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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>James 5:17 Commentaries: Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/newcom.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../vmenus/james/5-17.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmcom/james/5-17.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="http://biblehub.com/commentaries/">Commentaries</a> > James 5:17</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../james/5-16.htm" title="James 5:16">◄</a> James 5:17 <a href="../james/5-18.htm" title="James 5:18">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="topverse">Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.</div><div id="jump">Jump to: <a href="/commentaries/alford/james/5.htm" title="Henry Alford - Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary">Alford</a> • <a href="/commentaries/barnes/james/5.htm" title="Barnes' Notes">Barnes</a> • <a href="/commentaries/bengel/james/5.htm" title="Bengel's Gnomen">Bengel</a> • <a href="/commentaries/benson/james/5.htm" title="Benson Commentary">Benson</a> • <a href="/commentaries/illustrator/james/5.htm" title="Biblical Illustrator">BI</a> • <a href="/commentaries/calvin/james/5.htm" title="Calvin's Commentaries">Calvin</a> • <a href="/commentaries/cambridge/james/5.htm" title="Cambridge Bible">Cambridge</a> • <a href="/commentaries/clarke/james/5.htm" title="Clarke's Commentary">Clarke</a> • <a href="/commentaries/darby/james/5.htm" title="Darby's Bible Synopsis">Darby</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ellicott/james/5.htm" title="Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers">Ellicott</a> • <a href="/commentaries/expositors/james/5.htm" title="Expositor's Bible">Expositor's</a> • <a href="/commentaries/edt/james/5.htm" title="Expositor's Dictionary">Exp Dct</a> • <a href="/commentaries/egt/james/5.htm" title="Expositor's Greek">Exp Grk</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gaebelein/james/5.htm" title="Gaebelein's Annotated Bible">Gaebelein</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gsb/james/5.htm" title="Geneva Study Bible">GSB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gill/james/5.htm" title="Gill's Bible Exposition">Gill</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gray/james/5.htm" title="Gray's Concise">Gray</a> • <a href="/commentaries/guzik/james/5.htm" title="Guzik Bible Commentary">Guzik</a> • <a href="/commentaries/haydock/james/5.htm" title="Haydock Catholic Bible Commentary">Haydock</a> • <a href="/commentaries/hastings/james/5-16.htm" title="Hastings Great Texts">Hastings</a> • <a href="/commentaries/homiletics/james/5.htm" title="Pulpit Homiletics">Homiletics</a> • <a href="/commentaries/icc/james/5.htm" title="ICC NT Commentary">ICC</a> • <a href="/commentaries/jfb/james/5.htm" title="Jamieson-Fausset-Brown">JFB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/kelly/james/5.htm" title="Kelly Commentary">Kelly</a> • <a href="/commentaries/king-en/james/5.htm" title="Kingcomments Bible Studies">King</a> • <a href="/commentaries/lange/james/5.htm" title="Lange Commentary">Lange</a> • <a href="/commentaries/maclaren/james/5.htm" title="MacLaren Expositions">MacLaren</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhc/james/5.htm" title="Matthew Henry Concise">MHC</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhcw/james/5.htm" title="Matthew Henry Full">MHCW</a> • <a href="/commentaries/meyer/james/5.htm" title="Meyer Commentary">Meyer</a> • <a href="/commentaries/parker/james/5.htm" title="The People's Bible by Joseph Parker">Parker</a> • <a href="/commentaries/pnt/james/5.htm" title="People's New Testament">PNT</a> • <a href="/commentaries/poole/james/5.htm" title="Matthew Poole">Poole</a> • <a href="/commentaries/pulpit/james/5.htm" title="Pulpit Commentary">Pulpit</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sermon/james/5.htm" title="Sermon Bible">Sermon</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sco/james/5.htm" title="Scofield Reference Notes">SCO</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ttb/james/5.htm" title="Through The Bible">TTB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/vws/james/5.htm" title="Vincent's Word Studies">VWS</a> • <a href="/commentaries/wes/james/5.htm" title="Wesley's Notes">WES</a> • <a href="#tsk" title="Treasury of Scripture Knowledge">TSK</a></div><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="comtype">EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/ellicott/james/5.htm">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</a></div>(17) <span class= "bld">Elias.</span>—James supplies a lacuna in the story of Elijah. In <a href="/1_kings/17-1.htm" title="And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.">1Kings 17:1</a>, the prophet simply and sternly tells Ahab “there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” Further on (<a href="/context/1_kings/18-41.htm" title="And Elijah said to Ahab, Get you up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.">1Kings 18:41-46</a>) “there is a sound of abundance of rain.” In our Epistle we read that Elias “prayed earnestly”—literally, <span class= "ital">prayed in his prayer, </span>a Hebraistic form of emphasis (see margin). He asked for drought, and it lasted three years and a half, so that “there was a sore famine in Samaria.” He prayed once more, and “the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain,” and thus again “the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man.” Yet Elijah was no demi-god; we even learn how he shrank from his prophet’s yoke, and longed to die. No one therefore may despair in his petitions but rather let his “requests be made known unto God;” for “men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (<a href="/luke/18-1.htm" title="And he spoke a parable to them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;">Luke 18:1</a>).