James 4:3

Bible in Basic English (1941)

You make your request but you do not get it, because your request has been wrongly made, desiring the thing only so that you may make use of it for your pleasure.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • 1 John 5:14 : 14 And we are certain that if we make any request to him which is right in his eyes, he will give ear to us:
  • 1 John 3:22 : 22 And he gives us all our requests, because we keep his laws and do the things which are pleasing in his eyes.
  • Ps 18:41 : 41 They were crying out, but there was no one to come to their help: even to the Lord, but he gave them no answer.
  • Ps 66:18-19 : 18 I said in my heart, The Lord will not give ear to me: 19 But truly God's ear has been open; he has give attention to the voice of my prayer.
  • Prov 1:28 : 28 Then I will give no answer to their cries; searching for me early, they will not see me:
  • Prov 15:8 : 8 The offering of the evil-doer is disgusting to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright man is his delight.
  • Prov 21:13 : 13 He whose ears are stopped at the cry of the poor, will himself get no answer to his cry for help.
  • Prov 21:27 : 27 The offering of evil-doers is disgusting: how much more when they give it with an evil purpose!
  • Isa 1:15-16 : 15 And when your hands are stretched out to me, my eyes will be turned away from you: even though you go on making prayers, I will not give ear: your hands are full of blood. 16 Be washed, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; let there be an end of sinning;
  • Jer 11:11 : 11 So the Lord has said, I will send evil on them, which they will not be able to get away from; and they will send up a cry for help to me, but I will not give ear to them.
  • Jer 11:14 : 14 And as for you, make no prayers for this people, send up no cry or prayer for them: for I will not give ear to their cry in the time of their trouble.
  • Jer 14:12 : 12 When they go without food, I will not give ear to their cry; when they give burned offerings and meal offerings, I will not take pleasure in them: but I will put an end to them by the sword and by need of food and by disease.
  • Mic 3:4 : 4 Then they will be crying to the Lord for help, but he will not give them an answer: yes, he will keep his face veiled from them at that time, because their acts have been evil.
  • Zech 7:13 : 13 And it came about that as they would not give ear to his voice, so I would not give ear to their voice, says the Lord of armies:
  • Matt 20:22 : 22 But Jesus made answer and said, You have no idea what you are requesting. Are you able to take of the cup which I am about to take?
  • Mark 10:38 : 38 But Jesus said to them, You have no knowledge of what you are saying. Are you able to take of my cup? or to undergo the baptism which I am to undergo?
  • Luke 15:13 : 13 And not long after, the younger son got together everything which was his and took a journey into a far-away country, and there all his money went in foolish living.
  • Luke 16:1-2 : 1 And another time he said to the disciples, There was a certain man of great wealth who had a servant; and it was said to him that this servant was wasting his goods. 2 And he sent for him and said, What is this which is said about you? give me an account of all you have done, for you will no longer be the manager of my property.
  • Jas 1:6-7 : 6 Let him make his request in faith, doubting nothing; for he who has doubt in his heart is like the waves of the sea, which are troubled by the driving of the wind. 7 Let it not seem to such a man that he will get anything from the Lord;
  • Jas 4:1 : 1 What is the cause of wars and fighting among you? is it not in your desires which are at war in your bodies?
  • Job 27:8-9 : 8 For what is the hope of the sinner when he is cut off, when God takes back his soul? 9 Will his cry come to the ears of God when he is in trouble? 10 Will he take delight in the Ruler of all, and make his prayer to God at all times?
  • Job 35:12 : 12 There they are crying out because of the pride of the evil-doers, but he gives them no answer.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Jas 4:1-2
    2 verses
    90%

    1 What is the cause of wars and fighting among you? is it not in your desires which are at war in your bodies?

    2 You are burning with desire, and have not your desire, so you put men to death; you are full of envy, and you are not able to get your desire, so you are fighting and making war; you have not your desire, because you do not make request for it.

  • Jas 4:4-5
    2 verses
    76%

    4 O you who are false to God, do you not see that the friends of this world are not God's friends? Every man desiring to be a friend of this world makes himself a hater of God.

    5 Or does it seem to you that it is for nothing that the holy Writings say, The spirit which God put into our hearts has a strong desire for us?

  • 1 John 2:15-16
    2 verses
    71%

    15 Have no love for the world or for the things which are in the world. If any man has love for the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

    16 Because everything in the world, the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but of the world.

  • Jas 1:7
    71%

    7 Let it not seem to such a man that he will get anything from the Lord;

  • Jas 1:5
    71%

    5 But if any man among you is without wisdom, let him make his request to God, who gives freely to all without an unkind word, and it will be given to him.

  • Gal 5:16-17
    2 verses
    70%

    16 But I say, Go on in the Spirit, and you will not come under the rule of the evil desires of the flesh.

    17 For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; because these are opposite the one to the other; so that you may not do the things which you have a mind to do.

