What James goes on to say is not exactly clear. There are two main problems, one is the structure of the sentence, and the other the meaning of the verb kill. On the sentence structure there are two possibilities. One is that reflected in the punctuation adopted in the UBS Greek text, which is followed by modern translations like New International Version and New American Bible, and given as an alternative rendering by Revised Standard Version. Following the alternative Revised Standard Version rendering, the part in question consists of three propositions:
(1) “You desire and do not have.”
(2) “You kill and you covet and cannot obtain.”
(3) “You fight and wage war.”

This rendering takes the sequence of positive and negative verbs as the basis of the sentence structure.

However, an alternative rendering wins wider support and is the one adopted by both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation (so Revised English Bible, New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, and others). This rendering has two propositions:
(1) “You desire and do not have; so you kill.”
(2) “And you covet and cannot obtain; so you fight and wage war.”

This interpretation is based on a cause and effect structure—a frustrated desire leading to a hostile and violent action.

While the first possibility with three propositions is more balanced linguistically, the second possibility with two propositions is more balanced in the movement of thought. The main problem with the first possibility is that in the second proposition “covet” follows “kill”; but this is something of an anticlimax. The more natural order that we would expect is “you covet and kill.” Since the second possibility seems to be the better choice, it will be used as the base for comments.

You desire and do not have: the verb desire is suggested by the word “passions” in verse 1 and expresses more or less the same idea. “Desire” and “desire for pleasure” are naturally related. To desire is to long for something or to want something. This something may be material or sexual. King James Version renders the verb as “lust,” and Phillips as “crave for something,” but in this context something more general may be more appropriate; for example, “You want things” (Good News Translation), or “you want something” (New Revised Standard Version). Do not have means “do not possess” (New American Bible) or “do not get the thing you want.” The whole saying may be rendered simply as “You want something but don’t get it” (New International Version). In some languages it is natural to use a verb like “desire” without any object of the desire, but in others it is more natural to have an object; thus “you desire something” or “you want to get something.” In certain languages this will be expressed idiomatically; for example, “You want this thing and you want that thing, but….”

The clause so you kill presents another difficult problem. The verb kill is a strong word, meaning to put someone to violent death, namely “to commit murder” (similarly Goodspeed, New Revised Standard Version). The problem is this: Can a frustrated desire lead to murder? And can this be committed by a Christian? There are three basic lines of solution to this problem. The first one is to take the meaning of “to kill” literally. The second approach is to interpret the verb metaphorically. The third, closely related to the second, is to lessen the force of the verb.

(1) The literal interpretation. There are two positions among scholars who insist that the verb kill must be taken literally. The first is to apply it to a general situation. It is argued that a person can want something so badly that when the desire is thwarted the frustration can lead to murder. This is the sort of situation reflected in Jesus’ teaching when he said “For from the inside, from your heart, come the evil ideas which lead you to do immoral things, to rob, kill…” (Mark 7.21, Good News Translation). In fact there are other passages in the New Testament where murder may seem to have been contemplated in the Christian community (see, for example, 1 Peter 4.15). This is also the sort of thing that actually happened in the Old Testament; for example, in Cain killing Abel out of jealousy (Gen 4.1-16), in David sending Uriah to death out of his lust for Uriah’s wife (2 Sam 11), and so on.

The second position is to apply “killing” to a particular situation. Some scholars claim that James’ letter was written at a time when murder was considered an acceptable way to solve disagreement in matters of faith (compare Acts 9.1; John 16.2). There has also been a suggestion that James had in fact thrown his support behind the Zealot movement against the Roman authorities. In this connection some scholars even propose that the word covet (in Greek related to the word “zealot”) should be rendered as “to become fanatics” or “to become assassins.” It is alleged that some of the Jewish Christian converts were members or former members of this movement, who had plotted to assassinate prominent Romans, and it was to this group of people that James was saying that this sort of practice was against the teaching of their newfound faith.

