What Does James 4:3 Mean in the King James?
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
James locates the blocked answer in the request’s intended use: what is sought would be spent on pleasure.
THE MEANING
Your asking can be real while its aim is directed toward private pleasure. When what you seek is meant to be spent on pleasure as an end in itself, the verse calls that asking wrongly. It locates the barrier in what the request would serve once received.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that asking itself makes a desired outcome good to receive. Here, the intended use of what is asked for matters.
THE ROOT
δαπανήσητε
dapanēsēte
GROWS FROM
δαπαν-
dapan-
spend, expend, use up
“consume” in this verse is dapanēsēte. The Greek verb means to spend or expend; the request is for something to use up on pleasure. The verse makes the intended destination of what is received central to why the asking is called wrong.
ALSO GROWS
dapanē: expense, cost
δαπάνη
This noun makes the request sound like a planned expenditure: what is asked for already has a destination.
dapanēros: costly, expensive
δαπανηρός
This related word keeps the sense of resources being spent, underscoring that the verse concerns what the request will be used for.
ἡδοναῖς
hēdonais
GROWS FROM
ἡδον-
hēdon-
pleasure, enjoyment
The Greek word names pleasures broadly; the KJV word “lusts” can sound more narrowly sexual. The issue the verse identifies is pleasure made the purpose of the request, not desire in every form.
ALSO GROWS
hēdomai: take pleasure, enjoy
ἥδομαι
The verb shows the shared word-family sense of experiencing delight.
philēdonos: lover of pleasure
φιλήδονος
This related word names a person by attachment to pleasure, making visible how enjoyment can become the governing aim.
κακῶς
kakōs
GROWS FROM
κακ-
kak-
bad, harmful, wrong
“amiss” in this verse is kakōs. The adverb marks the asking as wrongly directed; it does not describe a weak or poorly phrased request. The next clause gives the concrete direction: spending what is received on pleasures.
ALSO GROWS
kakia: badness, malice
κακία
This noun shows the root’s range for what is harmful or morally bad.
kakopoieō: do wrong, do evil
κακοποιέω
This verb carries the same root into action, echoing the verse’s attention to what the request is meant to do.
THE PATTERN
The aim beneath a request is revealed by what the desired gift is meant to serve.
And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.THE THREAD
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.Both verses use the Greek verb αἰτέω (aiteō), meaning “ask.” James 1:5 directs that asking toward wisdom, while 4:3 names a request meant to spend what it receives on pleasure; the shared verb brings the request’s purpose into view.
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