A thoughtful guide for your walk of faith Read with context, practice with grace.
General Letters · WORLD ENGLISH BIBLE

James 5

Wholehearted faith becomes visible through endurance, speech, justice, humility, and action.

New Testament

James 5

1Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.

2Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.

3Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days.

4Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies.

5You have lived in luxury on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

6You have condemned and you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn’t resist you.

7Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain.

8You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

9Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door.

10Take, brothers, for an example of suffering and of perseverance, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

11Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

12But above all things, my brothers, don’t swear—not by heaven, or by the earth, or by any other oath; but let your “yes” be “yes”, and your “no”, “no”, so that you don’t fall into hypocrisy.

13Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises.

14Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;

15and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

16Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.

17Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn’t rain on the earth for three years and six months.

18He prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

19Brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back,

20let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

READ IN CONTEXT

Before applying this chapter

Wholehearted faith becomes visible through endurance, speech, justice, humility, and action. Read James 5 within the complete James overview, and use the contextual Bible reading guide before forming a personal application. Chapter divisions aid navigation, but the literary unit may begin earlier or continue into the next chapter.

Observe first

Mark repeated words, changes of speaker, commands, promises, contrasts, questions, and the relationship between paragraphs.

Apply responsibly

Distinguish description from command and immediate audience from later readers before forming a personal application.

TEXT-DERIVED READING NOTES

What to notice in James 5

James 5 contains 20 verses and about 466 words in this translation. These observations come from the chapter itself; they are prompts for close reading, not claims about its only possible meaning.

The opening movement

Verse 1 begins: “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.” Ask what situation, voice, image, or argument this opening establishes for everything that follows.

The closing movement

Verse 20 closes: “let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” Compare the ending with the opening and note what changed, resolved, intensified, or remained open.

Vocabulary worth tracing

Recurring or prominent content words include will, earth, brothers, behold, rain, coming. Follow where each word appears and whether its meaning shifts with the speaker or setting.

COMMON QUESTIONS

About James 5

Which Bible translation is shown here?+

This page reproduces the World English Bible Protestant edition (WEBP), a modern-English translation dedicated to the public domain.

How should I cite a specific verse?+

Use the book, chapter, and verse—for example, James 5:1—and name the World English Bible if the wording matters. Each verse number above is a direct anchor link.

Does the chapter number define the complete literary unit?+

Not always. Chapter and verse numbers were added for navigation. Check the paragraphs, scenes, poetic stanzas, or argument before and after this chapter.

A SMALL NEXT STEP

You do not have to have everything figured out.

Begin with one honest question, one passage read carefully, and one faithful next step.

Start with prayer