You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your evil desires.(A)

Adulteresses![a][b] Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world’s friend becomes God’s enemy.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. James 4:4 Other mss read Adulterers and adulteresses
  2. James 4:4 Or Unfaithful people!

You desire but do not have, so you kill.(A) You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive,(B) because you ask with wrong motives,(C) that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

You adulterous(D) people,[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world(E) means enmity against God?(F) Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.(G)

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Footnotes

  1. James 4:4 An allusion to covenant unfaithfulness; see Hosea 3:1.