You ask and do not receive: this statement may be misunderstood, since the literal translation may suggest that it is contradictory to what James has just said, that is, “you do not ask” (verse 2). To avoid this possible misunderstanding, two solutions are possible.

The first solution is that there are some who do not ask, and there are others who do ask, but ask wrongly. In this case we may render You ask as “Some of you do ask….”

The second solution is to take the author as wishing to say that those who sometimes do not pray to God at other times do pray, but they ask in the wrong spirit. In this case it is necessary to provide some connective such as the temporal conjunction “when”; for example, “And when you ask” (Good News Translation; so also New International Version), or “And when you do ask” (Phillips, Barclay). Another way to express this is “Or, if you do, …” (New American Bible, Revised English Bible), or even “Yet even when you do, …” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

Do not receive means “do not get what you ask for” (Barclay), or “your requests are not granted” (New English Bible, Revised English Bible), or “God does not give you what you ask for.”

Prayers are not answered because you ask wrongly. This is the exact opposite of 1 John 5.14, where it says “… if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.” Ask wrongly may mean “ask for the wrong things” or, to judge from what James goes on to say, “ask from wrong motives.” This is reflected in some translations; for example, “because your motives are bad” (Good News Translation), “you ask for the wrong reasons” (Barclay), “you pray from wrong motives” (New English Bible, Revised English Bible), or “you pray just for selfish reasons” (Contemporary English Version). The verb ask is used three times in verses 2 and 3, first in the middle voice, then the active, and finally the middle again. Some scholars try to distinguish between the two forms and show different shades of meaning, but it is difficult to detect any real difference.

The prayers will be granted only if they are in accordance with the will of God. The reason why some prayer is wrong is that people ask in order to spend it on your passions. In Greek this is a purpose clause, indicating that the intention for asking is to satisfy a desire for pleasure. This is brought out clearly in some translations; for example, “so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (New American Standard Bible), “All you want to do with what you get is to spend it on your own pleasure” (Barclay), and “in order to squander what you get on your pleasures” (Revised English Bible). The verb spend can have a neutral meaning, but in Luke 15.14 it is used of the prodigal son wasting and squandering all he had. This obviously is the meaning intended here, as the gift is spent to satisfy personal desires. If this is so, the verb may be rendered as “indulge” (Translator’s New Testament, New Jerusalem Bible) or “squander” (Revised English Bible). Here again an object of the verb spend, though not in the Greek, may be required. Revised Standard Version has supplied it, and others “what you get” (Barclay, Revised English Bible). On the word passions see the discussion in 4.1.

A possible alternative translation model for this verse is:
• But even when you do ask God for something, he doesn’t give it to you because you pray to him for selfish reasons. You plan to spend what you get on your own personal pleasures.

Quoted with permission from Loh, I-Jin and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Letter from James. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .