James5
World English Bible · Public Domain
1Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.
2Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.
3Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days.
4Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies.
5You have lived in luxury on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.
6You have condemned and you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn’t resist you.
7Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain.
8You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
9Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door.
10Take, brothers, for an example of suffering and of perseverance, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
11Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
12But above all things, my brothers, don’t swear—not by heaven, or by the earth, or by any other oath; but let your “yes” be “yes”, and your “no”, “no”, so that you don’t fall into hypocrisy.
13Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises.
14Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;
15and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
16Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.
17Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn’t rain on the earth for three years and six months.
18He prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
19Brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back,
20let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and will cover a multitude of 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.