<p><span class= "bld">It rained not on the earth.</span>—This Orientalism need not be a snare to the most literal of readers. The punishment, because of Ahab and Jezebel, fell on their own kingdom, and not the whole world. In a similar hyperbole Obadiah told Elijah, concerning this very famine, “there is no nation, or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee” (<a href="/1_kings/18-10.htm" title="As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom, where my lord has not sent to seek you: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found you not.">1Kings 18:10</a>).<p><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/benson/james/5.htm">Benson Commentary</a></div><span class="bld"><a href="/context/james/5-17.htm" title="Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months....">James 5:17-18</a></span>. <span class="ital">Elias was a man subject to like passions </span>— To the like infirmities; <span class="ital">as we are </span>— In which sense the same word, <span class="greekheb">ομοιοπαθης</span>, is used, <a href="/acts/14-15.htm" title="And saying, Sirs, why do you these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach to you that you should turn from these vanities to the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:">Acts 14:15</a>. It literally signifies, <span class="ital">suffering like things with another. </span>Elijah, through natural infirmity, suffered as we do from diseases, from temptation, from persecution, &c. <span class="ital">And he prayed earnestly — </span>Greek, <span class="greekheb">προσευχη προσηυξατο</span>, <span class="ital">in praying he prayed, that it might not rain </span>— That, by being punished for their idolatry and murder of the prophets, they might be brought to true repentance for these crimes. <span class="ital">And it rained not on the earth </span>— That is, on the land of the ten tribes; for <span class="ital">three years and six months — </span>This is the period which our Lord likewise says the drought continued, <a href="/luke/4-25.htm" title="But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;">Luke 4:25</a>. It is said, indeed, (<a href="/1_kings/18-1.htm" title="And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth.">1 Kings 18:1</a>,) that <span class="ital">in the third year the word of the Lord came to Elijah, </span>namely, concerning the rain. But this <span class="ital">third year </span>was computed from the time of his going to live at Zarephath, which happened many days after the drought began; as is plain from this, that he remained at the brook Cherith till it was dried up, and then went to Zarephath in the country of Sidon, <a href="/1_kings/17-7.htm" title="And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.">1 Kings 17:7</a>; <a href="/1_kings/17-9.htm" title="Arise, get you to Zarephath, which belongs to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain you.">1 Kings 17:9</a>. Wherefore the <span class="ital">three years and six months </span>must be computed from his denouncing the drought, at which time that judgment commenced. See note on <a href="/1_kings/18-1.htm" title="And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth.">1 Kings 18:1</a>. <span class="ital">And he prayed again </span>— When idolatry was abolished; <span class="ital">and the heaven gave rain </span>— As is recorded 1 Kings 18., where we are told, that <span class="ital">he cast himself down on the earth, and put his face between his knees, </span>which was the posture of an humble and earnest supplicant. Thus Moses’s praying is expressed by <span class="ital">his falling on his face, </span><a href="/numbers/16-4.htm" title="And when Moses heard it, he fell on his face:">Numbers 16:4</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="mhc" id="mhc"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/mhc/james/5.htm">Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary</a></div>5:12-18 The sin of swearing is condemned; but how many make light of common profane swearing! Such swearing expressly throws contempt upon God's name and authority. This sin brings neither gain, nor pleasure, nor reputation, but is showing enmity to God without occasion and without advantage It shows a man to be an enemy to God, however he pretends to call himself by his name, or sometimes joins in acts of worship. But the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. In a day of affliction nothing is more seasonable than prayer. The spirit is then most humble, and the heart is broken and tender. It is necessary to exercise faith and hope under afflictions; and prayer is the appointed means for obtaining and increasing these graces. Observe, that the saving of the sick is not ascribed to the anointing with oil, but to prayer. In a time of sickness it is not cold and formal prayer that is effectual, but the prayer of faith. The great thing we should beg of God for ourselves and others in the time of sickness is, the pardon of sin. Let nothing be done to encourage any to delay, under the mistaken fancy that a confession, a prayer, a minister's absolution and exhortation, or the sacrament, will set