James 4:1

What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you?

2 You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask.

3 And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.

Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB
What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you?
KJV
From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
WEB
Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don’t they come from your pleasures that war in your members?
ASV
Whence [come] wars and whence [come] fightings among you? [come they] not hence, [even] of your pleasures that war in your members?
DARBY
Whence [come] wars and whence fightings among you? [Is it] not thence, from your pleasures, which war in your members?
BLB
From where [are] battles and from where [are] fights among you⁺? [Is it] not from there, out of your⁺ pleasures warring in your⁺ members?
ÅB
Hvorfra kommer all ufreden, og hvorfra kommer all striden iblant dere? Er det ikke av deres lyster, som fører krig i deres lemmer?
OTB
Hva er årsaken til strid og krangel blant dere? Kommer de ikke fra deres begjær som fører krig i deres lemmer?
B1930
Hvorfra kommer all ufreden, og hvorfra kommer all striden iblandt eder? Er det ikke av eders lyster, som fører krig i eders lemmer?

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

  • 1 Peter 2:11

    Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul.

    Read in context
  • Galatians 5:17

    For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.

    Read in context
  • Romans 7:23

    But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.

    Read in context
  • James 1:14

    But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed.

    Read in context
  • Romans 8:7

    because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.

    Read in context
  • 1 John 2:15–17

    Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

    Read in context
  • Jeremiah 17:9

    The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

    Read in context
  • Jude 1:16–18

    These men are discontented grumblers, following after their own lusts; their mouths spew arrogance; they flatter others for their own advantage.

    Read in context