1 Now hear this, you rich {plousios: materially affluent}: weep and howl over your miseries {talaiporia: severe hardships} that are coming upon you.
2 Your wealth {ploutos: material possessions} has spoiled, and your garments have become moth-eaten {setobrota: eaten by moths}.
3 Your gold and your silver have become corroded, and their rust will serve as a witness {martyrion: condemning evidence} against you and will devour your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days {eschatais: final judgment era}.
4 Behold, the wage {misthos: earned compensation} of the laborers who harvested your fields, which you kept back by fraud, is crying out, and the cries of the reapers have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth {Kyrios Sabaoth, Lord of hosts}.
5 You have lived in luxury {tryphao: extravagant ease} on the earth and in self-indulgence; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter {sphage: coming ruin}
6 You have condemned {katedikasate: pronounced guilty} and murdered the righteous one {dikaion: legally innocent}; and he does not resist you.
7 Therefore, be patient, brothers, until the coming of the Lord {Kyrios, Returning Master}. Consider the farmer: he waits for the precious fruit {karpos: desired outcome} of the earth, and he keeps on being patient until the early and late rains come.
8 You also, be patient; establish your hearts, for the coming {parousia: visible arrival} of the Lord {Kyrios, Sovereign Approacher} has drawn near.
9 Do not groan against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge {krites: final verdict giver} is standing before the doors {thuron: entrance barriers}.
10 Take, brothers {adelphoi: fellow believers}, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord {Kyrios, Sovereign Sender} as an example of suffering affliction and of patience.
11 Behold, we call those blessed who have endured {hypomeinantas: steadfast under trial}; you have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the outcome the Lord {Kyrios, Compassionate Rewarder} brought about, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
12 But before all things, my brothers, do not swear—neither by heaven nor by the earth nor by any other oath {horkon: formal vow}; but let your “Yes” be yes and your “No” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation {krisin: adverse judicial verdict}.
13 Is anyone among you suffering {kakopathei: enduring hardship}? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms {psalleto: sing sacred praise}.
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church {ekklesia: gathered assembly}, and let them pray over him, having anointed him with oil in the name of the Lord {Kyrios, Healing Authority}.
15 And the prayer {euche: earnest plea} of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord {Kyrios, Healer and Raiser} will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person {dikaios: just and upright} is very powerful as it is working {energoumenē: actively effective}.
17 Elijah was a man with a nature {homoiopathes: shared human frailty} like ours, and he prayed with prayer {proseuche: focused petition} that it would not rain, and it did not rain upon the land for three years and six months.
18 And again he prayed {proseuchomai: earnest petition}, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit {karpos: visible harvest}.
19 My brothers, if anyone among you should wander {planethe: led astray} from the truth {aletheias: revealed reality} and someone should restore him,
20 Let him know that whoever turns back a sinner from the wandering of his way will save his soul from death {thanatos: separation from life} and will cover a multitude of sins {hamartia: offenses against God}.