James · 20 verses
James 5
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
Hoarded treasure rots, clothes become moth-eaten, and gold and silver turn prosecutor, consuming flesh like fire.
Treasure with a case against itvv. 1–6
The rich are summoned to weep over misery still to come, though their riches have already begun an astonishing rebellion: clothes are eaten, gold and silver corrode, and the corrosion itself becomes a witness. Wages withheld from field-workers cry out, harvesters cry out, and both cries reach the Lord of Hosts. Luxury fattens hearts for a day of slaughter, while the righteous are condemned and murdered without resistance—a remarkably grim accountancy, in which even neglected metal has found its voice.
The Judge at the doorvv. 7–12
The scene turns from the rich to the brothers, who are told to wait for the Lord’s coming as a farmer waits for the precious fruit and for the fall and spring rains. Patience is urged twice, complaints are discouraged, and the Judge is already standing at the door—an alarming arrangement for anyone still composing a grievance. The prophets and Job are offered as examples of perseverance, while speech is pared down to its simplest form: yes, yes; no, no.
Rain, prayer, and the wandering sinnervv. 13–20
Suffering calls for prayer, cheerfulness for song, and sickness for the elders of the church, who pray and anoint with oil in the name of the Lord. Confession and mutual prayer enter beside healing, and then Elijah appears—not as a creature from some separate class of being, but as a man just like the rest. His first prayer shuts the sky for three and a half years; his second prayer opens it again, and the earth yields its crops. The chapter ends with a wanderer from the truth and the person who brings him back, saving a soul from death and covering a multitude of sins.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Jas 5:1Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you.
Jas 5:2Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes.
Jas 5:3Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and consume your flesh like fire. You have hoarded treasure in the last days.
Jas 5:4Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
Jas 5:5You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter.
Jas 5:6You have condemned and murdered the righteous, who did not resist you.
Jas 5:7Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the soil—how patient he is for the fall and spring rains.
Jas 5:8You, too, be patient and strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.
Jas 5:9Do not complain about one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged. Look, the Judge is standing at the door!
Jas 5:10Brothers, as an example of patience in affliction, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
Jas 5:11See how blessed we consider those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen the outcome from the Lord. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
Jas 5:12Above all, my brothers, do not swear, not by heaven or earth or by any other oath. Simply let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, so that you will not fall under judgment.
Jas 5:13Is any one of you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises.
Jas 5:14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
Jas 5:15And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
Jas 5:16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.
Jas 5:17Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.
Jas 5:18Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth yielded its crops.
Jas 5:19My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back,
Jas 5:20consider this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 417 passages were voted onto 20 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 16Jeremiah 29:12–13Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
- 16Proverbs 15:29The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.
- 16Matthew 21:22If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
- 16Psalms 34:15The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their cry.
- 16John 9:31We know that God does not listen to sinners, but He does listen to the one who worships Him and does His will.
- 7Hebrews 12:1–3Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us.
- 161 John 3:22and we will receive from Him whatever we ask, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight.
- 8James 5:9Do not complain about one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged. Look, the Judge is standing at the door!
- 8Galatians 5:22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
- 7James 5:8–9You, too, be patient and strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.
- 16Daniel 9:20–22While I was speaking, praying, confessing my sin and that of my people Israel, and presenting my petition before the LORD my God concerning His holy mountain—
- 7Joel 2:23Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God, for He has given you the autumn rains for your vindication. He sends you showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.
- 13Psalms 50:15Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”
- 16Acts 19:18Many who had believed now came forward, confessing and disclosing their deeds.
- 12Matthew 5:33–37Again, you have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’
- 16Luke 11:11–13What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?
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