all right at last, where the duties of a godly life have been disregarded. To acknowledge our faults to each other, will tend greatly to peace and brotherly love. And when a righteous person, a true believer, justified in Christ, and by his grace walking before God in holy obedience, presents an effectual fervent prayer, wrought in his heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, raising holy affections and believing expectations and so leading earnestly to plead the promises of God at his mercy-seat, it avails much. The power of prayer is proved from the history of Elijah. In prayer we must not look to the merit of man, but to the grace of God. It is not enough to say a prayer, but we must pray in prayer. Thoughts must be fixed, desires must be firm and ardent, and graces exercised. This instance of the power of prayer, encourages every Christian to be earnest in prayer. God never says to any of the seed of Jacob, Seek my face in vain. Where there may not be so much of miracle in God's answering our prayers, yet there may be as much of grace.<a name="bar" id="bar"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/barnes/james/5.htm">Barnes' Notes on the Bible</a></div>Elias - The common way of writing the word "Elijah" in the New Testament, <a href="/matthew/11-14.htm">Matthew 11:14</a>; <a href="/matthew/16-14.htm">Matthew 16:14</a>; <a href="http://biblehub.com/matthew/17-3.htm">Matthew 17:3</a>, etc.<p>Was a man subject to like passions as we are - This does not mean that Elijah was passionate in the sense in which that word is now commonly used; that is, that he was excitable or irritable, or that he was the victim of the same corrupt passions and propensities to which other men are subject; but that he was like affected; that he was capable of suffering the same things, or being affected in the same manner. In other words, he was a mere man, subject to the same weaknesses and infirmities as other men. Compare the notes at <a href="/acts/14-15.htm">Acts 14:15</a>. The apostle is illustrating the efficacy of prayer. In doing this, he refers to an undoubted case where prayer had such efficacy. But to this it might be objected that Elijah was a distinguished prophet, and that it was reasonable to suppose that his prayer would be heard. It might be said that his example could not be adduced to prove that the prayers of those who were not favored with such advantages would be heard; and especially that it could not be argued from his case that the prayers of the ignorant, and of the weak, and of children and of servants, would be answered. To meet this, the apostle says that he was a mere man, with the same natural propensities and infirmities as other men, and that therefore his case is one which should encourage all to pray. It was an instance of the efficacy of prayer, and not an illustration of the power of a prophet.<p>And he prayed earnestly - Greek, "He prayed with prayer" - a Hebraism, to denote that he prayed earnestly. Compare <a href="/luke/22-15.htm">Luke 22:15</a>. This manner of speaking is common in Hebrew. Compare <a href="/1_samuel/26-25.htm">1 Samuel 26:25</a>; <a href="/psalms/118-18.htm">Psalm 118:18</a>; <a href="/lamentations/1-2.htm">Lamentations 1:2</a>. The reference here is undoubtedly to <a href="/1_kings/17-1.htm">1 Kings 17:1</a>. In that place, however, it is not said that Elijah prayed, but that he said, "As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these three years, but according to my word." Either James interprets this as a prayer, because it could be accomplished only by prayer, or he states what had been banded down by tradition as the way in which the miracle was effected. There can be no reasonable doubt that prayer was employed in the case, for even the miracles of the Saviour were accomplished in connection with prayer, <a href="http://biblehub.com/john/11-41.htm">John 11:41-42</a>.<p>That it might not rain - Not to gratify any private resentment of his, but as a punishment on the land for the idolatry which prevailed in the time of Ahab. Famine was one of the principal methods by which God punished his people for their sins.<p>And it rained not on the earth - On the land of Palestine, for so the word earth is frequently understood in the Bible. See the notes at <a href="/luke/2-1.htm">Luke 2:1</a>. There is no reason to suppose that the famine extended beyond the country that was subject to Ahab.<p>By the space - For the time.<p>Of three years and six months - See this explained in the notes at <a href="/luke/4-25.htm">Luke 4:25</a>. Compare Lightfoot, Horae Hebraicae, on <a href="/luke/4-25.htm">Luke 4:25</a>. <a name="jfb" id="jfb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/jfb/james/5.htm">Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary</a></div>17. Elias … like passions as we—therefore it cannot be said that he was so raised above us as to afford no example applicable to common mortals like ourselves.<p>prayed earnestly—literally, "prayed with prayer": Hebraism for prayed intensely. Compare Lu 22:15, "With desire I have desired," that is, earnestly desired. Alford is wrong in saying, Elias' prayer that it might not rain "is not even hinted at in the Old Testament history." In 1Ki 17:1 it is plainly implied, "As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word." His prophecy of the fact was according to a divine intimation given to him in answer to prayer. In jealousy for God's honor (1Ki 19:10), and being of one mind with God in his abhorrence of apostasy, he prayed that the national idolatry should be punished with a national judgment, drought; and on Israel's profession of repentance he prayed for the removal of the visitation, as is implied in 1Ki 18:39-42; compare Lu 4:25.<p>three years, &c.—Compare 1Ki 18:1, "The third year," namely, from Elijah's going to Zarephath; the prophecy (Jas 5:1) was probably about five or six months previously.<div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/poole/james/5.htm">Matthew Poole's Commentary</a></div> <span class="bld">Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are; </span> both of body and mind, natural and moral; and so, though he were righteous, yet he was not perfect; though an eminent prophet, yet but a man. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">And he prayed earnestly; </span> with that effectual, fervent prayer before mentioned. It is a Hebrew phrase, and notes vehemency, as <span class="bld"><a href="/luke/22-15.htm" title="And he said to them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:">Luke 22:15</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">That it might not rain; </span> this is not expressly mentioned in the history, but this apostle might have it by revelation, or by certain tradition well known in his age. Other passages of the like nature we meet with in the New Testament which are not in the Old: see <span class="bld"><a href="/1_timothy/3-8.htm" title="Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;">1 Timothy 3:8</a> <a href="/hebrews/12-21.htm" title="And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)">Hebrews 12:21</a> <a href="/judges/1-9.htm" title="And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites, that dwelled in the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley.">Judges 1:9</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">And it rained not on the earth; </span> or, the land, viz. of the ten tribes, and the places bordering on them, as Sarepta, <span class="bld"><a href="/1_kings/17-9.htm" title="Arise, get you to Zarephath, which belongs to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain you.">1 Kings 17:9</a> <a href="/luke/4-25.htm" title="But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;">Luke 4:25</a>,26</span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">By the space of three years and six months:</span> so <span class="bld"><a href="/luke/4-25.htm" title="But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;">Luke 4:25</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Question.</span> How doth this agree with <span class="bld"><a href="/1_kings/18-1.htm" title="And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth.">1 Kings 18:1</a></span>, where it is said, <span class="ital">the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year?</span> <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Answer.</span> Most probably it was in the midst of the third year from his coming to Sarepta; and he was by the brook Cherith a year. <span class="bld"><a href="/1_kings/17-7.htm" title="And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.">1 Kings 17:7</a></span>, where the margin reads it, according to the Hebrew, at the end of days, i.e. the days of a year, as the phrase is often used, <span class="bld"><a href="/genesis/4-3.htm" title="And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the LORD.">Genesis 4:3</a> <a href="/judges/17-10.htm" title="And Micah said to him, Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and your victuals. So the Levite went in.">Judges 17:10</a></span>; so that his time spent in both places may well make up the <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">three years and six months.</span> <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="gil" id="gil"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gill/james/5.htm">Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible</a></div>Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are,.... The apostle gives an instance of earnest and fervent prayer, and of the efficacy of it in Elias; who is the same with the prophet Elijah, or Elijah the Tishbite; who, by the Septuagint in <a href="/malachi/4-5.htm">Malachi 4:5</a> is called Elias, as here, and elsewhere, in the New Testament: of him James says, that he was a "man", contrary to the notion of some of the Jewish writers, who affirm, that Elijah was not born of a father and mother, but was an angel, who was clothed with the four elements of the world (e); but he was not only born, but born in sin, as others are, and was by nature no better than others; and he himself confesses that he was no better than his fathers, <a href="/1_kings/19-4.htm">1 Kings 19:4</a>. And the apostle further observes; concerning him, that be was "subject to like passions as we are"; both in body and soul; he was subject to hunger and weariness, and was fed by ravens, and by the widow of Zarephath, and by an angel; and he was subject to reproach, affliction, and persecution, being charged by Ahab as a troubler of Israel, and persecuted by Jezebel, who sought his life; he was a mortal man, and liable to death, and requested to die, and must have died, had it not been for the wonderful power of God, which translated him, that he should not see death; and he was not free from sinful passions, as impatience, fear, and unbelief, <a href="/1_kings/17-20.htm">1 Kings 17:20</a>. And he prayed earnestly; or prayed in prayer; an Hebraism: it is said (f) of one, that , "he prayed his prayer"; and of others, that , "they prayed prayers"; though the phrase here seems to design something more than bare praying; a praying, not merely externally, or formally, and with the lip only, but with the Spirit, and with the understanding, and with the heart engaged in it, with inwrought prayer. The prophet prayed with much earnestness, with great vehemence and intenseness of Spirit, as this Hebraism denotes; his prayer was fervent, and it was constant, and importunate, and was continued till he had an answer: he may be thought to have prayed each of the seven times he sent his servant to look out for a sign of rain, <a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-43.htm">1 Kings 18:43</a>, he first prayed, <p>that it might not rain; this is not recorded in express words, but may be gathered from <a href="/1_kings/17-1.htm">1 Kings 17:1</a> where he says, "as the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew, nor rain, these years, but according to my word"; so the passage is understood by the Jewish interpreters: the phrase, "before whom I stand", is paraphrased by one of them (g) thus; before whom I am used to stand, "in prayer"; and it is a common saying with the Jews, there is no standing ever mentioned, but prayer is intended; See Gill on <a href="/matthew/6-5.htm">Matthew 6:5</a> And the other phrase, "according to my word", is, by another (h), interpreted to this sense, that the rain should not descend naturally, according to the custom of the world, but it should descend when Elijah , "prayed for it", and so it was: <p>and it rained not on the earth: on the land of Israel, which is only meant; it rained in other parts of the world, for the drought in those times was not universal: and this was, <p>by the space of three years and six months; which exactly agrees with the words of Christ, <a href="/luke/4-25.htm">Luke 4:25</a> and this was in judgment upon the land of Israel, for the idolatry it was filled with in the times of Ahab: and this instance of prayer is mentioned, not with a view that it should be imitated; we are not to pray for judgments, unless we have a divine order for it, as Elijah had; but to show the efficacy of prayer made according to the will of God. <p>(e) Zohar in Gen. fol. 31. 1. & Imre Binah in ib. (f) Ib. in Exod. fol. 4. 2. & in Numb. fol. 79. 2.((g) R. David, Kimchi in loc. (h) Vid. Laniado in loc. <a name="gsb" id="gsb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gsb/james/5.htm">Geneva Study Bible</a></div><span class="cverse2">Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.</span></div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><div class="comtype">EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/meyer/james/5.htm">Meyer's NT Commentary</a></div><a href="/context/james/5-17.htm" title="Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months....">Jam 5:17-18</a>. James, wishing to show in the example of Elias the power of prayer, observes beforehand on the objection that, owing to his peculiar greatness (see <a href="http://apocrypha.org/ecclesiasticus/48-1.htm" title="Then stood up Elias the prophet as fire, and his word burned like a lamp....">Sir 48:1-15</a>), the example of Elias was inapplicable to ordinary men, that <span class="greekheb">Ἐλίας ἄνθρωπος ἦν ὁμοιοπαθὴς ἡμῖν</span>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="greekheb">ἄνθρωπος</span>] is not here pleonastic (Schneckenburger), but denotes the point on which James insists, which is still more strengthened by <span class="greekheb">ὁμοιοπαθὴς ἡμῖν</span>. This idea contains no reference to the sufferings which Elias had to endure (Laurentius, Schneckenburger, Bouman), but signifies only <span class="ital">of like disposition and nature;</span> see Meyer on <a href="/acts/14-15.htm" title="And saying, Sirs, why do you these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach to you that you should turn from these vanities to the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:">Acts 14:15</a>; comp. also Wisd. of <a href="/songs/8-3.htm" title="His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me.">Song of Solomon 8:3</a>, and Grimm on 4Ma 12:13. Lange inappropriately explains it “similarly conditioned.” Gebser assumes a contrast to <span class="greekheb">δίκαιος</span>, strangely explaining it: “having the same sentiments and passions as we; James inferred <span class="ital">how much more</span> will the prayer of a <span class="greekheb">δικαίου</span> avail.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>The history, to which James refers, is contained in <a href="/1_kings/17-1.htm" title="And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.">1 Kings 17:1</a>; <a href="/1_kings/18-1.htm" title="And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth.">1 Kings 18:1</a>; <a href="/1_kings/18-41.htm" title="And Elijah said to Ahab, Get you up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.">1 Kings 18:41</a> ff. The account of James differs in two points from the O. T. narrative; first, the point on account of which James appeals to Elias, namely his twofold prayer, is not mentioned; and, secondly, it is stated that it began to rain in the third year. Both in <a href="/1_kings/17-1.htm" title="And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.">1 Kings 17:1</a> and in 1Ki18:41, Elias only announces what will take place; in the first passage, that it will not rain these years, and in the second passage, that it will soon rain. Neither in what Elias says of himself in <a href="/1_kings/17-1.htm" title="And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.">1 Kings 17:1</a> : <span