1Come now, you rich men. Weep and wail because of the miseries that are coming on you.
2Your riches have rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.
3Your gold and silver are eaten with rust. That rust will be a witness against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure for the last days.
4Look, the pay of the workers who reaped your fields cries out, for you cheated them and kept it back. And the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
5You have lived on the earth in pleasure and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
6You have condemned and killed the just man, and he does not resist you.
7So be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. Look, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth. He waits patiently for it, until he receives the early and the latter rain.
8You also be patient. Make your hearts firm, for the coming of the Lord is near.
9Do not complain against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be condemned. Look, the judge is standing at the door.
10My brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering trouble and of patience.
11Look, we call them happy who endure. You have heard of the patience of Job, and you have seen the end of the Lord: that the Lord is full of pity and tender mercy.
12But above all things, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, not by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath. Let your yes be yes, and your no, no, so that you do not fall under condemnation.
13Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone glad? Let him sing psalms.
14Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church. Let them pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15And the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.
16Confess your faults to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.
17Elijah was a man with feelings like ours. He prayed hard that it would not rain, and no rain fell on the earth for three years and six months.
18Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
19Brothers and sisters, if any one of you wanders away from the truth, and someone turns him back,
20let him know this: whoever turns a sinner back from the error of his way will save a soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins.