The Letters · New Testament

James 5

James 5: a charge against the rich, waiting for the harvest, and prayer

General context

The rich are addressed directly and told to weep and howl for miseries coming on them. Their riches are corrupted, their garments motheaten, their gold and silver cankered, and the rust is called a witness against them that will eat their flesh like fire. The charge is named: the wages of the labourers who reaped their fields were kept back by fraud, and the cries of the reapers have entered the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. They have lived in pleasure, been wanton, nourished their hearts as in a day of slaughter, and condemned and killed the just, who does not resist them. The address then turns to the brethren, told to be patient until the coming of the Lord, as a husbandman waits for the fruit of the earth through the early and latter rain, and to establish their hearts because that coming draws near. They are not to grudge against one another, since the judge stands before the door. The prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord are given as an example of suffering and patience, and the patience of Job is named along with what the Lord did at the end. Swearing is forbidden, by heaven, by earth or by any other oath, and plain speech required instead. Then prayer: the afflicted should pray, the merry sing psalms, and the sick call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil, and the prayer of faith will save him and his sins be forgiven. They are to confess faults to one another and pray for one another. Elias is named as a man of like passions whose prayers stopped and started the rain. The letter ends with converting one who errs from the truth.

Cited passages: James 5:1, James 5:2, James 5:3, James 5:4, James 5:5, James 5:6, James 5:7, James 5:8, James 5:9, James 5:10, James 5:11, James 5:12, James 5:13, James 5:14, James 5:15, James 5:16, James 5:17, James 5:20

James 5 (KJV)

¹Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

²Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

³Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

⁴Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

⁵Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

⁶Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

⁷Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

⁸Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

⁹Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.

¹⁰Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

¹¹Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

¹²But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

¹³Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.

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

¹⁵And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

¹⁶Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

¹⁷Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

¹⁸And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

¹⁹Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;

²⁰Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

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Historical context

The charge against the rich is specific about one thing and silent about everything else. It names withheld wages, "the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud", and says the labourers' cries have been heard, but it gives no employer's name, no field, no place and no date. The statement "Ye have condemned and killed the just" is made without naming anyone or describing a trial. The letter says its readers have an established practice, since the sick are to call "for the elders of the church" and be anointed with oil in the name of the Lord. Three named figures appear, all from older scripture: the prophets as an example, Job, whose patience the readers are said to have heard of, and Elias, called "a man subject to like passions as we are", with the drought given as "three years and six months". The letter quotes no scripture directly in this chapter and ends without any greeting, signature or travel plan.

Cited passages: James 5:4, James 5:6, James 5:14, James 5:10, James 5:11, James 5:17, James 5:20

Literary context

The chapter puts two waits side by side. The rich are told to weep for what is coming, and their wealth is described as already ruined, moth in the cloth and rust on the metal, so the judgment is presented as under way before it arrives. The brethren are then told to wait for something good, and the image changes from decay to farming, a husbandman holding on through the early and latter rain. Two sounds carry the first half: wages that cry out and reapers whose cries reach God's ears. The second half is a run of conditions with short answers, "Is any among you afflicted? let him pray", which returns the letter to the plain instruction it started with. Elias closes the argument by being made ordinary, "a man subject to like passions as we are", so the example cannot be dismissed as exceptional. The letter stops without a farewell, on someone turning another person back.

Cited passages: James 5:1, James 5:2, James 5:3, James 5:4, James 5:7, James 5:13, James 5:16, James 5:17, James 5:19

Key moments

Weep and howl (James 5:1). The rich are addressed directly and told what is coming.
Wages kept back (James 5:4). Withheld pay is said to cry out and to be heard.
The husbandman waits (James 5:7). Patience is pictured as a farmer waiting through the rains.
The judge at the door (James 5:9). Grumbling is checked with a picture of imminent judgment.
Let your yea be yea (James 5:12). Oaths are forbidden in favour of plain speech.
Call for the elders (James 5:14). The sick are told to send for prayer and anointing.
Elias, a man like us (James 5:17). A prophet's answered prayer is offered as an ordinary case.

For reflection

The same letter that tells the defrauded to be patient tells the defrauders that their money is already crying out against them. What does patience mean when the wrong is named this plainly?