James 5
5
Warning to the Rich
1Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. 2#Matt 6.19. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. 3Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. 4#Deut 24.14,15. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sab´a-oth. 5Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. 6Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
Patience and Prayer
7Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 8Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. 9Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. 10Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. 11#Job 1.21,22; 2.10; Ps 103.8. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
12 #
Matt 5.34-37. But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.
13Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. 14#Mark 6.13. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 16Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 17#1 Kgs 17.1; 18.1. Eli´jah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18#1 Kgs 18.42-45. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
19Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; 20#Prov 10.12. let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
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James 5: KJVAE
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.
James 5
5
A Warning to Rich and Selfish People
1You rich people, listen! Cry and be very sad because much trouble will come to you. 2Your riches will rot and be worth nothing. Your clothes will be eaten by moths. 3Your gold and silver will rust, and that rust will be a proof that you were wrong. That rust will eat your bodies like fire. You saved your treasure in the last days. 4People worked in your fields, but you did not pay them. They are crying out against you. They harvested your crops. Now the Lord All-Powerful has heard their cries.
5Your life on earth was full of rich living. You pleased yourselves with everything you wanted. You made yourselves fat, like an animal ready for the day of slaughter.#5:5 You made yourselves fat … slaughter Literally, “You fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter.” 6You showed no mercy to good people. They were not against you, but you killed them.
Be Patient
7Brothers and sisters, be patient; the Lord will come. So be patient until that time. Look at the farmers. They have to be patient. They have to wait for their valuable crop to grow and produce a harvest. They wait patiently for the first rain and the last rain.#5:7 first rain … last rain The “first rain” came in the fall, and the “last rain” came in the spring. 8You must be patient too. Never stop hoping. The Lord is coming soon. 9Brothers and sisters, don’t complain against each other. If you don’t stop complaining, you will be judged guilty. And the Judge is ready to come!
10Brothers and sisters, follow the example of the prophets who spoke for the Lord. They suffered many bad things, but they were patient. 11And we say that those who accepted their troubles with patience now have God’s blessing. You have heard about Job’s patience.#5:11 Job’s patience See the book of Job in the Old Testament. You know that after all his troubles, the Lord helped him. This shows that the Lord is full of mercy and is kind.
Be Careful What You Say
12My brothers and sisters, it is very important that you not use an oath when you make a promise. Don’t use the name of heaven, earth, or anything else to prove what you say. When you mean yes, say only “yes.” When you mean no, say only “no.” Do this so that you will not be judged guilty.
The Power of Prayer
13Are you having troubles? You should pray. Are you happy? You should sing. 14Are you sick? Ask the elders of the church to come and rub oil on you#5:14 rub oil on you Oil was used like medicine. in the name of the Lord and pray for you. 15If such a prayer is offered in faith, it will heal anyone who is sick. The Lord will heal them. And if they have sinned, he will forgive them.
16So always tell each other the wrong things you have done. Then pray for each other. Do this so that God can heal you. Anyone who lives the way God wants can pray, and great things will happen. 17Elijah was a person just like us. He prayed that it would not rain. And it did not rain on the land for three and a half years! 18Then Elijah prayed that it would rain. And the rain came down from the sky, and the land grew crops again.
Helping People When They Sin
19My brothers and sisters, if anyone wanders away from the truth and someone helps that person come back, 20remember this: Anyone who brings a sinner back from the wrong way will save that person from eternal death and cause many sins to be forgiven.
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