James 5

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¹Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! ✦ ²Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. ✦ ³Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. ✦ ⁴Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. ✦ ⁵You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. ✦ ⁶You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you. ✦ ⁷Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. ✦ ⁸You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. ✦ ⁹Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! ✦ ¹⁰My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. ✦ ¹¹Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. ✦ ¹²But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment. ✦ ¹³Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. ✦ ¹⁴Is 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. ✦ ¹⁵And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ✦ ¹⁶Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. ✦ ¹⁷Elijah was a man 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. ✦ ¹⁸And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. ✦ ¹⁹Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, ✦ ²⁰let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. ✦

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Where this chapter connects

Jas 5 ·7 1 Pet 4 ·5 Jas 4 ·4 Gal 5 ·4 Matt 21 ·4 Matt 5 ·4 Prov 11 ·4 Jas 1 ·4

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 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.

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★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — James videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on James 5YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — James 5David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on JamesMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — James 5Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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