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KING JAMES BIBLE · PCE

James 4:2–4

TEXT EDITION
Pure Cambridge Edition selected
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.
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
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PASSAGE SELECTION

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SCRIPTURE WITH SCRIPTURE

Cross References

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From verse 2

  1. John 16:24Rank 1 from verse 2
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    24Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

  2. Matthew 7:7–8Rank 2 from verse 2
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    7¶ Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

    8For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

  3. James 1:5Rank 3 from verse 2
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    5If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

  4. Luke 11:9–13Rank 4 from verse 2
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    9And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

    10For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

    11If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

    12Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

    13If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

  5. John 4:10Rank 5 from verse 2
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    10Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

  6. 1 Timothy 6:9–10Rank 6 from verse 2
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    9But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

    10For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

  7. James 5:1–5Rank 7 from verse 2
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    1GO to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

    2Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

    3Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

    4Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

    5Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

  8. Proverbs 1:19Rank 8 from verse 2
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    19So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

  9. Habakkuk 2:5Rank 9 from verse 2
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    5¶ Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:

  10. Isaiah 7:12Rank 10 from verse 2
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    12But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.

  11. Ecclesiastes 4:8Rank 11 from verse 2
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    8There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.

From verse 3

  1. 1 John 5:14Rank 1 from verse 3
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    14And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

  2. 1 John 3:22Rank 2 from verse 3
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    22And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

  3. James 1:6–7Rank 3 from verse 3
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    6But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

    7For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

  4. James 4:1Rank 4 from verse 3
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    1FROM whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

  5. Proverbs 15:8Rank 5 from verse 3
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    8The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

  6. Micah 3:4Rank 6 from verse 3
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    4Then shall they cry unto the Lord, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.

  7. Psalms 66:18–19Rank 7 from verse 3
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    18If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

    19But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.

  8. Job 35:12Rank 8 from verse 3
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    12There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men.

  9. Zechariah 7:13Rank 9 from verse 3
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    13Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts:

  10. Job 27:8–10Rank 10 from verse 3
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    8For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?

    9Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?

    10Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?

  11. Luke 16:1–2Rank 11 from verse 3
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    1AND he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.

    2And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.

  12. Proverbs 21:13Rank 12 from verse 3
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    13Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.

  13. Jeremiah 11:14Rank 13 from verse 3
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    14Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.

  14. Luke 15:13Rank 14 from verse 3
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    13And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

  15. Mark 10:38Rank 15 from verse 3
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    38But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?

  16. Matthew 20:22Rank 16 from verse 3
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    22But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.

  17. Proverbs 1:28Rank 17 from verse 3
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    28Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

  18. Proverbs 21:27Rank 18 from verse 3
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    27The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?

  19. Isaiah 1:15–16Rank 19 from verse 3
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    15And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

    16¶ Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

  20. Psalms 18:41Rank 20 from verse 3
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    41They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the Lord, but he answered them not.

  21. Jeremiah 14:12Rank 21 from verse 3
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    12When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.

  22. Jeremiah 11:11Rank 22 from verse 3
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    11¶ Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.

  23. Luke 15:30Rank 23 from verse 3
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    30But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.

From verse 4

  1. 1 John 2:15–16Rank 1 from verse 4
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    15Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

    16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

  2. Romans 8:7Rank 2 from verse 4
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    7Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

  3. John 15:19Rank 3 from verse 4
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    19If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

  4. Matthew 6:24Rank 4 from verse 4
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    24¶ No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

  5. Galatians 1:10Rank 5 from verse 4
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    10For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

  6. John 17:14Rank 6 from verse 4
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    14I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

  7. James 1:27Rank 7 from verse 4
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    27Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

  8. John 15:23–24Rank 8 from verse 4
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    23He that hateth me hateth my Father also.

    24If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.

  9. Romans 5:10Rank 9 from verse 4
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    10For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

  10. Hosea 3:1Rank 10 from verse 4
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    1THEN said the Lord unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.

  11. John 7:7Rank 11 from verse 4
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    7The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.

  12. Matthew 16:4Rank 12 from verse 4
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    4A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.

  13. Psalms 73:27Rank 13 from verse 4
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    27For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.

  14. Luke 19:27Rank 14 from verse 4
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    27But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.

  15. Matthew 12:39Rank 15 from verse 4
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    39But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:

  16. Psalms 21:8Rank 16 from verse 4
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    8Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.

  17. Psalms 50:18Rank 17 from verse 4
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    18When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.

  18. Jeremiah 9:2Rank 18 from verse 4
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    2Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.

  19. Isaiah 57:3Rank 19 from verse 4
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    3¶ But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore.

  20. Genesis 3:15Rank 20 from verse 4
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    15And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

  21. Jeremiah 2:2Rank 21 from verse 4
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    2Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.

WORDS IN THIS PASSAGE

Definitions

Open a word for its full definition and concordance.

DEFINED WORDS

James 4:2

COMBINED MEANING

ye

↗

The second-person plural subject pronoun, referring to the persons being addressed as those who are, do, or receive the stated predicate.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

lust

↗

Sense 1: Strong desire, craving, or appetite. Sense 2: To desire or crave.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

desire

↗

Sense 1: A wish, longing, request, pleasure, or thing wished for. Sense 2: To wish for, long for, request, or take pleasure in.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

fight

↗

Sense 1: A battle, struggle, or contest. Sense 2: As a verb, to contend.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

war

↗

Sense 1: Armed conflict. Sense 2: As a verb, to fight or contend.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

yet

↗

1. Up to or at the present or stated time; still. 2. At some future time. 3. Nevertheless; however. 4. In addition; further.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

DEFINED WORDS

James 4:3

COMBINED MEANING

ye

↗

The second-person plural subject pronoun, referring to the persons being addressed as those who are, do, or receive the stated predicate.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

amiss

↗

Wrongly, improperly, or faultily; in a manner that is wrong or evil.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references · Webster 1828

COMBINED MEANING

consume

↗

1. To destroy, use up, or bring to an end. 2. To waste away or be exhausted.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references · Webster 1828

COMBINED MEANING

upon

↗

1. Marks the person, place, thing, or basis to which something is related: on or onto; above or over; toward or against as the target of action, speech, thought, attention, or force; resting on, assigned to, or affecting as a state, gift, burden, duty, guilt, or judgment; supported by or based on; or one placed, added, or repeated on or after another. 2. With a stated time or occasion, or a preceding event, at that time or point, or at or after that event: on, at, when, then, or following it.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

your

↗

The possessive form of ye or you, ordinarily plural, marking what belongs to, concerns, proceeds from, or stands in relation to the persons addressed.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

DEFINED WORDS

James 4:4

COMBINED MEANING

ye

↗

The second-person plural subject pronoun, referring to the persons being addressed as those who are, do, or receive the stated predicate.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

know

↗

To perceive, understand, recognize, experience, or be assured of something.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

enmity

↗

Hostility, opposition, hatred, or the state of being enemies rather than at peace or reconciled.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references · Webster 1828

COMBINED MEANING

friend

↗

One joined to another by affection, goodwill, or alliance; to support or befriend.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

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Related Concepts

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READ THE PASSAGE

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Suggested context · James 4:1–10

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4:1FROM whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

4:2Ye 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.

Selected passage

4:3Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

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4:4Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Selected passage

4:5Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

4:6But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

4:7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

4:8Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

4:9Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

4:10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

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