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13 Is anyone among you suffering? He should keep on praying about it. And those who have reason to be thankful should continually be singing praises to the Lord.

14 Is anyone sick? He should call for the elders of the church and they should pray over him and pour a little oil upon him, calling on the Lord to heal him. 15 And their prayer, if offered in faith, will heal him, for the Lord will make him well; and if his sickness was caused by some sin, the Lord will forgive him.

16 Admit your faults to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results.

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Prayer to Be Reckoned With

13-15 Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you’ve sinned, you’ll be forgiven—healed inside and out.

16-18 Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn’t rain, and it didn’t—not a drop for three and a half years. Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again.

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13 If you are having trouble, you should pray. And if you are feeling good, you should sing praises. 14 (A) If you are sick, ask the church leaders[a] to come and pray for you. Ask them to put olive oil[b] on you in the name of the Lord. 15 If you have faith when you pray for sick people, they will get well. The Lord will heal them, and if they have sinned, he will forgive them.

16 (B) If you have sinned, you should tell each other what you have done. Then you can pray for one another and be healed. The prayer of an innocent person is powerful, and it can help a lot.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 5.14 church leaders: Or “elders” or “presbyters.”
  2. 5.14 olive oil: The Jewish people used olive oil for healing.

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone merry? Let him sing psalms. 14 Is anyone sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your faults to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.

Read full chapter

Prayer for the Sick

13 Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone in good spirits? He should sing praises. 14 Is anyone among you ill? He should summon the elders of the church, and they should pray for him and anoint[a] him with olive oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And 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.[b] 16 So 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.[c]

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. James 5:14 tn Grk “anointing.”
  2. James 5:15 tn Grk “it will be forgiven him.”
  3. James 5:16 tn Or “the fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful”; Grk “is very powerful in its working.”

13 Is anyone among you suffering? He should keep on praying about it. And those who have reason to be thankful should continually be singing praises to the Lord.

14 Is anyone sick? He should call for the elders of the church and they should pray over him and pour a little oil upon him, calling on the Lord to heal him. 15 And their prayer, if offered in faith, will heal him, for the Lord will make him well; and if his sickness was caused by some sin, the Lord will forgive him.

16 Admit your faults to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results. 17 Elijah was as completely human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for the next three and a half years! 18 Then he prayed again, this time that it would rain, and down it poured, and the grass turned green and the gardens began to grow again.

Read full chapter

Prayer to Be Reckoned With

13-15 Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you’ve sinned, you’ll be forgiven—healed inside and out.

16-18 Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn’t rain, and it didn’t—not a drop for three and a half years. Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again.

Read full chapter

13 If you are having trouble, you should pray. And if you are feeling good, you should sing praises. 14 (A) If you are sick, ask the church leaders[a] to come and pray for you. Ask them to put olive oil[b] on you in the name of the Lord. 15 If you have faith when you pray for sick people, they will get well. The Lord will heal them, and if they have sinned, he will forgive them.

16 (B) If you have sinned, you should tell each other what you have done. Then you can pray for one another and be healed. The prayer of an innocent person is powerful, and it can help a lot. 17 (C) Elijah was just as human as we are, and for three and a half years his prayers kept the rain from falling. 18 (D) But when he did pray for rain, it fell from the skies and made the crops grow.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 5.14 church leaders: Or “elders” or “presbyters.”
  2. 5.14 olive oil: The Jewish people used olive oil for healing.

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone merry? Let him sing psalms. 14 Is anyone sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your faults to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.

17 Elijah was a man subject to natural passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit.

Read full chapter

Prayer for the Sick

13 Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone in good spirits? He should sing praises. 14 Is anyone among you ill? He should summon the elders of the church, and they should pray for him and anoint[a] him with olive oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And 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.[b] 16 So 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.[c] 17 Elijah was a human being[d] like us, and he prayed earnestly[e] that it would not rain and there was no rain on the land for three years and six months! 18 Then[f] he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land sprouted with a harvest.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. James 5:14 tn Grk “anointing.”
  2. James 5:15 tn Grk “it will be forgiven him.”
  3. James 5:16 tn Or “the fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful”; Grk “is very powerful in its working.”
  4. James 5:17 tn 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.
  5. James 5:17 tn Grk “he prayed with prayer” (using a Hebrew idiom to show intensity).
  6. James 5:18 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events.