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 :
James — the brother of Jesus — wrote this letter to early Christian communities scattered across the Roman world due to persecution. Here he quotes the confident, forward-looking language of merchants and businesspeople of his day: bold plans, specific cities, a full year, a healthy profit. The problem isn't the planning itself — it's the unspoken assumption underneath it. The tone carries a certainty about tomorrow that James believes belongs only to God. In the verses that follow, James compares human life to a mist that appears briefly and then vanishes — a vivid reminder that the future isn't ours to own, only to receive.
Lord, I make plans with such confidence — as if tomorrow is mine to script. Teach me to hold the future with open hands, trusting that you hold what I cannot control. Help me plan wisely and live humbly, remembering that my life is yours. Amen.
There's a kind of confidence that creeps into our planners and calendars without us noticing. We schedule dentist appointments six months out, book flights for summer vacation, map out career moves like we're engineers drafting a blueprint. None of that is wrong. But James catches something in the breezy tone of "we will go... we will make money" — the assumption that tomorrow belongs to us the same way today does. It doesn't. This isn't a call to anxious fatalism — to never plan anything because you might get hit by a bus. It's an invitation to hold your plans with open hands instead of a white-knuckled grip. What would change about the way you talk about the future — to your coworkers, your family, yourself — if you genuinely believed God was the keeper of your tomorrows? It might feel unsettling at first. That unsettling is worth sitting with.
What does James seem to be criticizing in this verse — is it the act of planning itself, or something underneath the attitude?
How do you typically talk about your future plans — with certainty, with anxiety, or with something closer to openness?
Does holding your plans loosely feel freeing or threatening to you, and what does your answer reveal about where you place your security?
How might the way you speak about the future — with confidence or with humility — affect the people closest to you, like your family or coworkers?
Think of one plan you're currently holding tightly. What would it look like, practically, to offer that plan to God this week?
The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
Psalms 121:8
Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.
Isaiah 56:12
Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
Hebrews 3:7
And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
Genesis 11:4
Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
Lamentations 3:37
For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.
Psalms 10:3
Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
Proverbs 27:1
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
James 5:1
Come now [and pay attention to this], you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and carry on our business and make a profit."
AMP
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” —
ESV
Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.'
NASB
Boasting About Tomorrow Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”
NIV
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”;
NKJV
Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.”
NLT
And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, "Today—at the latest, tomorrow—we're off to such and such a city for the year. We're going to start a business and make a lot of money."
MSG