James 5
What Happens in This Chapter
James warns rich people whose money is rotting and who cheated their workers out of pay, saying trouble is coming to them. He tells believers to be patient until the Lord comes, like a farmer waiting for rain, and points to the prophets and to Job as examples of waiting through hard times. He tells them not to swear oaths, to pray when they suffer and sing when they are glad, to call the elders and pray when they are sick, and to confess wrongs and pray for one another, with Elijah as an example of prayer. The chapter ends by talking about bringing back someone who has wandered away from the truth.
Plain reading written for kids. Short sentences, everyday words, one idea at a time.
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
1Now listen, you rich people. Cry out loud. Hard times are coming to you.
2Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
2Your riches have rotted away. Moths have eaten holes in your fine clothes.
3Your 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.
3Your gold and silver have gone rusty. That rust will speak against you. It will eat your body like fire. You piled up treasure in these last days.
4Behold, 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.
4Look! You kept back the pay of the workers who cut your fields. That unpaid money cries out against you. The cries of those workers have reached the ears of the Lord of armies.
"The Lord of sabaoth" is an old way of saying "the Lord of armies." It is a name for God that shows how strong he is.
5Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
5You have lived on earth with every comfort. You pleased only yourselves. You made your hearts fat, as on a day when animals are killed.
6Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
6You said good people were guilty, and you killed them. They did not fight back.
7Be 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.
7So be patient, brothers and sisters, until the Lord comes. Think of a farmer. He waits for the good fruit of the ground. He waits a long time for the fall rain and the spring rain.
8Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
8You be patient too. Keep your hearts strong. The Lord is coming soon.
9Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.
9Do not grumble about each other, brothers and sisters. Then you will not be judged. Look, the Judge is standing right at the door.
10Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
10Brothers and sisters, think about the prophets, the people who spoke God's words to others. They went through hard times and kept waiting. Let them be your example.
11Behold, 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.
11We say that people who keep going through hard times are happy. You have heard how Job kept going. You have seen what the Lord did for him at the end. The Lord is full of pity and kindness.
In 1611, "very pitiful" meant "full of pity," that is, caring and kind. It did not mean sad or weak, the way we use the word today.
12But 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.
12Most of all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear oaths. Do not name heaven or the earth to prove you mean it. Do not use any other oath. Just say yes when you mean yes. Say no when you mean no. Then you will not be found guilty.
13Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
13Is anyone among you having a hard time? He should pray. Is anyone glad? He should sing songs of praise.
14Is 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:
14Is anyone among you sick? He should ask for the elders of the church, the leaders there. Let them pray over him. Let them rub oil on him in the name of the Lord.
15And 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.
15The prayer that trusts God will make the sick person well. The Lord will lift him up again. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
16Confess 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.
16So tell each other the wrong things you have done. Pray for each other, so you may be healed. The prayer of a person who does right is strong and gets much done.
17Elias 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.
17Elijah was a man with the same feelings we have. He prayed hard that it would not rain. And no rain fell on the land for three and a half years.
"Elias" is another spelling of the name Elijah. He was a prophet long ago, in the part of the Bible called the Old Testament.
18And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
18Then he prayed again. The sky gave rain, and the ground grew food again.
19Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;
19Brothers and sisters, one of you may wander away from the truth. Someone else may bring him back.
20Let 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.
20Remember this. Whoever brings a sinner back from his wrong path saves that person from death. And many sins are covered over.
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