James
5:1-16
Well
now, you rich! Lament, weep for the miseries that are coming to
you. Your wealth is rotting, your clothes are all moth-eaten.
All your gold and your silver are corroding away, and the same
corrosion will be a witness against you and eat into your body.
It is like a fire which you have stored up for the final days.
Can you hear crying out against you the wages which you kept back
from the laborers mowing your fields? The cries of the reapers
have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts. On earth you have
had a life of comfort and luxury; in the time of slaughter you
went on eating to your heart’s content. It was you who condemned
the upright and killed them; they offered you no resistance.
Now be patient, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. Think
of a farmer: how patiently he waits for the precious fruit of
the ground until it has had the autumn rains and the spring rains!
You too must be patient; do not lose heart, because the Lord’s
coming will be soon. Do not make complaints against one another,
brothers, so as not to be brought to judgment yourselves; the
Judge is already to be seen waiting at the gates. For your example,
brothers, in patiently putting up with persecution, take the prophets
who spoke in the Lord’s name; remember it is those who had
perseverance that we say are the blessed ones. You have heard
of the perseverance of Job and understood the Lord’s purpose,
realizing that the Lord is kind and compassionate.
Above all, my brothers, do not swear by heaven or by the earth
or use any oaths at all. If you mean ‘yes’, you must
say ‘yes’; if you mean ‘no’, say ‘no’.
Otherwise you make yourselves liable to judgment.
Any one of you who is in trouble should pray; anyone in good spirits
should sing a psalm. Any one of you who is ill should send for
the elders of the church, and they must anoint the sick person
with oil in the name of the Lord and pray over him. The prayer
of faith will save the sick person and the Lord will raise him
up again; and if he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven.
So confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another
to be cured; the heartfelt prayer of someone upright works very
powerfully.