  • Jas 1:14-16
    3 verses
    70%

    14 But every man is tested when he is turned out of the right way by the attraction of his desire.

    15 Then when its time comes, desire gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is of full growth, gives birth to death.

    16 Do not be turned from the right way, dear brothers.

  • 1 Thess 4:5
    70%

    5 Not in the passion of evil desires, like the Gentiles, who have no knowledge of God;

  • Jas 5:5-6
    2 verses
    69%

    5 You have been living delicately on earth and have taken your pleasure; you have made your hearts fat for a day of destruction.

    6 You have given your decision against the upright man and have put him to death. He puts up no fight against you.

  • Matt 7:7
    68%

    7 Make a request, and it will be answered; what you are searching for you will get; give the sign, and the door will be open to you:

  • John 16:24
    68%

    24 Up to now you have made no request in my name: do so, and it will be answered, so that your hearts may be full of joy.

  • Matt 6:8
    68%

    8 So be not like them; because your Father has knowledge of your needs even before you make your requests to him.

  • 1 Cor 6:7-8
    2 verses
    68%

    7 More than this, it is not to your credit to have causes at law with one another at all. Why not put up with wrong? why not undergo loss?

    8 So far from doing this, you yourselves do wrong and take your brothers' property.

  • Jas 3:14-15
    2 verses
    68%

    14 But if you have bitter envy in your heart and the desire to get the better of others, have no pride in this, talking falsely against what is true.

    15 This wisdom is not from heaven, but is of the earth and the flesh and the Evil One.

  • Jas 4:13-16
    4 verses
    68%

    13 How foolish it is to say, Today or tomorrow we will go into this town, and be there for a year and do business there and get wealth:

    14 When you are not certain what will take place tomorrow. What is your life? It is a mist, which is seen for a little time and then is gone.

    15 But the right thing to say would be, If it is the Lord's pleasure and if we are still living, we will do this and that.

    16 But now you go on glorying in your pride: and all such glorying is evil.

  • 1 John 3:22
    67%

    22 And he gives us all our requests, because we keep his laws and do the things which are pleasing in his eyes.

  • 1 Pet 4:4
    67%

    4 And they are wondering that you no longer go with them in this violent wasting of life, and are saying evil things of you:

  • Matt 7:11
    67%

    11 If you, then, being evil, are able to give good things to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who make requests to him?

  • 1 Tim 6:9
    67%

    9 But those who have a desire for wealth are falling into danger, and are taken as in a net by a number of foolish and damaging desires, through which men are overtaken by death and destruction.

  • Luke 11:9-10
    2 verses
    67%

    9 And I say to you, Make requests, and they will be answered; what you are searching for, you will get; when you give the sign, the door will be open to you.

    10 For to everyone who makes a request, it will be given; and he who is searching will get his desire; and to him who gives the sign, the door will be open.

  • Rev 3:17
    66%

    17 For you say, I have wealth, and have got together goods and land, and have need of nothing; and you are not conscious of your sad and unhappy condition, that you are poor and blind and without clothing.

  • Jer 5:25
    66%

    25 Through your evil-doing these things have been turned away, and your sins have kept back good from you.

  • Luke 12:29-31
    3 verses
    66%

    29 And do not give overmuch thought to your food and drink, and let not your mind be full of doubts.

    30 For the nations of the world go in search of all these things: but your Father has knowledge that you have need of them.

    31 But let your chief care be for his kingdom, and these other things will be given to you in addition.

  • Ps 78:18
    66%

    18 Testing God in their hearts, requesting meat for their desire.

  • Ps 78:30
    66%

    30 But they were not turned from their desires; and while the food was still in their mouths,

  • Matt 6:19
    66%

    19 Make no store of wealth for yourselves on earth, where it may be turned to dust by worms and weather, and where thieves may come in by force and take it away.

  • John 5:40
    66%

    40 And still you have no desire to come to me so that you may have life.

  • Jas 2:4
    65%

    4 Is there not a division in your minds? have you not become judges with evil thoughts?

  • John 15:7
    65%

    7 If you are in me at all times, and my words are in you, then anything for which you make a request will be done for you.

  • Luke 6:30
    65%

    30 Give to everyone who comes with a request, and if a man takes away your property, make no attempt to get it back again.

  • Rom 6:12
    65%

    12 For this cause do not let sin be ruling in your body which is under the power of death, so that you give way to its desires;

  • Isa 58:3
    65%

    3 They say, Why have we kept ourselves from food, and you do not see it? why have we kept ourselves from pleasure, and you take no note of it? If, in the days when you keep from food, you take the chance to do your business, and get in your debts;

  • Matt 6:32
    65%

    32 Because the Gentiles go in search of all these things: for your Father in heaven has knowledge that you have need of all these things:

  • Jas 5:3
    65%

    3 Your gold and your silver are wasted and their waste will be a witness against you, burning into your flesh. You have put by your store in the last days.

  • Eph 5:6
    65%

    6 Do not be turned from the right way by foolish words; for because of these things the punishment of God comes on those who do not put themselves under him.