James 4:3

James 4:3 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
• New International Version (NIV)When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
• New King James Version (NKJV)You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
• New Living Translation (NLT)And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

Context of James 4:3

1What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"?

James 4:3 word by word

αἰτεῖτε καὶ οὐ λαμβάνετε, διότι κακῶς αἰτεῖσθε, ἵνα ἐν ταῖς ἡδοναῖς ὑμῶν δαπανήσητε.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Ye askαἰτέωaiteō · to askG154
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• receiveλαμβάνωlambanō · to takeG2983
• notοὐou · noG3756
• becauseδιότιdioti · becauseG1360
• amissκακῶςkakōs · badlyG2560
• thatἵναhina · in order that/toG2443
• ye may consumeδαπανάωdapanaō · to spendG1159
• uponἐνen · in/on/amongG1722
• yourσύsu · youG4771
• lustsὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• lustsἡδονήhēdonē · pleasureG2237

Cross-references for James 4:3

• James 1:6But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
• Job 27:8For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off, when God takes away his life?
• Job 35:12There they cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of evil men.
• Psalms 18:41They cried for help, but there was none to save; they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.
• Psalms 66:18If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
• Proverbs 1:28Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me.
• Proverbs 15:8The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.
• Proverbs 21:13Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.
• Isaiah 1:15When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
• Jeremiah 11:11Therefore, thus says the Lord, Behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape. Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them.
• Jeremiah 14:12Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence."
• Micah 3:4Then they will cry to the Lord, but he will not answer them; he will hide his face from them at that time, because they have made their deeds evil.
• Zechariah 7:13"As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear," says the Lord of hosts,
• Matthew 20:22Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?" They said to him, "We are able."
• Mark 10:38Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"
• 1 John 3:22and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

Commentaries on James 4:3

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3Ye ask, and receive not - Some think that this refers to their prayers for the conversion of the heathen; and on the pretense that they were not converted thus; they thought it lawful to extirpate them and possess their goods. Ye ask amiss - · Ye ask evilly, wickedly. Ye have not the proper dispositions of prayer, and ye have an improper object. Ye ask for worldly prosperity, that ye may employ it in riotous living. This is properly the meaning of the…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3Ye ask, and receive not - That is, some of you ask, or you ask on some occasions. Though seeking in general what you desire by strife, and without regard to the rights of others, yet you sometimes pray. It is not uncommon for men who go to war to pray, or to procure the services of a chaplain to pray for them. It sometimes happens that the covetous and the quarrelsome; that those who live to wrong others, and who are fond of litigation, pray. Such men may…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. Some of them are supposed to say in objection, But we do "ask" (pray); compare Jas 4:2. James replies, It is not enough to ask for good things, but we must ask with a good spirit and intention. "Ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it (your object of prayer) upon (literally, 'in') your lusts (literally, 'pleasures')"; not that ye may have the things you need for the service of God. Contrast Jas 1:5 with Mt 6:31,32. If ye prayed aright, all your proper…Read the comment

Topics related to James 4:3

• Lust
• Sin
• Wicked (People)

In the dictionaries

• Adulterer
• Amiss
• Consume
• Enmity
• Flee
• Hence
• Lust
• Resist
• Sin
• Unruly

Commentaries on James 4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings