James 5:13 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - James 5:12-20

This epistle now drawing to a close, the penman goes off very quickly from one thing to another: hence it is that matters so very different are insisted on in these few verses. I. The sin of swearing is cautioned against: But above all things, my brethren, swear not, etc., Jas. 5:12. Some understand this too restrictedly, as if the meaning were, ?Swear not at your persecutors, at those that reproach you and say all manner of evil of you; be not put into a passion by the injuries they do you,... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 5:13-15

5:13-15 Is any among you in trouble? Let him pray. Is any in good spirits? Let him sing a hymn. Is any among you sick? Let him call in the elders of the Church; and let them anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord, and pray over him; and the believing prayer will restore to health the ailing person, and the Lord will enable him to rise from his bed; and even if he has committed sin, he will receive forgiveness. Here we have set out before us certain dominant characteristics of the... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 5:13-15

Another great characteristic of the early church was that it was a healing Church. Here it inherited its tradition from Judaism. When a Jew was ill, it was to the Rabbi he went rather than to the doctor; and the Rabbi anointed him with oil--which Galen the Greek doctor called "the best of all medicines"--and prayed over him. Few communities can have been so devotedly attentive to their sick as the early church was. Justin Martyr writes that numberless demoniacs were healed by the Christians... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 5:13

Is any among you afflicted ?.... As the people of God generally are; they are commonly a poor, and an afflicted people; at least there are many among them that are so, and many are their afflictions: those whom Christ loves, as he did Lazarus, are not free from sicknesses and diseases; and these are rather signs of love than arguments against it; and when this is the case of any of the saints, what is to be done? let him pray ; to God that can save him; in the name of Christ; under the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - James 5:13

Is any among you afflicted? let him pray - The Jews taught that the meaning of the ordinance, Leviticus 13:45 , which required the leper to cry, Unclean! unclean! was, "that thus making known his calamity, the people might be led to offer up prayers to God in his behalf," Sota, page 685, ed. Wagens. They taught also, that when any sickness or affliction entered a family, they should go to the wise men, and implore their prayers. Bava bathra, fol. 116, 1. In Nedarim, fol. 40, 1, we have... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - James 5:13

Verse 13 13Is any among you afflicted? he means that there is no time in which God does not invite us to himself. For afflictions ought to stimulate us to pray; prosperity supplies us with an occasion to praise God. But such is the perverseness of men, that they cannot rejoice without forgetting God, and that when afflicted they are disheartened and driven to despair. We ought, then, to keep within due bounds, so that the joy, which usually makes us to forget God, may induce us to set forth the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - James 5:7-20

CONCLUDING EXHORTATIONS read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - James 5:13

(1) Is any among you suffering? let him pray. Prayer in the narrower sense of petition is rather for sufferers, who need to have their wants supplied and their sorrows removed. Praise, the highest form of prayer, is to spring up from the grateful heart of the cheerful. ψάλλειν (cf. Romans 15:9 ; 1 Corinthians 14:15 ; Ephesians 5:19 ). read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - James 5:13

The power of Divine worship. On this verse there is a striking sermon by J. H. Newman (vol. 3. No. 23), 'Religious Worship a Remedy for Excitement.' "There is that in religious worship which supplies all our spiritual needs, which suits every mood of mind and every variety of circumstances, over and above the supernatural assistance which we are allowed to expect from it." Divine worship may thus be viewed as the proper antidote to excitement. In suffering, prayer; in joy, praise. These... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - James 5:13-15

Prayer and praise as a medicine. The previous exhortation was a dissuasive against profane swearing. In these verses the apostle suggests that the right use of the Divine Name is reverently to call upon it in all time of our tribulation, and in all time of our wealth. The most healthful relief for a heart surcharged with deep emotion is to engage in religious worship. James refers here to three different cases. I. THE CASE OF THE AFFLICTED . (Verse 13) The believer must not... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - James 5:12-20

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 5:13-15

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 5:13-15

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 5:13

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - James 5:13

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - James 5:13

The Pulpit Commentary - James 5:7-20

The Pulpit Commentary - James 5:13

The Pulpit Commentary - James 5:13

The Pulpit Commentary - James 5:13-15

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