Devine Scripture

James 4:3

What does James 4:3 mean?

A plain-English look at James 4:3 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What James 4:3 means

Not all unanswered prayer stems from silence in heaven; sometimes it reveals corruption in the heart. James says requests go unfulfilled when they are bent toward self-indulgence—when the purpose of asking is to feed pleasure rather than honor God. Prayer is not a tool to finance our cravings. God is a Father, not a vending machine. When motives are twisted, even sincere-sounding petitions miss the mark, because their aim is our will, not His. James invites readers to examine why they want what they want. He points to a better way: align desire with God’s purposes, and prayer becomes communion rather than consumption, a seeking of grace rather than a subsidy for passions.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

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

KJV

King James Version · 1611

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

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

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

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

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.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

ye ask, and ye receive not, because evilly ye ask, that in your pleasures ye may spend <FI>it<Fi> .

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

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

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

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

Context

This verse completes James’s diagnosis of frustrated desire and failed prayer begun in verses 1–2. He moves from the absence of prayer to the abuse of prayer—asking with self-centered aims. This paves the way for the next, stronger charge in verse 4: such pleasure-driven living is spiritual adultery and hostility toward God. The transition is key: what begins as inner conflict and misdirected asking is exposed as allegiance to the world’s values, calling for radical reorientation toward God.

v.2Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and covet, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war; ye have not, because ye ask not.

v.3This passage

v.4Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Psalms 18:41

    They cried, but there was none to save; Even unto Jehovah, but he answered them not.

  • Micah 3:4

    Then shall they cry unto Jehovah, but he will not answer them; yea, he will hide his face from them at that time, according as they have wrought evil in their doings.

  • Proverbs 1:28

    Then will they call upon me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me:

  • Zechariah 7:13

    And it is come to pass that, as he cried, and they would not hear, so they shall cry, and I will not hear, said Jehovah of hosts;

  • 1 John 3:22

    and whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.

  • Proverbs 21:27

    The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; How much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind!

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