James 4:2
Ye desire and do not have, so ye murder. And ye envy and cannot obtain, so ye fight and make war. Ye do not have, because ye do not ask.
A Conservative Version
In The King James Version
In Context
3Ye ask, and do not receive, because ye ask wrongly, so that ye may spend on your pleasures.
Cross References
1 Kings 21:6And he said to her, Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite, and said to him, Give me thy vineyard for money, or else, if it please thee, I will give thee [another] vineyard for it. And he answered, I will not give thee my vineyar
Ecclesiastes 4:8There is one man who is alone, and he has not a second, yea, he has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end of all his labor, nor are his eyes satisfied with riches. For whom then, [he says], do I labor, and deprive my soul of
Habakkuk 2:5Yea, moreover, wine is treacherous.) [He is] a haughty man, who does not keep at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol, and he is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathers to him all nations, and heaps to him all peoples.
Luke 11:9And I say to you, ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and ye will find. Knock, and it will be opened.
John 16:24Until now ye have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and ye will receive, so that your joy may be made full.
James 1:5And if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask from God who gives to all generously and not reproaching, and it will be given to him.
Matthew Henry on James 4:2-11
Origin of War and Contention; Against Pride; Submission to God. ( a. d. 61.) 1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 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. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever… Read the whole commentary →