^5:1Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud¹ over the miseries that are coming on you. ^5:2Your riches have rotted and your clothing has become moth-eaten. ^5:3Your gold and silver have rusted and their rust will be a witness against you. It will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have hoarded treasure!²^5:4Look, the pay you have held back from the workers who mowed your fields cries out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. ^5:5You have lived indulgently and luxuriously on the earth. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.³^5:6You have condemned and murdered the righteous person, although he does not resist you.⁴

Patience in Suffering

^5:7So be patient, brothers and sisters,⁵ until the Lord’s return.⁶ Think of how the farmer waits⁷ for the precious fruit of the ground and is patient⁸ for it until it receives the early and late rains. ^5:8You also be patient and strengthen your hearts, for the Lord’s return is near. ^5:9Do not grumble against one another, brothers and sisters,⁹ so that you may not be judged. See, the judge stands before the gates!¹⁰^5:10As an example of suffering and patience, brothers and sisters,¹¹ take the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name. ^5:11Think of how we regard¹² as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and you have seen the Lord’s purpose, that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.¹³^5:12And above all, my brothers and sisters,¹⁴ do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath. But let your “Yes” be yes and your “No” be no, so that you may not fall into judgment.

Prayer for the Sick

^5:13Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone in good spirits? He should sing praises. ^5:14Is anyone among you ill? He should summon the elders of the church, and they should pray for him and anoint¹⁵ him with oil in the name of the Lord. ^5:15And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up—and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.¹⁶^5:16So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness.¹⁷^5:17Elijah was a human being¹⁸ like us, and he prayed earnestly¹⁹ that it would not rain and there was no rain on the land for three years and six months! ^5:18Then²⁰ he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land sprouted with a harvest.

^5:19My brothers and sisters,²¹ if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, ^5:20he should know that the one who turns a sinner back from his wandering path²² will save that person’s²³ soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

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Footnotes

1 Or “wail”; Grk “crying aloud.”
2 Or “hoarded up treasure for the last days”; Grk “in the last days.”
3 James’ point seems to be that instead of seeking deliverance from condemnation, they have defied God’s law (fattened your hearts) and made themselves more likely objects of his judgment (in a day of slaughter).
4 Literally a series of verbs without connectives, “you have condemned, you have murdered … he does not resist.”
5 Grk “brothers”; this phrase occurs again three times in the paragraph. See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in .
6 Or “advent”; or “coming” (also in v. 8).
7 Grk “Behold! The farmer waits.”
8 Grk “being patient.”
9 Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in .
10 The term gates is used metaphorically here. The physical referent would be the entrances to the city, but the author uses the term to emphasize the imminence of the judge’s approach.
11 Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in .
12 Grk “Behold! We regard …”
13 An allusion to Exod 34:6; Neh 9:17; Ps 86:15; 102:13; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2.
14 Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in .
15 Grk “anointing.”
16 Grk “it will be forgiven him.”
17 Or “the fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful”; Grk “is very powerful in its working.”
18 Although it is certainly true that Elijah was a “man,” here ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos) has been translated as “human being” because the emphasis in context is not on Elijah’s masculine gender, but on the common humanity he shared with the author and the readers.
19 Grk “he prayed with prayer” (using a Hebrew idiom to show intensity).
20 Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events.
21 Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in .
22 Grk “from the error of his way” (using the same root as the verb “to wander, to err” in the first part of the verse).
23 Grk “his soul”; the referent (the sinner mentioned at the beginning of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.