class="greekheb">אֲשֶׁר עָמַדְתִּי לְפָנָיו</span>, nor in what is related in <a href="/1_kings/18-41.htm" title="And Elijah said to Ahab, Get you up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.">1 Kings 18:41</a>, is it stated that Elias offered up such a prayer as James mentions; for although in 5:42 Elias is represented as praying, yet it is not hinted that the rain took place in consequence of his prayer, since rather the promise of rain (<a href="/james/5-1.htm" title="Go to now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come on you.">Jam 5:1</a>) preceded the prayer. Yet those statements, and particularly the word of Elias in <a href="/1_kings/17-2.htm" title="And the word of the LORD came to him, saying,">1 Kings 17:2</a> : <span class="greekheb">כִּי אִס־לְפִי דְבָרִי</span>, are to be considered as the foundation of the statement of James, whether he followed a tradition (see <a href="http://apocrypha.org/ecclesiasticus/48-2.htm" title="He brought a sore famine upon them, and by his zeal he diminished their number....">Sir 48:2-3</a>) or a view peculiar to himself.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>With regard to the second deviation, the same statement concerning the duration of the drought is found in <a href="/luke/4-25.htm" title="But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;">Luke 4:25</a> (see Meyer in loco), and in the Jalkut Schimoni on 1 Kings 16, where it is said: Anno xiii. Achabi fames regnabit in Samaria per tres annos et dimidum anni. It is certainly correct, as Benson remarks, that if the rain, according to the word of Elias, was stayed at the beginning of the rainy season, and it again began to rain in the third year at the end of the summer season, the drought would continue in all three and a half years; but according to the statement of James, the drought began with the prayer of Elias, and continued from that three and a half years. Accordingly, Wiesinger is wrong in finding in the remark of Benson a sufficient reconciliation of the difference.[247]<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="greekheb">προσευχῇ προσηύξατο</span>] the same construction as <span class="greekheb"><span class="bld"><span class="ital">ΘΑΝΆΤῼ ἈΠΟΘΑΝΕῖΣΘΕ</span></span></span>, <a href="/genesis/2-17.htm" title="But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.">Genesis 2:17</a>, LXX., as the Greek rendering of the Hebrew union of the infinite absolute with the finite tense, which the LXX. usually express by the union of the participle with the finite tense (see Winer, p. 317 f. [E. T. 427]). This addition of the substantive serves to bring out the verbal idea (de Wette), not to denote that the prayer of Elias was <span class="ital">earnest</span> (Schneckenburger, Wiesinger, Lange), but that nothing else than <span class="ital">his prayer</span> produced the long drought.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="greekheb">τοῦ μὴ βρέξαι</span>] the genitive of design after <span class="greekheb"><span class="bld"><span class="ital">ΠΡΟΣΗΎΞΑΤΟ</span></span></span>, because the contents of the prayer agreed with its object. This construction corresponds to the frequent use of <span class="greekheb"><span class="bld"><span class="ital">ἽΝΑ</span></span></span> with verbs of asking in the N. T.; see Winer, p. 292 [E. T. 410].<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="greekheb"><span class="bld"><span class="ital">ΒΡΈΧΕΙΝ</span></span></span>] is here used, as in the later classics, impersonally; otherwise in <a href="/matthew/5-45.htm" title="That you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.">Matthew 5:45</a>; <a href="/genesis/2-5.htm" title="And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.">Genesis 2:5</a>; <a href="/genesis/19-24.htm" title="Then the LORD rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;">Genesis 19:24</a>. Baumgarten incorrectly supplies <span class="greekheb"><span class="bld"><span class="ital">Ὁ ΘΕΌς</span></span></span> as the subject.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="greekheb"><span class="bld"><span class="ital">ΚΑῚ ΟὐΚ Κ</span>.<span class="greekheb">Τ</span>.<span class="greekheb">Λ</span>.<span class="greekheb"></span></span></span>] the result of the prayer. Schneckenburger: quis non sentit pondus dictionis <span class="greekheb"><span class="bld"><span class="ital">ΤΟῦ ΜῊ ΒΡΈΞΑΙ</span>, <span class="greekheb">ΚΑῚ ΟὐΚ ἜΒΡΕΞΕΝ</span></span></span>; comp. <a href="/genesis/1-3.htm" title="And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.">Genesis 1:3</a>, fiat lux, et facta est lux.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="greekheb"><span class="bld"><span class="ital">ἘΠῚ Τῆς Γῆς</span></span></span>] not <span class="ital">on the land, i.e.</span> Palestine (Grotius, Wolf, Baumgarten, Stolz, Lange, and others), but <span class="ital">on the earth</span> (Luther); comp. <a href="/luke/4-25.htm" title="But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;">Luke 4:25</a> (<a href="/genesis/7-12.htm" title="And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.">Genesis 7:12</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>[247] It is otherwise with regard to <a href="/luke/4-25.htm" title="But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;">Luke 4:25</a>, where the simple duration of time during which it would not rain is stated. has erred in making the prayer of Elias mentioned by him precede this whole period; whereas what is mentioned in <a href="/1_kings/17-1.htm" title="And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.">1 Kings 17:1</a>, is that it commenced after the summer during which it had not rained. According to Lange, the reconciliation consists in this, that in 1 Kings 18 only the duration of the real <span class="ital">famine</span> is stated, which did not begin until one year after the announcement of the drought; but there is no indication of this statement.