James 5
New English Translation
Warning to the Rich
5 Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud[a] over the miseries that are coming on you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your clothing has become moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have rusted and their rust will be a witness against you. It will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have hoarded treasure![b] 4 Look, the pay you have held back from the workers who mowed your fields cries out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.[c] 5 You have lived indulgently and luxuriously on the earth. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.[d] 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person, although he does not resist you.[e]
Patience in Suffering
7 So be patient, brothers and sisters,[f] until the Lord’s return.[g] Think of how the farmer waits[h] for the precious fruit of the ground and is patient[i] for it until it receives the early and late rains. 8 You also be patient and strengthen your hearts, for the Lord’s return is near. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers and sisters,[j] so that you may not be judged. See, the judge stands before the gates![k] 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers and sisters,[l] take the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name. 11 Think of how we regard[m] as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and you have seen the Lord’s purpose, that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.[n] 12 And above all, my brothers and sisters,[o] do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath. But let your “Yes” be yes and your “No” be no, so that you may not fall into judgment.
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[p] 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.[q] 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.[r] 17 Elijah was a human being[s] like us, and he prayed earnestly[t] that it would not rain and there was no rain on the land for three years and six months! 18 Then[u] he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land sprouted with a harvest.
19 My brothers and sisters,[v] if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, 20 he should know that the one who turns a sinner back from his wandering path[w] will save that person’s[x] soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Footnotes
- James 5:1 tn Or “wail”; Grk “crying aloud.”
- James 5:3 tn Or “hoarded up treasure for the last days”; Grk “in the last days.”
- James 5:4 tn Traditionally, “Lord of Hosts” or “Lord Sabaoth,” which means “Lord of the [heavenly] armies,” sometimes translated more generally as “Lord Almighty.”
- James 5:5 sn James’ point seems to be that instead of seeking deliverance from condemnation, they have defied God’s law (fattened your hearts) and made themselves more likely objects of his judgment (in a day of slaughter).
- James 5:6 tn Literally a series of verbs without connectives, “you have condemned, you have murdered…he does not resist.”
- James 5:7 tn Grk “brothers”; this phrase occurs again three times in the paragraph. See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
- James 5:7 tn Or “advent”; or “coming” (also in v. 8).
- James 5:7 tn Grk “Behold! The farmer waits.”
- James 5:7 tn Grk “being patient.”
- James 5:9 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
- James 5:9 sn The term gates is used metaphorically here. The physical referent would be the entrances to the city, but the author uses the term to emphasize the imminence of the judge’s approach.
- James 5:10 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
- James 5:11 tn Grk “Behold! We regard…”
- James 5:11 sn An allusion to Exod 34:6; Neh 9:17; Pss 86:15; 102:13; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2.
- James 5:12 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
- James 5:14 tn Grk “anointing.”
- James 5:15 tn Grk “it will be forgiven him.”
- James 5:16 tn Or “the fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful”; Grk “is very powerful in its working.”
- 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.
- James 5:17 tn Grk “he prayed with prayer” (using a Hebrew idiom to show intensity).
- James 5:18 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events.
- James 5:19 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
- James 5:20 tn Grk “from the error of his way” (using the same root as the verb “to wander, to err” in the first part of the verse).
- James 5:20 tn Grk “his soul”; the referent (the sinner mentioned at the beginning of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
James 5
EasyEnglish Bible
Troubles for rich people
5 Now, listen to me, you rich people. Weep and cry aloud, because many troubles will soon happen to you. 2 Your money no longer has any value. Insects have eaten your beautiful clothes and they have spoiled them. 3 You have stored silver and gold coins to spend for yourselves. But dirt has spoiled those coins. That dirt will show that you are guilty. It will become like fire that is burning your bodies. In the last days of this world you have stored all this money for yourselves. 4 But you have not paid the workers in your fields the money that you should have paid them. You have cheated them. Now they are shouting against you. The Lord of great power has heard them when they cry to him for help. 5 During your life here on this earth, you have had all that you wanted. You have lived like kings. You have eaten as much food as you want. So now you are like fat animals that are ready for men to kill. 6 You say that a righteous person is guilty. You have even killed him and he could not stop you.
Be patient until the Lord comes again
7 So, my Christian friends, be patient until the Lord Jesus returns. Think about how a farmer is patient. He waits for the ground to give him valuable food to eat. He waits patiently for the rain to come in the autumn and in the spring. 8 You also must be patient, because the Lord will return soon. Be strong as you continue to trust him.
9 My Christian friends, do not complain against each other. If you do, God will punish you. So be careful! He is the Judge and he is ready now to judge people.
10 Think about how God's prophets were also patient. They spoke messages on behalf of the Lord. Many troubles happened to them but they were patient. So, my Christian friends, you should copy their example. 11 We know that God blessed people who were like that. They continued to trust God when trouble happened to them. You have heard about Job. He waited patiently for God to help him in his troubles. You know how the Lord helped him in the end. Because of that, we see that the Lord God is very kind and he helps us.
12 Here is another important thing to remember, my Christian friends. When you want to make a strong promise, never use extra words. Do not say, ‘I promise by heaven,’ or ‘I promise by the earth.’ Do not use any extra words like that. When you say ‘yes,’ that should be enough. When you say ‘no,’ that should also be enough. If you say more than that, God will say that you are guilty.
Prayer
13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Then they should pray to God about it. Or, is anyone feeling happy? They should praise God with songs. 14 Is anyone ill? They should ask the leaders of the church to come and to pray for them. The leaders should put some olive oil on the sick person. They should pray for him with the authority of the Lord Jesus. 15 If they pray in that way and they trust that God will answer them, the sick person will become well again. The Lord will cause him to become well. And God will forgive him if he has done any wrong things.
16 So you should tell each other about any wrong things that you have done. Then you will be able to pray for each other, so that God makes you well again. When a good person prays to God, God does powerful things. 17 For example, God's prophet Elijah was an ordinary person, as we are. He prayed to God that it would not rain. He continued to pray and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 After that time, he prayed to God to send rain again. After that, rain came down from the sky. The seeds that were in the ground began to grow and give food for people to eat.
19 My Christian friends, if anyone among you turns away from God's true message, you should help him. Try to bring him back to God. 20 Understand this: if you turn a person back from their bad ways, you will save them from death. And God will forgive that person for his many sins.
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