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.
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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 16:24Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
- Matt 7:7–8Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
- Jas 1:5If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
- Luke 11:9–13And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
- John 4:10Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
- 1 Tim 6:9–10But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
- Prov 1:19So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
- Jas 5:1–5Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
- Hab 2:5Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:
- Isa 7:12But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD.
- Eccl 4:8There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.
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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
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.