James 5
1 Listen to me, you rich men, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming upon you!
Come now, you men of wealth, give yourselves to weeping and crying because of the bitter troubles which are coming to you.
2 Your riches have wasted away, and your clothes have become moth-eaten.
Your wealth is unclean and insects have made holes in your clothing.
3 Your gold and silver are rusted; and the rust on them shall be evidence against you, and shall eat into your very flesh. It was fire, so to speak, that you stored up for yourselves in these last days.
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.
4 I tell you, the wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you have been fraudulently keeping back, are crying out against you, and the outcries of your reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts!
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.
5 You have lived on earth a life of extravagance and luxury; you have indulged your fancies in a time of bloodshed.
You have been living delicately on earth and have taken your pleasure; you have made your hearts fat for a day of destruction.
6 You have condemned, you have murdered, the Righteous One! Must not God be opposed to you?
You have given your decision against the upright man and have put him to death. He puts up no fight against you.
7 Be patient, then, Brothers, till the Coming of the Lord. Even the farmer has to wait for the precious fruit of the earth, watching over it patiently, till it has had the spring and summer rains.
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.
8 And you must be patient also, and not be discouraged; for the Lord’s Coming is near.
Be as calm in your waiting; let your hearts be strong: because the coming of the Lord is near.
9 Do not make complaints against one another, Brothers, or judgment will be passed upon you. The Judge is already standing at the door!
Say no hard things against one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged; see, the judge is waiting at the doors.
10 Brothers, as an example of the patient endurance of suffering, take the Prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
Take as an example of pain nobly undergone and of strength in trouble, the prophets who gave to men the words of the Lord.
11 We count those who displayed such endurance blessed! You have heard, too, of Job’s endurance, and have seen what the Lord’s purpose was, for ‘the Lord is full of pity and compassion.’
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.
12 Above all things, my Brothers, never take an oath, either by heaven, or by earth, or by anything else. With you let ‘Yes’ suffice for yes, and ‘No’ for no, so that you may escape condemnation.
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.
13 If any of you is in trouble, let him pray; if any one is happy, let him sing hymns.
Is anyone among you in trouble? let him say prayers. Is anyone glad? let him make a song of praise.
14 If any one of you is ill, let him send for the Officers of the Church, and let them pray over him, after anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
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.
15 The prayer offered in faith will save the man who is sick, and the Lord will raise him from his bed; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
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.
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be cured. Great is the power of a good man’s fervent prayer.
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.
17 Elijah was only a man like ourselves, but, when he prayed fervently that it might not rain, no rain fell upon the land for three years and a half.
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.
18 And, when he prayed again, the clouds brought rain, and the land bore crops.
And he made another prayer, and the heaven sent down rain and the earth gave her fruit.
19 My Brothers, should one of you be led astray from the Truth, and someone bring him back again,
My brothers, if one of you has gone out of the way of the true faith and another has made him see his error,
20 be sure that he who brings a sinner back from his mistaken ways will save that man’s soul from Death, and throw a veil over countless sins.
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.
