James 4:3 (DBY)

Passage

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

Nearby Context

James 4:1 Whence [come] wars and whence fightings among you? [Is it] not thence, from your pleasures, which war in your members?

James 4:2 Ye lust and have not: ye kill and are full of envy, 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 evilly, that ye may consume [it] in your pleasures.

James 4:4 Adulteresses, know ye not that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore is minded to be [the] friend of the world is constituted enemy of God.

James 4:5 Think ye that the scripture speaks in vain? Does the Spirit which has taken his abode in us desire enviously?

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "receive", "evilly", "consume", and "pleasures". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "receive" and "evilly", 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 "Adulteresses know ye not that friendship with...", so "receive" and "evilly" 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 "evilly" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.