the Week of Proper 22 / Ordinary 27
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Mace New Testament
James 4:3
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
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- InternationalParallel Translations
You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
You don't get what you ask for because the things you are asking for come from your evil desires and lustful passions.
You make your request but you do not get it, because your request has been wrongly made, desiring the thing only so that you may make use of it for your pleasure.
Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask evilly, that ye may consume [it] in your pleasures.
You ask, and don't receive, because you ask amiss, so that you may spend it for your pleasures.
Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may expend it on your pleasures.
or you pray and yet do not receive, because you pray wrongly, your object being to waste what you get on some pleasure or another.
Ye aske and receiue not, because ye aske amisse, that yee may consume it vpon your lusts.
You ask, and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order that you may spend on your lusts.
Ye axe & receaue not because ye axe amysse: eue to cosume it vpo yor voluptuousnes.
Get Serious Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don't have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn't yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it. You wouldn't think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you'd be asking for what you have no right to. You're spoiled children, each wanting your own way.
You ask [God for something] and do not receive it, because you ask with wrong motives [out of selfishness or with an unrighteous agenda], so that [when you get what you want] you may spend it on your [hedonistic] desires.
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it in your pleasures.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
Ye axe and receave not because ye axe a mysse: even to consume it apon youre volupteousnes.
You ask, and don't receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend [it] in your pleasures.
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume [it] upon your lusts.
ye ask, and ye receive not, because evilly ye ask, that in your pleasures ye may spend [it].
Or when you ask, you do not receive because the reason you ask is wrong. You want things so you can use them for your own pleasures.
you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so you can spend it on your passions.
And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.
Yet even when you do pray, your prayers are not answered, because you pray just for selfish reasons.
Or you pray and don't receive, because you pray with the wrong motive, that of wanting to indulge your own desires.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
Ye aske, and receiue not, because ye aske amisse, that ye might lay the same out on your pleasures.
You ask and you do not receive because you do not ask sincerely, you ask that you may satisfy your lusts.
You ask and don't receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your evil desires.
You ask, and don't receive, because you ask amiss, so that you may spend it for your pleasures.
You ask for something but do not get it because you ask for it for the wrong reason - for your own pleasure.Job 1:27:9; 35:12; Psalm 18:41; 66:18; Proverbs 1:28; Isaiah 1:15; Jeremiah 11:11; Micah 3:4; Zechariah 7:13; 1 John 3:22; 5:14;">[xr]
you ask and receive not, because you ask wickedly, as that you may cherish your lusts.
Ye ask, and receive not; because ye ask wickedly, that ye may pamper your lusts.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
And even when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
Or if you do ask, you do not receive because your reasons for asking are wrong. You want these things only to please yourselves.
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it in your pleasures.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.
Ye ask and receive not, because that, basely, ye ask, in order that, in your pleasures, ye may spend it .
You ask and receive not: because you ask amiss, that you may consume it on your concupiscences.
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, in order that you may spend it on your pleasures.
Ye aske and receaue not, because ye aske amisse, euen to consume it vpon your lustes.
Or when you ask, you don't receive anything, because the reason you ask is wrong. You only want to use it for your own pleasure.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures.
And when you ask, you do not receive it, because your motives are bad; you ask for things to use for your own pleasures.
Ye axen, and ye resseyuen not; for that ye axen yuele, as ye schewen opynli in youre coueitisis.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
and: James 1:6, James 1:7, Job 27:8-10, Job 35:12, Psalms 18:41, Psalms 66:18, Psalms 66:19, Proverbs 1:28, Proverbs 15:8, Proverbs 21:13, Proverbs 21:27, Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 1:16, Jeremiah 11:11, Jeremiah 11:14, Jeremiah 14:12, Micah 3:4, Zechariah 7:13, Matthew 20:22, Mark 10:38, 1 John 3:22, 1 John 5:14
ye may: Luke 15:13, Luke 15:30, Luke 16:1, Luke 16:2
lusts: or, pleasures, James 4:1
Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 28:6 - inquired 1 Kings 2:22 - why dost 1 Kings 3:11 - hast not Job 16:18 - let my cry Job 27:9 - Will God Job 35:13 - God Psalms 78:18 - by asking meat Isaiah 43:22 - thou hast not Isaiah 45:19 - Seek Ezekiel 36:37 - I will yet Hosea 7:14 - assemble Luke 11:1 - teach Luke 11:10 - General John 4:15 - give John 6:26 - Ye seek John 16:24 - ask Romans 8:26 - for we
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Ye ask, and receive not,.... Some there were that did ask of God the blessings of his goodness and providence, and yet these were not bestowed on them; the reason was,
because ye ask amiss; not in the faith of a divine promise; nor with thankfulness for past mercies; nor with submission to the will of God; nor with a right end, to do good to others, and to make use of what might be bestowed, for the honour of God, and the interest of Christ: but
that ye may consume it upon your lusts; indulge to intemperance and luxury; as the man that had much goods laid up for many years did, to the neglect of his own soul, Luke 12:19 or the rich man, who spent all upon his back and his belly, and took no notice of Lazarus at his gate; Luke 16:19.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Ye 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 be professors of religion. They keep up a form of worship in their families. They pray for success in their worldly engagements, though those engagements are all based on covetousness. Instead of seeking property that they may glorify God, and do good; that they may relieve the poor and distressed; that they may be the patrons of learning, philanthropy, and religion, they do it that they may live in splendor, and be able to pamper their lusts. It is not indeed very common that persons with such ends and aims of life pray, but they sometimes do it; for, alas! there are many professors of religion who have no higher aims than these, and not a few such professors feel that consistency demands that they should observe some form of prayer. If such persons do not receive what they ask for, if they are not prospered in their plans, they should not set it down as evidence that God does not hear prayer, but as evidence that their prayers are offered for improper objects, or with improper motives.
Because ye ask amiss - Ye do it with a view to self-indulgence and carnal gratification.
That you may consume it upon your lusts - Margin, “pleasures.” This is the same word which is used in James 4:1, and rendered lusts. The reference is to sensual gratifications, and the word would include all that comes under the name of sensual pleasure, or carnal appetite. It was not that they might have a decent and comfortable living, which would not be improper to desire, but that they might have the means of luxurious dress and living; perhaps the means of gross sensual gratifications. Prayers offered that we may have the means of sensuality and voluptuousness, we have no reason to suppose God will answer, for he has not promised to hear such prayers; and it becomes every one who prays for worldly prosperity, and for success in business, to examine his motives with the closest scrutiny. Nowhere is deception more likely to creep in than into such prayers; nowhere are we more likely to be mistaken in regard to our real motives, than when we go before God and ask for success in our worldly employments.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse James 4:3. Ye ask, and receive not — Some think that this refers to their prayers for the conversion of the heathen; and on the pretence that they were not converted thus; they thought it lawful to extirpate them and possess their goods.
Ye ask amiss — κακως αιτεισθε. 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 original, ἱνα εν ταις ἡδοναις ὑμων δαπανησητε, That ye may expend it upon your pleasures. The rabbins have many good observations on asking amiss or asking improperly, and give examples of different kinds of this sort of prayer; the phrase is Jewish and would naturally occur to St. James in writing on this subject. Whether the lusting of which St. James speaks were their desire to make proselytes, in order that they might increase their power and influence by means of such, or whether it were a desire to cast off the Roman yoke, and become independent; the motive and the object were the same, and the prayers were such as God could not hear.
