howl," where he foretells the doom of the impenitent at the coming destruction of Jerusalem. heaviness--literally, "falling of the countenance," casting down of the eyes.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes

Verse 9. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep. That is, evidently, on account of your sins. The sins to which the apostle refers are those which he had specified in the previous part of the chapter, and which he had spoken of as so evil in their nature, and so dangerous in their tendency. The word rendered "be afflicted" means, properly, to endure toil or hardship; then to endure affliction or distress; and here means, that they were to afflict themselves--that is, they were to feel distressed and sad on account of their transgressions. Compare Ezr 8:21. The other words in this clause are those which are expressive of deep grief or sorrow. The language here used shows that the apostle supposed that it was possible that those who had done wrong should voluntarily feel sorrow for it, and that, therefore, it was proper to call upon them to do it.

Let your laughter be turned to mourning. It would seem that the persons referred to, instead of suitable sorrow and humiliation on account of sin, gave themselves to joyousness, mirth, and revelry. See a similar instance in Isa 22:12-13. It is often the case, that those for whom the deep sorrows of repentance would be peculiarly appropriate, give themselves to mirth and vanity. The apostle here says that such mirth did not become them. Sorrow, deep and unfeigned, was appropriate on account of their sins, and the sound of laughter and of revelry should be changed to notes of lamentation. To how many of the assemblies of the vain, the gay, and the dissipated, might the exhortation in this passage with propriety be now addressed!

Your joy to heaviness. The word here rendered heaviness occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It means dejection, sorrow. It is not gloom, melancholy, or moroseness, but it is sorrow on account of sin, God has so made us that we should feel sorrow when we are conscious that we have done wrong, and it is appropriate that we should do so.

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 9 Be afflicted, and mourn - Without true and deep repentance ye cannot expect the mercy of God. Let your laughter be turned to mourning - It appears most evidently that many of those to whom St. James addressed this epistle had lived a very irregular and dissolute life. He had already spoken of their lust, and pleasures, and he had called them adulterers and adulteresses; and perhaps they were so in the grossest sense of the words. He speaks here of their laughter and their joy; and all the terms taken together show that a dissolute life is intended. What a strange view must he have of the nature of primitive Christianity, who can suppose that these words can possibly have been addressed to people professing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who were few in number, without wealth or consequence, and were persecuted and oppressed both by their brethren the Jews and by the Romans!

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on James 4:1-10

Since all wars and fightings come from the corruptions of our own hearts, it is right to mortify those lusts that war in the members. Wordly and fleshly lusts are distempers, which will not allow content or satisfaction. Sinful desires and affections stop prayer, and the working of our desires toward God. And let us beware that we do not abuse or misuse the mercies received, by the disposition of the heart when…

Read the full comment on James 4:1-10 →

James 4:9 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

ταλαιπωρήσατεtalaipōrēsatedo be grievedG5003

καὶkaiandG2532

πενθήσατεpenthēsatedo mournG3996

καὶkaiandG2532

κλαύσατε·klausatedo weep;G2799

ὁhoTheG3588

γέλωςgelōslaughterG1071

ὑμῶνhumōnof youG4771

εἰςeistoG1519

πένθοςpenthosmourningG3997

μετατραπήτωmetatrapētōshould be turned

καὶkaiandG2532

ἡhētheG3588

χαρὰcharajoyG5479

εἰςeistoG1519

κατήφειαν.katēpheiangloom.G2726

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for James 4:9

Matthew 5:4
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
2 Corinthians 7:10-11
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
Luke 6:25
Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.
Proverbs 14:13
Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.
James 5:1-2
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
Psalms 119:67
Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.
Jeremiah 31:18-20
I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God. Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord.
Ecclesiastes 7:2-6
It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. …
Ezekiel 16:63
That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God.
Revelation 18:7-8
How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
Ezekiel 7:16
But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.
Lamentations 5:15
The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

afflicted.
5:1,2; Ps 119:67,71,136; 126:5,6; Ec 7:2-5; Isa 22:12,13
Jer 31:9,13,18-20; Eze 7:16; 16:63; Zec 12:10-14; Mt 5:4; Lu 6:21
2Co 7:10,11
let.
Job 30:31; Pr 14:13; Ec 2:2; 7:6; La 5:15; Lu 6:25; 16:25; Re 18:7,8

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

James 4:8
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
James 4:9
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
James 4:10
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Read all of James 4

James 4:9 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Afligíos, y lamentad, y llorad. Vuestra risa se convierta en lloro, y vuestro gozo en tristeza.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Sentez vos misères, et menez deuil et pleurez. Que votre rire se change en deuil, et votre joie en tristesse.
German Elberfelder 1871	Seid niedergebeugt, und trauert und weinet; euer Lachen verwandle sich in Traurigkeit und eure Freude in Niedergeschlagenheit.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Miseri estote, et lugete, et plorate: risus vester in luctum convertatur, et gaudium in mœrorem.