Jam 5 | 20C | STEP | Listen to me, you rich men, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming upon you!

‏ James 5

1 Listen to me, you rich men, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming upon you! 2 Your riches have wasted away, and your clothes have become moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver are rusted; and the rust on them shall be evidence against you, and shall eat into your very flesh. It was fire, so to speak, that you stored up for yourselves in these last days. 4 I tell you, the wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you have been fraudulently keeping back, are crying out against you, and the outcries of your reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts! 5 You have lived on earth a life of extravagance and luxury; you have indulged your fancies in a time of bloodshed. 6 You have condemned, you have murdered, the Righteous One! Must not God be opposed to you?

Concluding Exhortations

7 Be patient, then, Brothers, till the Coming of the Lord. Even the farmer has to wait for the precious fruit of the earth, watching over it patiently, till it has had the spring and summer rains. 8 And you must be patient also, and not be discouraged; for the Lord’s Coming is near. 9 Do not make complaints against one another, Brothers, or judgment will be passed upon you. The Judge is already standing at the door! 10 Brothers, as an example of the patient endurance of suffering, take the Prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 We count those who displayed such endurance blessed! You have heard, too, of Job’s endurance, and have seen what the Lord’s purpose was, for ‘the Lord is full of pity and compassion.’

12 Above all things, my Brothers, never take an oath, either by heaven, or by earth, or by anything else. With you let ‘Yes’ suffice for yes, and ‘No’ for no, so that you may escape condemnation.

13 If any of you is in trouble, let him pray; if any one is happy, let him sing hymns. 14 If any one of you is ill, let him send for the Officers of the Church, and let them pray over him, after anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer offered in faith will save the man who is sick, and the Lord will raise him from his bed; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be cured. Great is the power of a good man’s fervent prayer. 17 Elijah was only a man like ourselves, but, when he prayed fervently that it might not rain, no rain fell upon the land for three years and a half. 18 And, when he prayed again, the clouds brought rain, and the land bore crops. 19 My Brothers, should one of you be led astray from the Truth, and someone bring him back again, 20 be sure that he who brings a sinner back from his mistaken ways will save that man’s soul from Death, and throw a veil over countless sins.