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/egt/james/5.htm">Expositor's Greek Testament</a></div><a href="/james/5-17.htm" title="Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.">Jam 5:17</a>. <span class="greekheb">Ἡλείας</span>: Elijah plays an immense part in the later Jewish literature, see Hamburger, <span class="ital">op. cit.</span>, article “Elias”. With his mention here <span class="ital">cf.</span> <a href="http://apocrypha.org/ecclesiasticus/48-1.htm" title="Then stood up Elias the prophet as fire, and his word burned like a lamp.">Sir 48:1</a> ff.—<span class="greekheb">προσευχῇ προσηύξατο</span>: Hebraism <span class="ital">cf.</span> <a href="/luke/22-15.htm" title="And he said to them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:">Luke 22:15</a>; <a href="/john/3-29.htm" title="He that has the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.">John 3:29</a>, etc., etc.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/cambridge/james/5.htm">Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</a></div><span class="bld">17</span>. <span class="ital">Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are</span>] The word is the same as that used by St Paul in <a href="/acts/14-15.htm" title="And saying, Sirs, why do you these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach to you that you should turn from these vanities to the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:">Acts 14:15</a>. The reference to the history of Elijah (<a href="/1_kings/17-1.htm" title="And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.">1 Kings 17:1</a>; <a href="/1_kings/18-1.htm" title="And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth.">1 Kings 18:1</a>) is noticeable, as one of the coincidences on which stress has been laid as suggesting the inference that the Epistle was written by the son of Zebedee, whose thoughts had been directed to the history of Elijah by the Transfiguration, and who had himself referred to that history when he sought to call down fire from heaven on the village of the Samaritans (<a href="/luke/9-54.htm" title="And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, will you that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?">Luke 9:54</a>). The inference is, at the best, uncertain. It is, perhaps, more to the purpose to note that the son of Sirach, with whose teaching that of the Epistle presents so many parallels, had dwelt with great fulness on the history of Elijah (<a href="http://apocrypha.org/ecclesiasticus/48-1.htm" title="Then stood up Elias the prophet as fire, and his word burned like a lamp....">Sir 48:1-12</a>). It is remarkable that the Old Testament narrative does not directly state that the drought and the rain came as an answer to Elijah’s prayer, and that this is therefore an inference drawn by St James from the fact of the attitude of supplication described in <a href="/1_kings/18-42.htm" title="So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down on the earth, and put his face between his knees,">1 Kings 18:42</a>. An interesting coincidence in connexion with this reference to Elijah’s history presents itself in the narrative given in Josephus (<span class="ital">Ant.</span> xviii. 8, § 6) of the troubles caused by Caligula’s insane attempt to set up his statue in the Temple at Jerusalem. Petronius, the then Governor of Judæa, was moved by the passionate entreaties of the people, and supported the efforts made by Agrippa I., who remained at Rome, to turn the Emperor from his purpose. It was one of the years of drought that brought about the great famine foretold by Agabus (<a href="/acts/11-28.htm" title="And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.">Acts 11:28</a>). No rain had fallen for many weeks, and the people—Christians, we may well believe, as well as Jews, though Josephus, of course, makes no mention of the former—were “instant in prayer,” calling upon the Lord God of Israel to send rain upon the earth. Suddenly rain fell in a plenteous shower from an almost cloudless sky. The earth was refreshed, and the pressing danger averted. Petronius, Josephus relates, was much moved by this manifestation, this <span class="ital">Epiphany</span>, of the Divine Power, and looked upon it partly as an answer to the prayers of the people, partly as the reward of the equity which he had shewn in dealing with them. According to the date which, on independent grounds, has here been assigned to St James’s Epistle, the event referred to must have happened but a few months before, or but a few months after, it. If before, he may well have had it in his thoughts. If after, it may well have been in part the effect of his teaching. Students of Church History will remember the strikingly parallel instance of the prayers of the soldiers of the Thundering Legion in the Expedition of Marcus Aurelius against the Marcomanni (Euseb. <span class="ital">Hist</span>. <a href="/james/5-5.htm" title="You have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; you have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.">James 5:5</a>. Tertull. <span class="ital">Apol</span>. c. 5).