Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
Parallel translations
- WEB Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises.
- BSB Is any one of you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises.
- NKJV Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
- NASB Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises.
- NLT Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
In suffering, pray; in gladness, sing praise. Every season of life should be brought to God in worship.
Overview
James directs believers to respond to both hardship and joy by turning to God, in prayer when suffering and in praise when cheerful. This frames the whole of life as lived before God, neither despairing in trial nor self-absorbed in blessing. It introduces a closing section on prayer, showing dependence on God as the constant posture of the believing community.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 31
- Ps 50:15And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
- Jonah 2:2And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
- Eph 5:19Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
- Acts 16:24–25Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
- Rev 5:9–14And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
- Rev 19:1–6And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:
- Heb 5:7Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
- Hos 6:1Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
- Jonah 2:7When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
- Ps 142:1–3I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication.
- 2 Cor 12:7–10And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
- Col 3:16–17Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
- Ps 118:5I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.
- Ps 91:15He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
- Luke 22:44And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
- Job 33:26He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness.
- Rev 14:3And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
- Mic 4:5For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.
- Dan 5:4They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
- Matt 26:30And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
- 1 Chr 16:9Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works.
- 1 Cor 14:26How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
- Ps 18:6In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.
- Rev 7:10And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
- Luke 23:42And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
- Ps 116:3–5The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
- Ps 105:2Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works.
- Ps 95:2Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
- Lam 3:55–56I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.
- 2 Chr 33:12–13And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
- Judg 16:23–25Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.
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Christ at the center
The wisdom from above and the royal law of love are the life of those who belong to 'our glorious Lord Jesus Christ' — faith in him made visible in works.
How James 5:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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