James 5
5
Advice to Rich People
1Pay attention to this if you’re rich. Cry and moan about the misery that is coming to you. 2Your riches have decayed, and your clothes have been eaten by moths. 3Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be used as evidence against you. Like fire, it will destroy your body.
You have stored up riches in these last days. 4The wages you refused to pay the people who harvested your fields shout ⌞to God⌟ against you. The Lord of Armies has heard the cries of those who gather the crops. 5You have lived in luxury and pleasure here on earth. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter. 6You have condemned and murdered people who have God’s approval, even though they didn’t resist you.
Be Patient
7Brothers and sisters, be patient until the Lord comes again. See how farmers wait for their precious crops to grow. They wait patiently for fall and spring rains. 8You, too, must be patient. Don’t give up hope. The Lord will soon be here. 9Brothers and sisters, stop complaining about each other, or you will be condemned. Realize that the judge is standing at the door.
10Brothers and sisters, follow the example of the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. They were patient when they suffered unjustly. 11We consider those who endure to be blessed. You have heard about Job’s endurance. You saw that the Lord ended Job’s suffering because the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
Don’t Take Oaths
12Above all things, my brothers and sisters, do not take an oath on anything in heaven or on earth. Do not take any oath. If you mean yes, say yes. If you mean no, say no. Do this so that you won’t be condemned.
Prayer Is Powerful
13If any of you are having trouble, pray. If you are happy, sing psalms. 14If you are sick, call for the church leaders. Have them pray for you and anoint you with olive oil #5:14 People in ancient times used olive oil for healing. in the name of the Lord. 15(Prayers offered in faith will save those who are sick, and the Lord will cure them.) If you have sinned, you will be forgiven. 16So admit your sins to each other, and pray for each other so that you will be healed.
Prayers offered by those who have God’s approval are effective. 17Elijah was human like us. Yet, when he prayed that it wouldn’t rain, no rain fell on the ground for three-and-a-half years. 18Then he prayed again. It rained, and the ground produced crops.
Help Those Who Have Wandered Away from the Truth
19My brothers and sisters, if one of you wanders from the truth, someone can bring that person back. 20Realize that whoever brings a sinner back from the error of his ways will save him from death, and many sins will be forgiven.
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
James 5
5
1Go to now, ye rich, weep, howling over your miseries that are coming upon you. 2Your wealth is become rotten, and your garments moth-eaten. 3Your gold and silver is eaten away, and their canker shall be for a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye have heaped up treasure in the last days. 4Behold, the wages of your labourers, who have harvested your fields, wrongfully kept back by you, cry, and the cries of those that have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. 5Ye have lived luxuriously on the earth and indulged yourselves; ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter; 6ye have condemned, ye have killed the just; he does not resist you. 7Have patience, therefore, brethren, till the coming of the Lord. Behold, the labourer awaits the precious fruit of the earth, having patience for it until it receive the early and the latter rain. 8Ye also have patience: stablish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is drawn nigh. 9Complain not one against another, brethren, that ye be not judged. Behold, the judge stands before the door. 10Take as an example, brethren, of suffering and having patience, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord. 11Behold, we call them blessed who have endured. Ye have heard of the endurance of Job, and seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is full of tender compassion and pitiful.
12But before all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath; but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay, that ye do not fall under judgment. 13Does any one among you suffer evil? let him pray. Is any happy? let him sing psalms. 14Is any sick among you? let him call to him the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 15and the prayer of faith shall heal the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he be one who has committed sins, it shall be forgiven him. 16Confess therefore your offences to one another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed. The fervent supplication of the righteous man has much power. 17Elias was a man of like passions to us, and he prayed with prayer that it should not rain; and it did not rain upon the earth three years and six months; 18and again he prayed, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth caused its fruit to spring forth. 19My brethren, if any one among you err from the truth, and one bring him back, 20let him know that he that brings back a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall cover a multitude of sins.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.