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Passions and Pride

Where do the conflicts and where[a] do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this,[b] from your passions that battle inside you?[c] You desire and you do not have; you murder and envy and you cannot obtain; you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask; you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so you can spend it on your passions.

Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God?[d] So whoever decides to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy.

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Footnotes

  1. James 4:1 tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.
  2. James 4:1 tn Grk “from here.”
  3. James 4:1 tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”
  4. James 4:4 tn Grk “is hostility toward God.”

Conflict with people and God

What is the source of conflict among you? What is the source of your disputes? Don’t they come from your cravings that are at war in your own lives? You long for something you don’t have, so you commit murder. You are jealous for something you can’t get, so you struggle and fight. You don’t have because you don’t ask. You ask and don’t have because you ask with evil intentions, to waste it on your own cravings.

You unfaithful people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world's friend becomes God's enemy.

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