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James 5

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Warning to the Oppressive Rich 1–6

1
Go to 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 is cankered; 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 hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. ​
5
Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; 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 7–11

7
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman 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; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. ​
9
Grudge not one against 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 patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. ​

Integrity of Speech 12

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. ​

Prayer and Church Ministry 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 subject to like passions as we are, 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 the Erring 19–20

19
Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; ​
20
Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for James 5

Verse 1

weep and howl — Ololuzo, to howl, a shriek of lament; 'miseries' is talaiporia, wretchedness, calamity. The woe falls on the rich who trusted wealth, for 'Riches profit not in the day of wrath' (Prov 11:4). The judgment is stated as certain: 'shall come upon you'.

Verse 2

riches are corrupted — Sepo, to putrefy, perish; 'motheaten' is setobrotos. Stored wealth and clothing perish unused. The warning is Christ's: 'Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt' (Matt 6:19).

Verse 3

the rust of them — Katioo, to rust down; ios is rust. The corroded hoard becomes 'a witness' (marturion), evidence in court, and consumes 'your flesh as it were fire'. 'Ye have heaped treasure together' recalls Rom 2:5, 'treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath'.

Verse 4

the hire of the labourers — Misthos, wages; 'kept back by fraud' is aposteréo, to defraud. The Law forbade it: 'the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night' (Lev 19:13; Deut 24:15). Sabaoth is Hebrew for 'armies' (cf. Rom 9:29): the Lord of hosts hears the cry.

Verse 5

nourished your hearts — Trupháo is to live in luxury and spataláo to be wanton. 'Day of slaughter' is sphagé, the butchery of animals; the fattened are readied for it, as in Jer 12:3, 'prepare them for the day of slaughter'. Compare the rich man who 'fared sumptuously every day' (Luke 16:19).

Verse 6

condemned and killed the just — Katadikazo, to adjudge against; phoneuo, to murder; 'resist' is antitassomai, to range oneself against. The innocent offer no opposition. Many read it of Christ, 'the Just One' (Acts 7:52), and also of others who suffered likewise.

Verse 7

Be patient — Makrothumeo, to be long-spirited; the same verb is used of the farmer, who 'hath long patience'. 'Coming' is parousia, presence, arrival. 'The early and latter rain' are the autumn and spring rains of Deut 11:14, 'the first rain and the latter rain'; see also Joel 2:23.

Verse 8

stablish your hearts — Stérizo, to set fast, make firm. 'Draweth nigh' is engizo, to approach, the idea of Phil 4:5, 'The Lord is at hand.' The nearness of the coming (parousia, v.7) is the ground ('for') of the command to endure.

Verse 9

Grudge not — Stenazo, to groan, sigh; complaint against one another is forbidden while waiting. 'Condemned' is katakrino, to judge against. The Judge 'standeth before the door' (thura), as Christ said, 'know that it is near, even at the doors' (Matt 24:33).

Verse 10

the prophets — Hupodeigma, an exhibit for imitation; 'suffering affliction' is kakopatheia, hardship. Christ had set the prophets as precedent: 'so persecuted they the prophets which were before you' (Matt 5:12); Stephen asks, 'Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?' (Acts 7:52).

Verse 11

the patience of Job — Hupomone, endurance, from the verb hupomeno, to stay under; the blessing on the enduring is makarizo, to pronounce happy. 'The end' (telos) of the Lord is his outcome for Job. 'Very pitiful' (polusplanchnos) and 'tender mercy' (oiktirmon) match Exod 34:6, 'merciful and gracious, longsuffering'.

Verse 12

swear not — Omnuo, to take an oath. James repeats Christ: 'But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay' (Matt 5:37). Oaths by 'heaven' or 'earth' are not exempt: 'he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God' (Matt 23:22). 'Condemnation' renders hupokrisis, feigning.

Verse 13

let him pray — 'Afflicted' is kakopatheo, to suffer hardship, kin to 'suffering affliction' in v.10. 'Merry' is euthumeo, to be cheerful; 'sing psalms' is psallo, properly to play a stringed instrument. Both states have their answer; Paul and Silas 'prayed, and sang praises unto God' (Acts 16:25).

Verse 14

call for the elders — Presbuteros, elder; 'church' is ekklesia. The sick (astheneo, to be feeble) summons them; they pray and anoint (aleipho) with oil (elaion) 'in the name of the Lord'. The practice is seen when the Twelve 'anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them' (Mark 6:13).

Verse 15

the prayer of faith — Euche, prayer (also a vow). 'Save' is sozo, to rescue or heal; 'raise up' is egeiro. 'The sick' here is kamno, to be weary, not v.14's word. Forgiveness (aphiemi) is promised if he 'have committed sins'. Compare 1 John 5:14, 'if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us'.

Verse 16

Confess your faults — Exomologeo, to acknowledge fully; 'faults' is paraptoma, a slip or trespass. 'Effectual fervent' is energeo, to be active, at work, and 'availeth' is ischuo, to have force. 'The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous' (Prov 15:29).

Verse 17

subject to like passions — Homoiopathes, similarly affected; Paul at Lystra says, 'men of like passions with you' (Acts 14:15). 'Elias' is the Greek form of Elijah. The three years and six months are named by Christ (Luke 4:25); the drought he announced is in 1 Kgs 17:1.

Verse 19

err from the truth — Planao, to roam, go astray; 'convert' is epistrepho, to turn back. Believers are charged to restore the straying: 'restore such an one in the spirit of meekness' (Gal 6:1). The sinner's wandering is in the same family of words as 'error' in v.20 (plane).

Verse 20

save a soul from death — Psuche, soul or life; thanatos, death. 'Hide' is kalupto, to cover, as 'charity shall cover the multitude of sins' (1 Pet 4:8) and 'love covereth all sins' (Prov 10:12). 'Error' (plane) is the noun of the verb in v.19, 'do err'.