Dual Panel1Next a word to you who are rich. Weep and wail over the miserable fate overtaking you:
2your riches have rotted away; your fine clothes are moth-eaten;
3your silver and gold have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and consume your flesh like fire. You have piled up wealth in an age that is near its close.
4The wages you never paid to the men who mowed your fields are crying aloud against you, and the outcry of the reapers has reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
5You have lived on the land in wanton luxury, gorging yourselves -- and that on the day appointed for your slaughter.
6You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who offers no resistance.
Patience and prayer
7YOU MUST be patient, my friends, until the Lord comes. Consider: the farmer looking for the precious crop from his land can only wait in patience until the early and late rains have fallen.
8You too must be patient and stout-hearted, for the coming of the Lord is near.
9My friends, do not blame your troubles on one another, or you will fall under judgement; and there at the door stands the Judge.
10As a pattern of patience under ill-treatment, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
11We count those happy who stood firm. You have heard how Job stood firm, and you have seen how the Lord treated him in the end, for the Lord is merciful and compassionate.
12ABOVE all things, my friends, do not use oaths, whether “by heaven” or “by earth” or by anything else. When you say “Yes” or “No”, let it be plain Yes or No, for fear you draw down judgement on yourselves.
13Is anyone among you in trouble? Let him pray. Is anyone in good heart? Let him sing praises.
14Is one of you ill? Let him send for the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord;
15the prayer offered in faith will heal the sick man, the Lord will restore him to health, and if he has committed sins they will be forgiven.
16Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. A good man's prayer is very powerful and effective.
17Elijah was a man just like us; yet when he prayed fervently that there should be no rain, the land had no rain for three and a half years;
18when he prayed again, the rain poured down and the land bore crops once more.
19My friends, if one of you strays from the truth and another succeeds in bringing him back,
20you may be sure of this: the one who brings a sinner back from his erring ways will be rescuing a soul from death and cancelling a multitude of sins.