Text -- James 5:9-20 (NET)

5:9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be judged. See, the judge stands before the gates! 5:10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name. 5:11 Think of how we regard as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and you have seen the Lord’s purpose, that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. 5:12 And above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath. But let your “Yes” be yes and your “No” be no, so that you may not fall into judgment.

Prayer for the Sick

5:13 Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone in good spirits? He should sing praises. 5:14 Is anyone among you ill? He should summon the elders of the church, and they should pray for him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 5:15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up– and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 5:16 So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness. 5:17 Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and there was no rain on the land for three years and six months! 5:18 Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land sprouted with a harvest. 5:19 My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, 5:20 he should know that the one who turns a sinner back from his wandering path will save that person’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Jam 5:9

¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

² sn The term gates is used metaphorically here. The physical referent would be the entrances to the city, but the author uses the term to emphasize the imminence of the judge’s approach.

NET Notes: Jam 5:10

¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

NET Notes: Jam 5:11

¹ tn Grk “Behold! We regard…”

² sn An allusion to Exod 34:6; Neh 9:17; Ps 86:15; 102:13; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2.

NET Notes: Jam 5:12

¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

NET Notes: Jam 5:14

¹ tn Grk “anointing.”

NET Notes: Jam 5:15

¹ tn Grk “it will be forgiven him.”

NET Notes: Jam 5:16

¹ tn Or “the fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful”; Grk “is very powerful in its working.”

NET Notes: Jam 5:17

¹ tn Although it is certainly true that Elijah was a “man,” here ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") has been translated as “human being” because the emphasis in context is not on Elijah’s masculine gender, but on the common humanity he shared with the author and the readers.

² tn Grk “he prayed with prayer” (using a Hebrew idiom to show intensity).

NET Notes: Jam 5:18

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events.

NET Notes: Jam 5:19

¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

NET Notes: Jam 5:20

¹ tn Grk “from the error of his way” (using the same root as the verb “to wander, to err” in the first part of the verse).

² tn Grk “his soul”; the referent (the sinner mentioned at the beginning of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.