James 5
Warning to the Rich
1 And now, you rich people, listen to me! Weep and wail over the miseries that are coming upon you! 2 Your riches have rotted away, and your clothes have been eaten by moths. 3 Your gold and silver are covered with rust, and this rust will be a witness against you and will eat up your flesh like fire. You have piled up riches in these last days. 4 You have not paid any wages to those who work in your fields. Listen to their complaints! The cries of those who gather in your crops have reached the ears of God, the Lord Almighty. 5 Your life here on earth has been full of luxury and pleasure. You have made yourselves fat for the day of slaughter.
6 You have condemned and murdered innocent people, and they do not resist you.t
Patience and Prayer
7 Be patient, then, my friends, until the Lord comes. See how patient farmers are as they wait for their land to produce precious crops. They wait patiently for the autumn and spring rains.
8 You also must be patient. Keep your hopes high, for the day of the Lord's coming is near.
9 Do not complain against one another, my friends, so that God will not judge you. The Judge is near, ready to appear. 10 My friends, remember the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Take them as examples of patient endurance under suffering.
11 We call them happy because they endured. You have heard of Job's patience, and you know how the Lord provided for him in the end. For the Lord is full of mercy and compassion.
12 Above all, my friends, do not use an oath when you make a promise. Do not swear by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Say only “Yes” when you mean yes, and “No” when you mean no, and then you will not come under God's judgment.
13 Are any among you in trouble? They should pray. Are any among you happy? They should sing praises. 14 Are any among you sick? They should send for the church elders, who will pray for them and rub olive oil on them in the name of the Lord. 15 This prayer made in faith will heal the sick; the Lord will restore them to health, and the sins they have committed will be forgiven. 16 So then, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you will be healed. The prayer of a good person has a powerful effect. 17 Elijah was the same kind of person as we are. He prayed earnestly that there would be no rain, and no rain fell on the land for three and a half years.
18 Once again he prayed, and the sky poured out its rain and the earth produced its crops.
19 My friends, if any of you wander away from the truth and another one brings you back again,
20 remember this: whoever turns a sinner back from the wrong way will save that sinner's soult from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins.
James 5
1 Come now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you.2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.3 Your gold and your silver are rusted; and their rust shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye have laid up your treasure in the last days.4 Behold, the hire of the laborers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.5 Ye have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure; ye have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter.6 Ye have condemned, ye have killed the righteous one; he doth not resist you.7 Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receive the early and latter rain.8 Be ye also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at hand.9 Murmur not, brethren, one against another, that ye be not judged: behold, the judge standeth before the doors.10 Take, brethren, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spake in the name of the Lord.11 Behold, we call them blessed that endured: ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord is full of pity, and merciful.12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath: but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay; that ye fall not under judgment.13 Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise.14 Is any among you sick? 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:15 and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, it shall be forgiven him.16 Confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working.17 Elijah was a man of like passions with us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth for three years and six months.18 And he prayed again; and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.19 My brethren, if any among you err from the truth, and one convert him;20 let him know, that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins.