James5
New Living Translation
1Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you.
2Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags.
3Your gold and silver are corroded. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This corroded treasure you have hoarded will testify against you on the day of judgment.
4For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
5You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter.
6You have condemned and killed innocent people, who do not resist you.
7Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen.
8You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near.
9Don’t grumble about each other, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. For look—the Judge is standing at the door!
10For examples of patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
11We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy.
12But most of all, my brothers and sisters, never take an oath, by heaven or earth or anything else. Just say a simple yes or no, so that you will not sin and be condemned.
13Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.
14Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.
15Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.
16Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
17Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years!
18Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.
19My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back,
20you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back from wandering will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for James 5.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The judgments of God denounced against rich unbelievers. (1–6). Exhortation to patience and meekness under tribulations. (7–11). Cautions against rash swearing Prayer recommended in afflictive and prosperous circumstances, Christians to confess their faults to each other. (12–18). The happiness of being the means of the conversion of a sinner. (19, 20).
vv1-6
Public troubles are most grievous to those who live in pleasure, and are secure and sensual, though all ranks suffer deeply at such times. All idolized treasures will soon perish, except as they will rise up in judgment against their possessors. Take heed of defrauding and oppressing; and avoid the very appearance of it. God does not forbid us to use lawful pleasures; but to live in pleasure, especially sinful pleasure, is a provoking sin. Is it no harm for people to unfit themselves for minding the concerns of their souls, by indulging bodily appetites? The just may be condemned and killed; but when such suffer by oppressors, this is marked by God. Above all their other crimes, the Jews had condemned and crucified that Just One who had come among them, even Jesus Christ the righteous.
vv7-11
Consider him that waits for a crop of corn; and will not you wait for a crown of glory? If you should be called to wait longer than the husbandman, is not there something more worth waiting for? In every sense the coming of the Lord drew nigh, and all his people's losses, hardships, and sufferings, would be repaid. Men count time long, because they measure it by their own lives; but all time is as nothing to God; it is as a moment. To short-lived creatures a few years seem an age; but Scripture, measuring all things by the existence of God, reckons thousands of years but so many days. God brought about things in Job's case, so as plainly to prove that he is very pitiful and of tender mercy. This did not appear during his troubles, but was seen in the event, and believers now will find a happy end to their trials. Let us serve our God, and bear our trials, as those who believe that the end will crown all. Our eternal happiness is safe if we trust to him: all else is mere vanity, which soon will be done with for ever.
vv12-18
The sin of swearing is condemned; but how many make light of common profane swearing! Such swearing expressly throws contempt upon God's name and authority. This sin brings neither gain, nor pleasure, nor reputation, but is showing enmity to God without occasion and without advantage It shows a man to be an enemy to God, however he pretends to call himself by his name, or sometimes joins in acts of worship. But the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. In a day of affliction nothing is more seasonable than prayer. The spirit is then most humble, and the heart is broken and tender. It is necessary to exercise faith and hope under afflictions; and prayer is the appointed means for obtaining and increasing these graces. Observe, that the saving of the sick is not ascribed to the anointing with oil, but to prayer. In a time of sickness it is not cold and formal prayer that is effectual, but the prayer of faith. The great thing we should beg of God for ourselves and others in the time of sickness is, the pardon of sin. Let nothing be done to encourage any to delay, under the mistaken fancy that a confession, a prayer, a minister's absolution and exhortation, or the sacrament, will set all right at last, where the duties of a godly life have been disregarded. To acknowledge our faults to each other, will tend greatly to peace and brotherly love. And when a righteous person, a true believer, justified in Christ, and by his grace walking before God in holy obedience, presents an effectual fervent prayer, wrought in his heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, raising holy affections and believing expectations and so leading earnestly to plead the promises of God at his mercy-seat, it avails much. The power of prayer is proved from the history of Elijah. In prayer we must not look to the merit of man, but to the grace of God. It is not enough to say a prayer, but we must pray in prayer. Thoughts must be fixed, desires must be firm and ardent, and graces exercised. This instance of the power of prayer, encourages every Christian to be earnest in prayer. God never says to any of the seed of Jacob, Seek my face in vain. Where there may not be so much of miracle in God's answering our prayers, yet there may be as much of grace.
Key Words
ἄγε (áge): properly, lead, i.e. come on
νῦν (nŷn): "now" (as adverb of date, a transition or emphasis); also as noun or adjective present or immediate
πλούσιος (ploúsios): wealthy; figuratively, abounding with
κλαίω (klaíō): to sob, i.e. wail aloud (whereas 1145 is rather to cry silently)
ὀλολύζω (ololýzō): to "howl" or "halloo", i.e. shriek
ἐπί (epí): properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etc.), as a relation of distribution (with the genitive case), i.e. over, upon, etc.; of rest (with the dative case) at, on, etc.; of direction (with the accusative case) towards, upon, etc.
ὑμῶν (hymōn): of (from or concerning) you
ταλαιπωρία (talaipōría): wretchedness, i.e. calamity
ἐπέρχομαι (epérchomai): to supervene, i.e. arrive, occur, impend, attack, (figuratively) influence
πλοῦτος (ploûtos): wealth (as fulness), i.e. (literally) money, possessions, or (figuratively) abundance, richness, (specially), valuable bestowment
Cross References
James 5The Mosaic command regarding the prompt payment of laborers' wages, lest they cry to God.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Direct verbal echo and instruction against swearing by heaven, earth, or any other oath.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Parallels Christ's warning about treasures on earth becoming corrupted and moth-eaten.
Supported by JFB
The historical event of Elijah's earnest prayer stopping the rain on the land.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Hoarding up wealth in 'the last days' parallels storing up wrath for the day of judgment.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The law forbidding the withholding of the wages of a hired worker overnight.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The historical record of the 'end of the Lord' in showing Job mercy after suffering.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
The apostolic practice of anointing the sick with oil and healing them.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Elijah's subsequent prayer of faith that ended the drought and brought rain.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Stephen's indictment of the Jews for killing the prophets and 'the Just One'.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
God's provision of the 'early' and 'latter' rain in agricultural and spiritual contexts.
The duty of believers to restore in gentleness a brother who is overtaken in a fault.
Wisdom teaching that 'he that winneth souls is wise' parallels saving a soul from death.
Verbal parallel regarding love covering/hiding 'a multitude of sins'.
The rich man who lived in luxury, contrasting his earthly wantonness with future misery.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Exhortation to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with grace in the heart.