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James 5

James places oppression under God’s judgment and calls believers to patient endurance, truthful speech, and prayerful care for one another.

James confronts rich people who have withheld workers’ wages and lived in luxury while condemning the righteous. He then addresses fellow believers, urging patience until the Lord’s coming and warning against grumbling and oaths. A farmer, the prophets, and Job serve as examples of waiting and endurance. The closing instructions concern prayer in suffering, praise in gladness, care for the sick, confession, and bringing back someone who has wandered from the truth.

illness or diagnosiswaitinginjustice and anger
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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.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
James 5:7The farmer’s wait connects the warning against oppressors with the call to endure until the Lord comes.
James 5:16Mutual confession and prayer place the pursuit of healing within the shared life of believers.
James 5:15The promise joins prayer for the sick with the Lord’s action to raise them up and forgive sins.
Where this chapter reaches

Matthew shares James’s warnings about perishable treasure and his teaching against oaths, while Luke shares the warning of judgment upon the rich. Psalm shares the assurance that God hears the afflicted, and Galatians shares the concern for restoring someone caught in wrongdoing.

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What does the farmer’s wait help you understand about patience until the Lord’s coming?

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How does James’s call to mutual confession and prayer compare with your experience of church life?

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Questions people ask about James 5

Does James 5 condemn everyone who is rich?

James addresses rich people whose wealth bears witness against them: they have hoarded treasure, withheld wages by fraud, lived in luxury, and condemned the righteous. His warning targets these acts of oppression and self-indulgence. The passage does not say that possessing money alone makes every rich person guilty of those acts.

Does James 5 promise healing for every sick person?

James says that the prayer of faith will heal the sick and that the Lord will raise them up. The elders pray in the Lord’s name, so healing rests with him. The passage does not explain why some remain sick or authorize blaming them for weak faith or abandoning medical care.

What does James 5 mean by confessing sins to one another?

James directs believers to acknowledge their sins to one another and pray for one another, linking both practices with healing. The instruction follows the elders’ prayer for a sick person, yet its wording is mutual. It does not specify a public gathering or require every sin to be disclosed to everyone.

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What the Bible says about patience →What the Bible says about anger →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).