警告为富不仁者

你们这些富有的人啊!为那将要临到你们身上的灾难痛哭哀号吧! 你们的财物朽坏了,衣服也被虫蛀了。 你们的金银生了锈,那锈必要指控你们,像火一样吞噬你们的身体。在末世的日子里,你们只知道积攒财宝。 工人替你们收割庄稼,你们却克扣他们的工钱。那工钱发出不平的呼喊,工人的冤声已经传到万军之主的耳中了。 你们在世上奢侈享乐,在被宰杀的日子里,把自己养得肥肥胖胖。 你们冤枉好人、残害无辜,他们也没有反抗。

要忍耐到底

弟兄姊妹,你们要一直忍耐到主来。你们看农夫怎样耐心等候地里宝贵的出产,等候秋雨和春雨的降临。 同样,你们也要忍耐,心志坚定,因为主快来了。 弟兄姊妹,不要互相埋怨,免得受审判。你们看,审判的主已经站在门外了。 10 弟兄姊妹,你们要效法从前奉主的名说话的先知,以他们的受苦和忍耐为榜样。 11 我们认为那些忍耐到底的人是有福的。你们都知道约伯的忍耐,也知道主最终怎样待他,因为主充满怜悯和慈悲。

12 我的弟兄姊妹,最重要的是不可起誓,不可指着天起誓,也不可指着地起誓,不可指着任何东西起誓。你们说话,是就说是,不是就说不是,免得你们受审判。

祷告的力量

13 你们中间正在受苦的人应该祷告,喜乐的人应该唱歌赞美, 14 生病的人应该请教会的长老来,奉主的名用油抹他的身体并为他祷告。 15 出于信心的祷告必能使病人痊愈,主必使他康复。倘若他犯了罪,也必得到赦免。 16 所以你们要彼此认罪,互相代祷,好得到医治。义人的祷告有极大的力量和功效。 17 以利亚先知和我们一样同是血肉之躯,他恳切地祈求不要下雨,结果三年半没有下雨。 18 后来他再祷告求雨,天就降雨,地也长出了庄稼。

19 我的弟兄姊妹,如果有人领一个偏离真道的人归回正路, 20 他该知道:使一个迷途中的罪人归回正路就是救一个灵魂脱离死亡,并且会遮盖许多罪。

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your 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. Behold, 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.[a] You have lived in luxury on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn’t resist you.

Be 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. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door. 10 Take, brothers, for an example of suffering and of perseverance, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, 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.

12 But 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.[b]

13 Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises. 14 Is 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; 15 and 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. 16 Confess 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. 17 Elijah 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. 18 He prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

19 Brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, 20 let 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.

Footnotes

  1. 5:4 Greek: Sabaoth (or Hebrew: Tze’va’ot)
  2. 5:12 TR reads “under judgment” instead of “into hypocrisy”