James commands the rich to weep and wail because their corrupted wealth and hoarded treasure will testify against them in the last days.
James 5:1–6
1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.
2 Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.
3 Your 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.
The unpaid wages of laborers cry out, and the cries of harvest workers reach the ears of the Lord Almighty.
4 Behold, 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.
The rich have lived in luxury and self-indulgence, fattening themselves for slaughter while condemning and murdering the innocent.
5 You have lived in luxury on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.
6 You have condemned and you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn’t resist you.
Believers must be patient and strengthen their hearts like farmers waiting for the rains because the Lord’s coming is near.
James 5:7–11
7 Be 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.
8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
James forbids grumbling against fellow believers because the Judge stands at the door.
9 Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door.
The prophets and Job become examples of endurance, and the Lord’s final dealings reveal His compassion and mercy.
10 Take, brothers, for an example of suffering and of perseverance, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
11 Behold, 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.
Believers must not swear oaths manipulatively but speak with simple integrity.
James 5:12
12 But 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.
Trouble should move believers to prayer, and cheerfulness should move them to praise.
James 5:13–18
13 Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises.
The sick are to call the elders, who pray over them and anoint them in the name of the Lord, entrusting healing and forgiveness to Him.
14 Is 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,
15 and 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.
Mutual confession and prayer belong to the healing life of the church, and the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.
16 Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.
Elijah’s prayer demonstrates that God hears the earnest prayers of His servants, even though they are ordinary human beings.
17 Elijah 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.
18 He prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
The community must pursue those who wander from the truth, because restoration rescues from death and covers many sins.
19 Brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back,
20 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.