James 5  Modern English Version

Warning to the Rich

5 Come now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. ² Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. ³ Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasures for the last days. ⁴ Indeed the wages that you kept back by fraud from the laborers who harvested your fields are crying, and the cries of those who harvested have entered into the ears of the Lord of Hosts. ⁵ You have lived in pleasure on the earth and have been wayward. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned and killed the righteous man who does not resist you.

Patience and Prayer

⁷ Therefore be patient, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Notice how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until he receives the early and late rain. ⁸ You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is drawing near. ⁹ Do not grumble against one another, brothers, lest you be condemned. Look, the Judge is standing at the door.

¹⁰ My brothers, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. ¹¹ Indeed we count them happy who endure. You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the purpose of the Lord, that the Lord is very gracious and merciful.

¹² But above all things, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by the earth or by any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes” and your “No” be “No,” that you do not fall into condemnation.

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.

¹⁹ Brothers, if any one of you strays from the truth and someone corrects him, ²⁰ let him know that he who converts the sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.