James 5

A Warning to the Rich

James 5:1–6

1 Listen now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

3 Your gold and silver are corroded; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

4 Behold, the wages of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which are kept back by you through fraud, cry out: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.

5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been self-indulgent; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

Patience in Suffering

James 5:7–12

7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

8 Be ye also patient; strengthen your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth near.

9 Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.

10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the perseverance of Job, and have seen the outcome the Lord brought about; that the Lord is full of compassion, and of tender mercy.

12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

The Prayer of Faith

James 5:13–18

13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.

14 Is any 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 shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

17 Elias was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

Restoring a Sinner

James 5:19–20

19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and someone brings him back;

20 Let him know, that he who brings back the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.