James 5
1 Listen to me, you rich men, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming upon you!
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you.
2 Your riches have wasted away, and your clothes have become moth-eaten.
Your riches are corrupted: and your garments are motheaten.
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 silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up to yourselves wrath against 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!
Behold the hire of the labourers, who have reaped down your fields, which by fraud has been kept back by you, crieth: and the cry of them hath entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
5 You have lived on earth a life of extravagance and luxury; you have indulged your fancies in a time of bloodshed.
You have feasted upon earth: and in riotousness you have nourished your hearts, in the day of slaughter.
6 You have condemned, you have murdered, the Righteous One! Must not God be opposed to you?
You have condemned and put to death the Just One, and he resisted you not.
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.
Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth: patiently bearing till he receive the early and latter rain.
8 And you must be patient also, and not be discouraged; for the Lord’s Coming is near.
Be you therefore also patient, and strengthen your hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
9 Do not make complaints against one another, Brothers, or judgment will be passed upon you. The Judge is already standing at the door!
Grudge not, brethren, one against another, that you may not be judged. Behold the judge standeth before the door.
10 Brothers, as an example of the patient endurance of suffering, take the Prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
Take, my brethren, for an example of suffering evil, of labour and patience, the prophets, who spoke in the name 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.’
Behold, we account them blessed who have endured. You have heard of the patience of Job, and you have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is merciful and compassionate.
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 above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath. But let your speech be, yea, yea: no, no: that you fall not under judgment.
13 If any of you is in trouble, let him pray; if any one is happy, let him sing hymns.
Is any of you sad? Let him pray. Is he cheerful in mind? Let him sing.
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 any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil 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 the prayer of faith shall save the sick man: and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him.
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.
Confess therefore your sins one to another: and pray one for another, that you may be saved. For the continual prayer of a just man availeth much.
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.
Elias was a man passible like unto us: and with prayer he prayed that it might not rain upon the earth, and it rained not for three years and six months.
18 And, when he prayed again, the clouds brought rain, and the land bore crops.
And he prayed again: and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
19 My Brothers, should one of you be led astray from the Truth, and someone bring him back again,
My brethren, if any of you err from the truth, and one convert him:
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.
He must know that he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins.
