InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEUT JOB YEHO (JOS) HERO (JDG) RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG YOEL (JOEL) MIC ISA ZEP HAB YIR (JER) LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBAD DAN EZEK EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL 2 PS WIS TOB MAN BAR G DAN G ESD L ESD ESG JDT 3 MAC SIR 1 MAC 2 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL LAOD PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
InterlinearVerse Yacob/(James) C1 C2 C3 C4
Yac 5 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V18 V19 V20
People tagged in the matching LV passage: Elijah (KI1 17:1)
Used in these topics: Prayer and fasting
OET-LV Aʸlias/(ʼĒliyyāh) a_man was like_natured to_us, and with_prayer he_prayed which not for_it to_rain, and not it_rained on the earth, three years and six months.
OET (OET-RV) Eliyah (Elijah) was a person just similar to us, and when he prayed for the rain to stop, it stopped, and it didn’t rain again for three and a half years.
In this section, James talked about how believers should interact with God in all kinds of situations. When things are going well, they should praise him. When they need help, they should ask him for it.
Some other possible headings for this section are:
The Power of Prayer (NLT)
Prayer for the Sick (NET)
Think of God in all Situations
Pray to God in every Circumstance
James supported his advice to pray by giving the example of Elijah. Elijah received miracles in answer to his prayers.
that it would not rain,
that it should not rain,
that God would stop rain from falling on the land of Israel.
As an example of powerful prayer, James used the story of the prophet Elijah. (See 1 Kings chapters 17–18.) This story was well known to James’ readers. Elijah saw how the people of his country had turned to evil, and so he prayed that God would punish them by sending no rain on their land.
Elijah was a man just like us.
¶ Consider(plur) Elijah. He was a human being, just as we(incl) are.
¶ For example, the prophet Elijah was a human just like the rest of us.(incl)
Elijah: Elijah was a prophet who lived 900 years before James. In some languages, it may be more natural to make some of this information explicit. For example:
Elijah the prophet
Elijah the prophet of long ago
was a man: The Greek word that the BSB translates as man here means “human being.” For example:
was a human being (NCV)
was a mere human
just like us: The Greek word that the BSB translates as just like us means “has the same kind of desires and feelings as we do.” The Jews thought of Elijah as an extraordinary person, so James reminded them that he was a normal human being.
Some other ways to translate this word are:
as we are (CEV)
with a nature like ours (ESV)
the same kind of person as we are (GNT)
This word also occurs in Acts 14:15.
He prayed earnestly
He prayed sincerely/fervently
He prayed to God very hard
He prayed earnestly: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as He prayed earnestly is literally “He prayed with prayer.” This double use of the word “pray” intensifies what James was saying. He meant that when Elijah prayed, he was sincere, serious, and eager to receive an answer. Use what is natural in your language to indicate this intensity of prayer. Use an idiom if that is appropriate. For example, some English idioms for this are:
He prayed hard
He prayed with his whole heart
and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.
and no rain fell on the land for three and a half years.
So then there was no rain in the country of Israel for three and a half years.
it did not rain on the land: The phrase on the land refers to the land of Israel. The drought that God sent did not affect the whole world, but only the land of Israel.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
Ἠλείας
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ἠλίας ἄνθρωπος ἦν ὁμοιοπαθής ἡμῖν καί προσευχῇ προσηύξατο τοῦ μή βρέξαι καί οὐκ ἔβρεξεν ἐπί τῆς γῆς ἐνιαυτούς τρεῖς καί μῆνας ἕξ)
James assumes that his readers will know from the Scriptures about this episode in Elijah’s life. If your readers might not be familiar with it, you could describe it in more detail. Alternate translation: [You know from the Scriptures how a prophet named Elijah who lived long ago]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ὁμοιοπαθὴς ἡμῖν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ἠλίας ἄνθρωπος ἦν ὁμοιοπαθής ἡμῖν καί προσευχῇ προσηύξατο τοῦ μή βρέξαι καί οὐκ ἔβρεξεν ἐπί τῆς γῆς ἐνιαυτούς τρεῖς καί μῆνας ἕξ)
This expression means that Elijah had the same feelings as any other human being. In context, James is indicating specifically that he too had the kind of feelings that make it difficult for people to pray. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could state that explicitly. Alternate translation: [who had the same doubts and fears that we all do]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicitinfo
προσευχῇ προσηύξατο
˱with˲_prayer ˱he˲_prayed
To indicate that Elijah prayed intensely, James is using an indirect object with a verb that comes from the same root. If your language uses a similar construction, it would be appropriate to have it here in your translation. But if this construction would seem to express unnecessary extra information in your language, you could express this emphasis in another way. Alternate translation: [he prayed intensely]
OET-LV Aʸlias/(ʼĒliyyāh) a_man was like_natured to_us, and with_prayer he_prayed which not for_it to_rain, and not it_rained on the earth, three years and six months.
OET (OET-RV) Eliyah (Elijah) was a person just similar to us, and when he prayed for the rain to stop, it stopped, and it didn’t rain again for three and a half years.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
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