James 4:3

New Living Translation

And even when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
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.

Revised Standard Version
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Ye axe and receave not because ye axe a mysse: even to consume it apon youre volupteousnes.

Hebrew Names Version
You ask, and don't receive, because you ask amiss, so that you may spend it for your pleasures.

New American Standard Bible
You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures.

New Century Version
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.

Update Bible Version
You ask, and don't receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend [it] in your pleasures.

Webster's Bible Translation
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume [it] upon your lusts.

English Standard Version
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

World English Bible
You ask, and don't receive, because you ask amiss, so that you may spend it for your pleasures.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may expend it on your pleasures.

Weymouth's New Testament
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.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Ye axen, and ye resseyuen not; for that ye axen yuele, as ye schewen opynli in youre coueitisis.

English Revised Version
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it in your pleasures.

Berean Standard Bible
And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.

Contemporary English Version
Yet even when you do pray, your prayers are not answered, because you pray just for selfish reasons.

Amplified Bible
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.

American Standard Version
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it in your pleasures.

Bible in Basic English
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.

Complete Jewish Bible
Or you pray and don't receive, because you pray with the wrong motive, that of wanting to indulge your own desires.

Darby Translation
Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask evilly, that ye may consume [it] in your pleasures.

International Standard Version
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]

Etheridge Translation
you ask and receive not, because you ask wickedly, as that you may cherish your lusts.

Murdock Translation
Ye ask, and receive not; because ye ask wickedly, that ye may pamper your lusts.

King James Version (1611)
Ye aske and receiue not, because ye aske amisse, that yee may consume it vpon your lusts.

New Life Bible
Or if you do ask, you do not receive because your reasons for asking are wrong. You want these things only to please yourselves.

New Revised Standard
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Ye aske, and receiue not, because ye aske amisse, that ye might lay the same out on your pleasures.

George Lamsa Translation
You ask and you do not receive because you do not ask sincerely, you ask that you may satisfy your lusts.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Ye ask and receive not, because that, basely, ye ask, in order that, in your pleasures, ye may spend it .

Douay-Rheims Bible
You ask and receive not: because you ask amiss, that you may consume it on your concupiscences.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Ye aske and receaue not, because ye aske amisse, euen to consume it vpon your lustes.

Good News Translation
And when you ask, you do not receive it, because your motives are bad; you ask for things to use for your own pleasures.

Christian Standard Bible®
You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

King James Version
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

Lexham English Bible
You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, in order that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Literal Translation
You ask, and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order that you may spend on your lusts.

Young's Literal Translation
ye ask, and ye receive not, because evilly ye ask, that in your pleasures ye may spend [it].

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Ye axe & receaue not because ye axe amysse: eue to cosume it vpo yor voluptuousnes.

Mace New Testament (1729)
you would not obtain it, because you wickedly request to have your passions gratified.

THE MESSAGE
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.

New English Translation
you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so you can spend it on your passions.

New King James Version
You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Simplified Cowboy Version
You don't get what you ask for because the things you are asking for come from your evil desires and lustful passions.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Contextual Overview

¹ What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don't they come from the evil desires at war within you? ² You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can't get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it. ³ And even when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure. ⁴ You adulterers! Don't you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. ⁵ Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. ⁶ And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." ⁷ So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. ⁹ Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

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

Cross-References

Genesis 4:1
Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, "With the Lord 's help, I have produced a man!"

Genesis 4:11
Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother's blood.

Numbers 18:12
"I also give you the harvest gifts brought by the people as offerings to the Lord —the best of the olive oil, new wine, and grain.

1 Kings 17:7
But after a while the brook dried up, for there was no rainfall anywhere in the land.

Nehemiah 13:6
I was not in Jerusalem at that time, for I had returned to King Artaxerxes of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his reign, though I later asked his permission to return.

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.