You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask.
Parallel translations
- WEB You lust, and don’t have. You murder and covet, and can’t obtain. You fight and make war. You don’t have, because you don’t ask.
- KJV Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
- NKJV You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
- NASB You lust and do not have, so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.
- NLT 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.
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
Unchecked craving leads to murder, covetousness, and conflict, yet still leaves people empty. They lack because they do not ask God.
Overview
James exposes the futility of grasping: desire that bypasses God produces strife and still fails to satisfy. The strong language of murder and war may be hyperbole for bitter hostility, though it underscores how deadly covetousness can grow. The remedy he hints at is prayerful dependence on God rather than self-willed striving, a theme he develops in the following verses.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- John 16:24Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
- Matt 7:7–8Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
- Jas 1:5Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
- Luke 11:9–13So I tell you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
- John 4:10Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
- 1 Tim 6:9–10Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
- Prov 1:19Such is the fate of all who are greedy, whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.
- Jas 5:1–5Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you.
- Hab 2:5and wealth indeed betrays him. He is an arrogant man never at rest. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and like Death, he is never satisfied. He gathers all the nations to himself and collects all the peoples as his own.
- Isa 7:12But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask; I will not test the LORD.”
- Eccl 4:8There is a man all alone, without even a son or brother. And though there is no end to his labor, his eyes are still not content with his wealth: “For whom do I toil and bereave my soul of enjoyment?” This too is futile—a miserable task.
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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 4:2 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
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