James 5
1 Come now, you men of wealth, give yourselves to weeping and crying because of the bitter troubles which are coming to you.
Go to now, you rich men! Weep aloud, howl for the miseries which are about to come upon you!
2 Your wealth is unclean and insects have made holes in your clothing.
For your riches lie rotting, and your clothing has become moth-eaten.
3 Your gold and your silver are wasted and their waste will be a witness against you, burning into your flesh. You have put by your store in the last days.
Your gold and silver are rusted. and their rust will be for a testimony against you, and it will eat your flesh. For you have been storing up fire in these last days!
4 See, the money which you falsely kept back from the workers cutting the grass in your field, is crying out against you; and the cries of those who took in your grain have come to the ears of the Lord of armies.
Look! the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have been keeping back by fraud, are crying aloud! And the cries of the reapers have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth!
5 You have been living delicately on earth and have taken your pleasure; you have made your hearts fat for a day of destruction.
You have lived luxuriously on earth, you have taken your pleasure, you have fattened your hearts for a day of slaughter.
6 You have given your decision against the upright man and have put him to death. He puts up no fight against you.
You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous man unresisting!
7 Go on waiting calmly, my brothers, till the coming of the Lord, like the farmer waiting for the good fruit of the earth till the early and late rains have come.
Be patient, then, brothers, till the coming of the Lord. Behold the farmer who waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it gets the early and the latter rains.
8 Be as calm in your waiting; let your hearts be strong: because the coming of the Lord is near.
So you also must be patient. Stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord is at hand!
9 Say no hard things against one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged; see, the judge is waiting at the doors.
Do not make complaints against each other, brothers, lest you yourselves be condemned. Behold the Judge is standing before the very door!
10 Take as an example of pain nobly undergone and of strength in trouble, the prophets who gave to men the words of the Lord.
Take, my brothers, for an example the suffering and the patience of the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
11 We say that those men who have gone through pain are happy: you have the story of Job and the troubles through which he went and have seen that the Lord was full of pity and mercy in the end.
Remember we count those that were stedfast happy. You have heard of the stedfastness of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord with him, seen how the Lord is full of tenderness.
12 But most of all, my brothers, do not take oaths, not by the heaven, or by the earth, or by any other thing: but let your Yes be Yes, and your No be No: so that you may not be judged.
Again, above all things, my brothers, swear not at all, neither by the heavens, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath. Let your "yes" be "yes," and your "no," "no," so you will not fall under condemnation.
13 Is anyone among you in trouble? let him say prayers. Is anyone glad? let him make a song of praise.
Is any one of you in trouble? Let him pray.
14 Is anyone among you ill? let him send for the rulers of the church; and let them say prayers over him, putting oil on him in the name of the Lord.
Is any in good spirits? Let him sing unto his harp. Is any one of you ill? Let him send for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, after anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;
15 And by the prayer of faith the man who is ill will be made well, and he will be lifted up by the Lord, and for any sin which he has done he will have forgiveness.
and the prayer of faith will restore the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, it will be forgiven him.
16 So then, make a statement of your sins to one another, and say prayers for one another so that you may be made well. The prayer of a good man is full of power in its working.
So confess your sins one to another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. For the fervent prayer of a righteous man is mighty in its working.
17 Elijah was a man of flesh and blood as we are, and he made a strong prayer that there might be no rain; and there was no rain on the earth for three years and six months.
Elijah was a man of like passions with us, and he prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
18 And he made another prayer, and the heaven sent down rain and the earth gave her fruit.
Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
19 My brothers, if one of you has gone out of the way of the true faith and another has made him see his error,
My brothers, if any one of you strays from the truth, and some one brings him back,
20 Be certain that he through whom a sinner has been turned from the error of his way, keeps a soul from death and is the cause of forgiveness for sins without number.
let him know that he who brings a sinner back from the error of his ways, saves his soul from death, and hides a multitude of sins.
