James 5

Advice to Rich People

1 Pay attention to this if you’re rich. Cry and moan about the misery that is coming to you.2 Your riches have decayed, and your clothes have been eaten by moths.

3 Your 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.4 The 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.5 You have lived in luxury and pleasure here on earth. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter.

6 You have condemned and murdered people who have God’s approval, even though they didn’t resist you.

Be Patient

7 Brothers 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.8 You, too, must be patient. Don’t give up hope. The Lord will soon be here.

9 Brothers and sisters, stop complaining about each other, or you will be condemned. Realize that the judge is standing at the door.
10 Brothers and sisters, follow the example of the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. They were patient when they suffered unjustly.

11 We 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

12 Above 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

13 If any of you are having trouble, pray. If you are happy, sing psalms.14 If you are sick, call for the church leaders. Have them pray for you and anoint you with olive oilt 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.

16 So 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.17 Elijah 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.

18 Then he prayed again. It rained, and the ground produced crops.

Help Those Who Have Wandered Away From the Truth

19 My brothers and sisters, if one of you wanders from the truth, someone can bring that person back.

20 Realize that whoever brings a sinner back from the error of his ways will save him from death, and many sins will be forgiven.

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.