The Letter of James
5 Come, now, you rich men, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming upon you.+ 2 Your riches have rotted, and your clothing has become moth-eaten.+ 3 Your gold and silver have rusted away, and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh. What you have stored up will be like a fire in the last days.+ 4 Look! The wages you have withheld from the workers who harvested your fields keep crying out, and the cries for help of the reapers have reached the ears of Jehovah* of armies.+ 5 You have lived in luxury and for self-gratification on the earth. You have fattened your hearts on the day of slaughter.+ 6 You have condemned; you have murdered the righteous one. Is he not opposing you?
7 Be patient then, brothers, until the presence of the Lord.+ Look! The farmer keeps waiting for the precious fruit of the earth, exercising patience over it until the early rain and the late rain arrive.+ 8 You too exercise patience;+ make your hearts firm, because the presence of the Lord has drawn close.+
9 Do not grumble* against one another, brothers, so that you do not get judged.+ Look! The Judge is standing before the doors. 10 Brothers, take as a pattern of the suffering of evil+ and the exercising of patience+ the prophets who spoke in the name of Jehovah.*+ 11 Look! We consider happy* those who have endured.+ You have heard of the endurance of Job+ and have seen the outcome Jehovah* gave,+ that Jehovah* is very tender in affection* and merciful.+
12 Above all, my brothers, stop swearing, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath. But let your “Yes” mean yes and your “No,” no,+ so that you do not become liable to judgment.
13 Is there anyone suffering hardship among you? Let him carry on prayer.+ Is there anyone in good spirits? Let him sing psalms.+ 14 Is there anyone sick among you? Let him call the elders+ of the congregation to him, and let them pray over him, applying oil to him+ in the name of Jehovah.* 15 And the prayer of faith will make the sick one* well, and Jehovah* will raise him up. Also, if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
16 Therefore, openly confess your sins+ to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. A righteous man’s supplication has a powerful effect.*+ 17 E·liʹjah was a man with feelings like ours, and yet when he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.+ 18 Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the land produced fruit.+
19 My brothers, if anyone among you is led astray from the truth and another turns him back, 20 know that whoever turns a sinner back from the error+ of his way will save him* from death and will cover a multitude of sins.+