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James 4:3-5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
James 4:3-5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
3 You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 Adulterers![a] Do you not know that to be a lover of the world means enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wants to be a lover of the world makes himself an enemy of God.(A) 5 Or do you suppose that the scripture speaks without meaning when it says, “The spirit that he has made to dwell in us tends toward jealousy”?[b]
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- 4:4 Adulterers: a common biblical image for the covenant between God and his people is the marriage bond. In this image, breaking the covenant with God is likened to the unfaithfulness of adultery.
- 4:5 The meaning of this saying is difficult because the author of James cites, probably from memory, a passage that is not in any extant manuscript of the Bible. Other translations of the text with a completely different meaning are possible: “The Spirit that he (God) made to dwell in us yearns (for us) jealously,” or, “He (God) yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us.” If this last translation is correct, the author perhaps had in mind an apocryphal religious text that echoes the idea that God is zealous for his creatures; cf. Ex 20:5; Dt 4:24; Zec 8:2.
James 4:3-5
New International Version
James 4:3-5
New International Version
3 When you ask, you do not receive,(A) because you ask with wrong motives,(B) that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
4 You adulterous(C) people,[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world(D) means enmity against God?(E) Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.(F) 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us[b]?(G)
New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)
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New International Version (NIV) 
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