(2) The metaphorical interpretation. Some scholars feel that James was making a connection to Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, that continuing resentment against a brother could be considered murder (Matt 5.21-24). John also has a similar teaching, that the person who hates his or her brother is a murderer (1 John 3.15). Obviously James had the Christian community in mind, as is evident from the phrase “among you” in verse 1. However, it would be inconceivable that murdering people was something happening within the community. And so here the word kill is best understood as “to get angry at” or “to hate.”

(3) The toned-down interpretation. Three different “toned-down” interpretations may be mentioned. The first is to propose a variation in the Greek text. Some scholars claim that the verb kill is a copyist’s error; that is, they say that originally the word intended was “to envy,” which is similar in the Greek (only two letters are different). They have been able to illustrate confusion between these two words resulting in variants in the text of Gal 5.21 (see Revised Standard Version footnote) and 1 Peter 2.1. This is the approach adopted by Moffatt when he renders the clause in question as “you envy and covet.” The problem with this suggestion is that it does not have any manuscript support.

The second proposal is to take “you kill and you covet” as a hendiadys, that is, two coordinate verbs expressing one action. The resultant rendering would be “you murderously covet,” making “to kill” descriptive of the extent of “covet.” This interpretation is possible only if we adopt the first suggestion regarding the structure of the sentence, that with three propositions (see above). This proposal is adopted by Phillips when he translates the saying as “you are murderously jealous of….”

The third proposal is to render the statement in such a way as to express a person’s readiness or tendency “to kill.” This interpretation is reflected in some translations; for example, “so you are ready to kill” (Good News Translation), “you are ready to commit murder” (Barclay), “and so you are bent on murder” (New English Bible).

This is a case where no one can be certain as to which interpretation is the most suitable in the context. In such circumstances it is probably best to make a relatively literal translation and let the readers and preachers explain for themselves what seems to be the intended meaning in the context.

Possible alternative translation models for the first part of this verse are:
• You want something very much, but you do not get it. So you kill.
• You want things that you don’t have, and you will do anything to get them. You will even kill someone.

And you covet and cannot obtain; so you fight and wage war: this statement repeats more or less the same thought expressed in the previous sentence, and therefore the two can be taken as having essentially the same meaning. The verb covet can mean “strive” or “desire” something, “be deeply concerned about someone,” “have a zeal” for something, or “be filled with jealousy.” In this context it is obvious that the bad sense is intended. This is reflected in rendering the verb as “envy” (New American Bible) or “are envious” (Revised English Bible). For scholars who choose to take this verb together with kill, it is possible to interpret the verb also in this sense, but as filling out the sense of “to kill”; thus “You kill out of jealousy” (R. P. Martin). However, in this context a more general sense of “to have a burning desire to posses something” may be more appropriate; for example, “strongly desire things” (Good News Translation), “passionately desire something” (Barclay), or even “are determined to get something” (Translator’s New Testament). Cannot obtain means “cannot acquire” (Moffatt), or with an object “unable to get it” (Barclay), and if the object is in the plural, “cannot get them” (Good News Translation).

So you fight and wage war: frustrated desires result in violence. The conjunction so is not in the Greek but is supplied to provide better balance and connection. The words fight and wage war, although they are verbs here, are repeated from verse 1 but in reverse order. Depending on the translation in verse 1, it is best to keep the same words (though here in verbal form) in order to maintain the stylistic effect; for example, wars … fightings … fight … wage war, or “fights … quarrels … quarrel … “fight” (Good News Translation).

You do not have, because you do not ask: James goes on to explain that the failure to attain what is desired lies in the neglect of prayer. You do not have means “You do not have what you want” (Good News Translation). To ask here is “to pray,” and it is understood that the one prayed to is God. It is desirable to make this clear in the translation; for example, “you do not ask God for it” (Good News Translation). The purpose of the sentence is to explain the reason for a person not attaining his or her desire to possess things, and so it may be desirable to make this clear to the readers right away by restructuring the sentence as “The reason why you do not have what you want is that you do not ask God for it” (Barclay).

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 .