Charles Ellicott Commentary James 4:14

"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." — James 4:14 (ASV)

Whereas you know not . . . .—Read, Whereas you know not anything of tomorrow—what, i.e., the event may be. The hopeless misery of the unfaithful servant comes to mind at this; he has left the greater business to perform the less; or, it may be, said in heart, My lord delayeth his coming, and so has begun to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken. And behold! the thunder of the chariot wheels, the flash of the avenging sword, the portion with the hypocrites, the weeping and gnashing of teeth. .

For what is your life? It is even a vapour.—The rebuke is stronger still, the home-thrust more sharp and piercing—You are even a vapour: you yourselves, and all belonging to you; not merely life itself, for that admittedly is a breath; and many a man, acknowledging so much, counts on tomorrow that he may lay up in store for other wants besides his own.

A vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away (or, disappears).—There is a play upon words to mark the sad antithesis. The vision of life vanishes as it came; and thus even a heathen poet says—

“Dust we are, and a shadow.”

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