5:1 Now, you rich people, weep and cry aloud. There are terrible troubles that will soon be coming to you. 5:2 Your riches have lost their value. Your beautiful clothes are as if moths had eaten them. 5:3 Your gold and your silver have become dirty and stained. The dirt and stains will be evidence against you in the judgement. They are like poison that will eat up your bodies as with fire. That is because you have heaped up a lot of riches in these last days. 5:4 Listen! You have not paid the wages of those who worked in your fields. The money you kept from them cries out to God against you. The Lord of all power has heard the cries of the workers. 5:5 You have lived on earth in luxury. And you have had all that you wanted. You lived to please yourselves. You have made yourself fat, like animals ready for men to kill. 5:6 You have accused. And you have caused the death of those who were innocent.
5:7 Be patient then, my brothers and sisters, until the Lord comes. See how patient farmers are as they wait for the precious crops to grow on their land. They go on waiting for the rain to come in the autumn and in the spring. 5:8 You too be patient and be strong in your hope because the Lord is coming soon. 5:9 Do not complain against one another, my brothers and sisters. If you do this, God will be your judge and he is already standing at the door! 5:10 The prophets who brought messages from God showed us how to be patient, my brothers and sisters. They were patient even when they had to go through times of much suffering. 5:11 We know that God has blessed people like that. They kept doing what God wanted even when they were in trouble. For example, you have heard of Job and how he kept looking to God for help. You have heard how, in the end, the Lord blessed him. The Lord is kind, very loving and does very many good things to us.
5:12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not use an oath when you make a promise. Do not call on heaven, or earth, or anything else, as witnesses to what you say. Say only, ‘Yes’ when you mean yes. And say only ‘No’ when you mean no. Then you will not come under God’s judgement.
5:13 If anyone among you is in trouble, that person should pray to God. If anyone among you is cheerful, that one should sing praises to God. 5:14 If one of you is sick, let him ask for the church elders to come. They will put oil on the sick person, and pray in the name of the Lord. 5:15 The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. The Lord will heal that person. And he will forgive any sins that he or she has done. 5:16 So then, confess your sins to one another. Pray for one another, that the Lord will heal you. God does powerful things when a good person asks him. 5:17 Elijah was a person who, by nature, was just like us. He really prayed to God that it would not rain. So, it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 5:18 Then he prayed again and he asked God to send the rain. Rain poured from the sky, and the seeds in the earth began to grow again.
5:19 My Christian brothers and sisters, if any among you wanders from the truth, you should try to bring him or her back to God. 5:20 You know that whoever turns a person back to the truth, will save his or her soul from death. Then God will forgive that person the many sins that he or she has done.
