James 5
The full text of James 5 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Greek. Free to read.
1 Come now, you rich, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming upon you.
2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.
3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days.
4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.
7 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until it receives the early and the late rains.
8 You too be patient. Strengthen your hearts, because the Lord's coming is near.
9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, so that you will not be judged. Look, the Judge is standing at the door!
10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
11 See, we count as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen the outcome the Lord brought about, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by any other oath. Let your "Yes" be yes and your "No" be no, so that you may not fall under judgment.
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.
14 Is anyone among you sick? 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 offered in faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
16 Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
17 Elijah was a human being with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.
18 Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth produced its crop.
19 My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back,
20 let him know that whoever turns a sinner back from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
Translation notes (10)
- James 5:4a "Lord of Hosts" (kyriou SabaOth) transliterates Hebrew "LORD of armies," a title of God's sovereign power; cf. Isa 5:9.
- James 5:5a Or "as in a day of slaughter"—the rich are pictured fattening themselves like livestock unaware of the coming slaughter; the phrase "day of slaughter" echoes Jer 12:3.
- James 5:6a This can also be read as a question: "Does he not resist you?" The Greek phrase ouk antitassetai hymin can be understood either as a statement ("he offers no resistance") or as a question. The phrase "the righteous one" may refer to a general righteous person or to the Messiah.
- James 5:7a Greek proimon kai opsimon, lit. "early and late"; "rains" is supplied from the agricultural context and the Old Testament idiom (Deut 11:14). Some manuscripts add "rain" (hyeton).
- James 5:11a This can also be translated as "the end (purpose) of the Lord." The Greek phrase to telos kyriou can mean either the outcome the Lord granted Job or the goal/purpose the Lord had in it.
- James 5:12a Some later manuscripts read "fall into hypocrisy" instead of "fall under judgment." However, the critical Greek text reads "under judgment" (hypo krisin).
- James 5:15a This can also be translated as "will make the sick person well." The Greek words sOsei ("save/heal") and egerei ("raise up") carry both physical and spiritual meanings here.
- James 5:16a Some manuscripts read "confess your offenses" (ta paraptOmata) rather than "your sins" (tas hamartias). The meaning of the final Greek word, energoumenE, is debated: it can mean "when it is at work" (active) or "as it is energized" (passive).
- James 5:17a The Greek phrase proseuchE prosEuxato literally means "with prayer he prayed." This is a Hebraic intensive idiom, which is rendered here as "prayed earnestly."
- James 5:20a Or "will save a soul from death"—it is ambiguous whose soul is saved: the wanderer's, or possibly the one who turns him back. "Cover a multitude of sins" echoes Prov 10:12.
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