Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, produces death.
- KJV Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
- NKJV Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
- NASB Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it has run its course, brings forth death.
- NLT These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Desire conceives and gives birth to sin, and sin fully grown brings forth death. Unchecked sinful desire follows a deadly progression.
Overview
James traces sin's lethal lifecycle: desire conceives, sin is born, and matured sin produces death. The vivid metaphor of conception and birth shows that sin is not static but grows toward destruction. This sober warning highlights humanity's need for the deliverance from sin and death that only Christ provides (Romans 6:23).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Ps 7:14Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.
- Job 15:35They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.”
- Rom 5:12–21Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned.
- Gen 2:17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”
- Isa 59:4No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case honestly. They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies; they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
- Gen 3:6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
- Rom 6:21–23What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death.
- Mic 2:1–3Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.
- Gen 4:5–8but He had no regard for Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell.
- Rev 20:14–15Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire.
- Gen 3:17–19And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
- Acts 5:1–3Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.
- Matt 26:14Then one of the Twelve, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests
- Ps 9:17The wicked will return to Sheol—all the nations who forget God.
- Matt 26:48–59Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The One I kiss is the man; arrest Him.”
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Christ at the center
The wisdom from above and the royal law of love are the life of those who belong to 'our glorious Lord Jesus Christ' — faith in him made visible in works.
How James 1:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.