13 Is anyone among you in trouble? let him say prayers. Is anyone glad? let him make a song of praise.
Let your voice come up to me in the day of trouble; I will be your saviour, so that you may give glory to me.
Who in the days of his flesh, having sent up prayers and requests with strong crying and weeping to him who was able to give him salvation from death, had his prayer answered because of his fear of God.
And he, having such orders, put them into the inner prison with chains on their feet. But about the middle of the night, Paul and Silas were making prayers and songs to God in the hearing of the prisoners;
I went down to the bases of the mountains; as for the earth, her walls were about me for ever: but you have taken up my life from the underworld, O Lord my God.
After these things there came to my ears a sound like the voice of a great band of people in heaven, saying, Praise to the Lord; salvation and glory and power be to our God: For true and upright are his decisions; for by him has the evil woman been judged, who made the earth unclean with the sins of her body; and he has given her punishment for the blood of his servants. And again they said, Praise to the Lord. And her smoke went up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty rulers and the four beasts went down on their faces and gave worship to God who was seated on the high seat, saying, Even so, praise to the Lord. And a voice came from the high seat, saying, Give praise to our God, all you his servants, small and great, in whom is the fear of him. And there came to my ears the voice of a great army, like the sound of waters, and the sound of loud thunders, saying, Praise to the Lord: for the Lord our God, Ruler of all, is King.
And they made as it seemed a new song before the high seat, and before the four beasts and the rulers: and no man might have knowledge of the song but the hundred and forty-four thousand, even those from the earth whom God has made his for a price.
Saying with a loud voice, Salvation to our God who is seated on the high seat, and to the Lamb.
And their voices are sounding in a new song, saying, It is right for you to take the book and to make it open: for you were put to death and have made an offering to God of your blood for men of every tribe, and language, and people, and nation, And have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are ruling on the earth. And I saw, and there came to my ears the sound of a great number of angels round about the high seat and the beasts and the rulers; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a great voice, It is right to give to the Lamb who was put to death, power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing. And to my ears came the voice of everything in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and of all things which are in them, saying, To him who is seated on the high seat, and to the Lamb, may blessing and honour and glory and power be given for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, So be it. And the rulers went down on their faces and gave worship.
Let the word of Christ be in you in all wealth of wisdom; teaching and helping one another with songs of praise and holy words, making melody to God with grace in your hearts. And whatever you do, in word or in act, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving praise to God the Father through him.
And because the revelations were so very great, in order that I might not be overmuch lifted up, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, one sent from Satan to give me pain. And about this thing I made request to the Lord three times that it might be taken away from me. And he said to me, My grace is enough for you, for my power is made complete in what is feeble. Most gladly, then, will I take pride in my feeble body, so that the power of Christ may be on me. So I take pleasure in being feeble, in unkind words, in needs, in cruel attacks, in troubles, on account of Christ: for when I am feeble, then am I strong.
And he said, Jesus, keep me in mind when you come in your kingdom.
And being in great trouble of soul, the force of his prayer became stronger, and great drops, like blood, came from him, falling to the earth.
For all the peoples will be walking, every one in the name of his god, and we will be walking in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.
And the chiefs of the Philistines came together to make a great offering to Dagon their god, and to be glad; for they said, Our god has given into our hands Samson our hater. And when the people saw him, they gave praise to their god; for they said, Our god has given into our hands the one who was fighting against us, who made our country waste, and who put great numbers of us to death. Now when their hearts were full of joy, they said, Send for Samson to make sport for us. And they sent for Samson out of the prison-house, and he made sport before them; and they put him between the pillars.
Come, let us go back to the Lord; for he has given us wounds and he will make us well; he has given blows and he will give help.
They took their wine and gave praise to the gods of gold and silver, of brass and iron and wood and stone.
<Maschil. Of David. A prayer when he was in the hole of the rock.> The sound of my cry went up to the Lord; with my voice I made my prayer for grace to the Lord. I put all my sorrows before him; and made clear to him all my trouble. When my spirit is overcome, your eyes are on my goings; nets have been secretly placed in the way in which I go.
I made my prayer to the Lord in my trouble: and the Lord gave me an answer, and put me in a wide place.
The nets of death were round me, and the pains of the underworld had me in their grip; I was full of trouble and sorrow. Then I made my prayer to the Lord, saying, O Lord, take my soul out of trouble. The Lord is full of grace and righteousness; truly, he is a God of mercy.
Let your voice be sounding in songs and melody; let all your thoughts be of the wonder of his works.
Let us come before his face with praises; and make melody with holy songs.
In my trouble my voice went up to the Lord, and my cry to my God: my voice came to his hearing in his holy Temple, and my prayer came before him, even into his ears.
He makes his prayer to God, and he has mercy on him; he sees God's face with cries of joy; he gives news of his righteousness to men;
And crying out to the Lord his God in his trouble, he made himself low before the God of his fathers, And made prayer to him; and in answer to his prayer God let him come back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh was certain that the Lord was God.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on James 5
Commentary on James 5 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 5
In this chapter the apostle denounces the judgments of God upon those rich men who oppress the poor, showing them how great their sin and folly are in the sight of God, and how grievous the punishments would be which should fall upon themselves (v. 1-6). Hereupon, all the faithful are exhorted to patience under their trials and sufferings (v. 7-11). The sin of swearing is cautioned against (v. 12). We are directed how to act, both under affliction and in prosperity (v. 13). Prayer for the sick, and anointing with oil, are prescribed (v. 14, 15). Christians are directed to acknowledge their faults one to another, and to pray one for another, and the efficacy of prayer is proved (v. 16-18). And, lastly, it is recommended to us to do what we can for bringing back those that stray from the ways of truth (v. 19-20).
Jam 5:1-11
The apostle is here addressing first sinners and then saints.
Jam 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.