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The Letter of James 5

5 Now I have something to say to you rich people who say you believe in Jesus. Listen to me! You should weep and wail loudly because you are going to experience terrible troubles! 2 Your wealth is worthless, as though it were rotten. Your fine clothes are worthless, as though moths had ruined them. 3 Your gold and silver are worthless, as though they were corroded. When God judges you, this worthless wealth of yours will be evidence that you are guilty of being greedy. Just as rust and fire destroy things, God will severely punish you. You should not have been trying to get richer and richer knowing that Jesus was going to return. When he returns, your riches will be worthless. 4 Think about what you have done. You did not pay the wages you promised to the workers who harvested your fields. These unpaid wages show how unfair you were to these workers. They are crying out to God because of the way you have treated them. The Lord is a God of great power, and he is listening to their loud cries and he will punish you for what you have done. 5 You have bought all the luxuries you wanted for yourselves. Just as cattle fatten themselves, not realizing that they will be slaughtered, you have lived just to enjoy things, not realizing that God will severely punish you. 6 You have arranged for others to condemn honest people. You have arranged for others to kill people who had not done anything wrong. They were not able to defend themselves against you. But God will judge and punish you for doing all these things.

7 So, my fellow believers, even though rich people cause you to suffer, be patient until Jesus the Messiah comes back. Remember that when farmers plant a field, they have to wait for their valuable crops to grow. They have to wait patiently for the rain that comes at the planting season and for more rain that comes just before the harvest season. This rain is necessary for the crops to grow and mature so that the farmers can harvest them. 8 Similarly, you also should wait patiently and trust Jesus the Messiah firmly, because he is coming back soon and he will judge all people fairly. 9 My fellow believers, do not grumble about each other. That way the Lord Jesus will not have to punish you. He is the one who will judge us, and he will come back soon to do that. 10 My fellow believers, as an example of how to be patient, consider the prophets whom the Lord God sent long ago to speak his messages. Although people caused them to suffer much, they endured it patiently. 11 Consider how, when people are able to endure suffering patiently and faithfully, we say that God has blessed them. One example of this is the man named Job. You know about him from the Scriptures. You know that he suffered many things patiently. You also know that God planned to do good things through what Job suffered. And from that you can tell that God is very caring and kind.

12 Now this, my fellow believers, is something very important for you to realize. You must never take an oath by calling on heaven or the earth or anything else to guarantee a promise that you make. All you need to say is “Yes” or “No.” God will judge you if you go beyond that and make an oath but then do not keep your promise.

13 Any one of you who is experiencing trouble should pray that God would help him. Whoever is happy should sing songs of praise to God. 14 Any one of you who is sick should call the leaders of the congregation to come and pray for him to recover. They should put olive oil on him to help him recover and, with the Lord’s authority, pray. 15 When these leaders pray to God in faith, God will answer that prayer and heal the person who is sick. The Lord will restore his health. If that person has sinned, God will forgive him for those sins. 16 Because the Lord is able to heal the sick and to forgive sins, admit to each other the sinful things you have done and pray for each other. Then God will heal you. If people who are right with God pray, God will answer their prayers in powerful ways. 17 The prophet Elijah was an ordinary person like us. But when he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, the land of Israel had no rain for three and a half years. 18 Then Elijah prayed again, asking God to send rain, and God made it rain and plants grew and produced crops again.

19 My fellow believers, if one of you stops obeying the true message from God, then another one of you should persuade that person to do once again what God has told us to do. 20 I want anyone who helps a sinner to repent to know that because of what he has done, God will save the sinner from spiritual death and will forgive his many sins.

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