James 4:2-4
Expanded Bible
2 You ·want [desire] things, but you ·do not [or cannot] have them. So you ·are ready to kill [L murder] and are ·jealous [envious] of other people, but you still cannot get what you want. So you argue and ·fight [wage war]. You do not get what you want, because you do not ask God. 3 Or when you ask, you do not receive because ·the reason you ask is wrong [or you ask with the wrong motives; L you ask badly/wrongly]. You want things so you ·can use [L spend] them for your own pleasures.
4 ·So, you are not loyal to God [L You adulterers!; C often adultery is used in a spiritual sense for betraying God; Jer. 3:20]! ·You should know [L Don’t you know…?] that ·loving [L friendship with] the world is ·the same as hating [L hostility/enmity toward] God. Anyone who wants to be a friend of the world becomes God’s enemy.
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James 4:2-4
New International Version
2 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. 3 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.
4 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)
Footnotes
- James 4:4 An allusion to covenant unfaithfulness; see Hosea 3:1.
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