Bible Strands
James 1:15
Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — James addresses his audience as "my beloved brothers" immediately after explaining how personal evil desires lure and entice a person into temptation (James 1:14-16).
The words — The Greek ἐπιθυμία (epithumia) translates literally to "desire," and συλλαβοῦσα (sullabousa) means "having conceived."
The thread — This biological metaphor for moral progression mirrors the imagery in Psalms 7:14 and Job 15:35, where the wicked conceive and birth trouble, while Paul traces the identical causal sequence from sin to death in Romans 5:12.
Why it lands — The text states that desire conceives sin and matured sin produces death, requiring the reader to identify and interrupt temptation at its internal origin rather than rationalizing its external consequences.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Cross-references
- Psalms 7:14 Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.
- Job 15:35 They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.”
- Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned.
- Genesis 2:17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”
- Isaiah 59:4 No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case honestly. They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies; they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
- Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
- Romans 6:21 What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death.
- Micah 2:1 Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.
- Genesis 3:17 And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
- Genesis 4:5 but He had no regard for Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell.