James 4:3 (ASV)

Passage

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend [it] in your pleasures.

Nearby Context

James 4:1 Whence [come] wars and whence [come] fightings among you? [come they] not hence, [even] of your pleasures that war in your members?

James 4:2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and covet, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war; ye have not, because ye ask not.

James 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend [it] in your pleasures.

James 4:4 Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God.

James 4:5 Or think ye that the scripture speaketh in vain? Doth the spirit which he made to dwell in us long unto envying?

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "receive", "amiss", "spend", and "pleasures". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "receive" and "amiss", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "Ye lust and have not ye kill..." into verse 4's "Ye adulteresses know ye not that the...", so "receive" and "amiss" belong inside that flow. In James context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "receive" and "amiss" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.