Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary James 4:9

"Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness." — James 4:9 (ASV)

Four of the ten imperatives of vv.7–10 occur in this verse, and all four are calls to repentance. “Grieve” (GK 5415) is a strong word meaning “to be miserable or wretched.” In contrast to the worldly pleasures they had sought so eagerly, James’s readers are to repent in misery. They also are commanded to “mourn” (GK 4291), a verb depicting passionate grief that cannot be hidden. Similar outward grief is called for in the verb “wail” (GK 3081). In the past, when the readers had pursued pleasure, their lives had been marked by “laughter” and “joy”; but now they are to change their “laughter to mourning” and their “joy to gloom.” Some have imagined that the attitude expressed in this verse is to be the constant characteristic of the Christian. Such an interpretation, however, overlooks the situation that gave rise to these commands. It was the burning desire for pleasures that led James to issue this powerful call to all-out repentance.