James 5

New Life Version

5 Listen, you rich men! Cry about the troubles that will come to you. ² Your riches are worth nothing. Your fine clothes are full of moth holes. ³ Your gold and silver have rusted. Their rust will speak against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have saved riches for yourselves for the last days. ⁴ See! The men working in your fields are crying against you because you have kept back part of their pay. Their cries have been heard by the Lord Who hears His people. ⁵ You have had everything while you lived on the earth and have enjoyed its fun. You have made your hearts fat and are ready to be killed as an animal is killed. ⁶ You have killed men who are right with God who were not making it hard for you.

The Lord Will Come Again

⁷ Christian brothers, be willing to wait for the Lord to come again. Learn from the farmer. He waits for the good fruit from the earth until the early and late rains come. ⁸ You must be willing to wait also. Be strong in your hearts because the Lord is coming again soon. ⁹ Do not complain about each other, Christian brothers. Then you will not be judged. See! The Judge is standing at the door. ¹⁰ See how the early preachers spoke for the Lord by their suffering and by being willing to wait. ¹¹ We think of those who stayed true to Him as happy even though they suffered. You have heard how long Job waited. You have seen what the Lord did for him in the end. The Lord is full of loving-kindness and pity.

¹² My Christian brothers, do not swear. Do not use heaven or earth or anything else to swear by. If you mean yes, say yes. If you mean no, say no. You will be guilty for saying anything more.

The Power of Prayer in Healing

¹³ Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone happy? He should sing songs of thanks to God. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? He should send for the church leaders and they should pray for him. They should pour oil on him in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ The prayer given in faith will heal the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Tell your sins to each other. And pray for each other so you may be healed. The prayer from the heart of a man right with God has much power. ¹⁷ Elijah was a man as we are. He prayed that it might not rain. It did not rain on the earth for three and one-half years. ¹⁸ Then he prayed again that it would rain. It rained much and the fields of the earth gave fruit.

Bring Back Those Who Are Lost in Sin

¹⁹ My Christian brothers, if any of you should be led away from the truth, let someone turn him back again. ²⁰ That person should know that if he turns a sinner from the wrong way, he will save the sinner’s soul from death and many sins will be forgiven.