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/bengel/james/5.htm">Bengel's Gnomen</a></div><a href="/james/5-17.htm" title="Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.">Jam 5:17</a>. <span class="greekheb">Ἠλίας</span>, <span class="ital">Elias</span>) The whole effect of prayer is supernatural, and so far miraculous, though it does not appear so externally.—<span class="greekheb">ὁμοιοπαθὴς</span>, <span class="ital">subject to like passions</span>) The same word is used, <a href="/acts/14-15.htm" title="And saying, Sirs, why do you these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach to you that you should turn from these vanities to the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:">Acts 14:15</a> : having the same <span class="greekheb">πάθη</span>, <span class="ital">passions</span>, the same <span class="ital">afflictions</span> of mind and body, which might not seem capable of such <span class="ital">efficacy</span> (<span class="greekheb">ἐνέργεια</span>).—[76]<span class="greekheb">προσευχῇ προσηύξατο</span>, <span class="ital">he prayed with prayer</span>) While the idolatry of Baal flourished, he used prayer only, but that earnest: employing no other instrumentality for the production of this result. The Hebrew phrase itself, in which a verb is joined with a substantive or a quasi-substantive, always denotes something vehement: for instance, <span class="ital">dying thou shalt die:</span> shalt so die, that it may deserve to be called death.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>[76] <span class="greekheb">προσευχῇ προσηύξατο</span>. Thus also <a href="/luke/22-15.htm" title="And he said to them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:">Luke 22:15</a> : <span class="greekheb">ἐκιθυμίᾳ ἐπεθύμησα</span>, <span class="ital">With desire I have desired</span>; i.e. <span class="ital">earnestly desired</span>. <a href="/john/3-29.htm" title="He that has the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.">John 3:29</a> : <span class="greekheb">χαρᾷ χαἱρει</span>, <span class="ital">rejoiceth with joy</span>; i.e. <span class="ital">greatly rejoiceth</span>. Also <a href="/1_thessalonians/3-9.htm" title="For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy with which we joy for your sakes before our God;">1 Thessalonians 3:9</a>.—T.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="pul" id="pul"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/pulpit/james/5.htm">Pulpit Commentary</a></div><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 17, 18.</span> - Illustration of the last statement of ver. 16, from the case of Elijah, "a righteous man" under the old covenant, but one "of like passions with us," and therefore one from whose case it is lawful to argue to our own. <span class="cmt_word">Subject to like passions as we are</span>. <span class="greek">Ὁμοιοπαθὴς ἡμῖν</span>: simply "of like passions with us;" cf. <a href="/acts/14-15.htm">Acts 14:15</a>, where it is used in just the same way. In the LXX. only in Wisd. 7:3. <span class="cmt_word">He prayed earnestly.</span> <span class="greek">Προσευχῇ προσηύξατο</span>: <span class="accented">a Hebraism</span>, not infrequent in the New Testament (see <a href="/luke/22-15.htm">Luke 22:15</a>; <a href="/john/3-29.htm">John 3:29</a>; <a href="/acts/4-17.htm">Acts 4:17</a>; <a href="/acts/5-28.htm">Acts 5:28</a>; <a href="/acts/23-14.htm">Acts 23:14</a>), in imitation of the Hebrew dissolute infinitive (cf. Winer, p. 584). For the incident alluded to by St. James, see <a href="/1_kings/17-1.htm">1 Kings 17:1</a>; <a href="/1_kings/18-1.htm">1 Kings 18:1</a>; but note <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> that we are never told that the famine was in consequence of Elijah's prayer; and <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> nothing is said of the duration of time (three years and a half) during which it rained not upon the earth. All we read is that "after many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year;" but there is no clear indication from what period this "third year" is dated. With regard to <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span>, it may have been St. James's own inference from the narrative, or may have been due to tradition. With regard to <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span>, the very same time is mentioned by our Lord in his allusion to the same incident (<a href="/luke/4-25.htm">Luke 4:25</a>), "<span class="accented">the</span> heaven was shut up three years and six months." And as the same period is said to be given in the Yalkut Shimeoni on <a href="/1_kings/16.htm">1 Kings 16</a>, it was probably the time handed down by tradition, being taken by the Jews as a symbol of times of tribulation (cf. <a href="/daniel/7-25.htm">Daniel 7:25</a>; <a href="/daniel/12-7.htm">Daniel 12:7</a>; <a href="/revelation/11-2.htm">Revelation 11:2</a>). James 5:17<a name="vws" id="vws"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/vws/james/5.htm">Vincent's Word Studies</a></div>A man (ἄνθρωπος)<p>The generic word; human like ourselves, this thought being emphasized by the succeeding epithet of like passions. See the same expression, <a href="/acts/14-15.htm">Acts 14:15</a>.<p>Of like passions (ὁμοιοπαθὴς)<p>Only here and <a href="/acts/14-15.htm">Acts 14:15</a>. There is some danger of a misunderstanding of this rendering, from the limited and generally bad sense in which the word passions is popularly used. The meaning is rather of like nature and constitution. Rev. puts nature in margin, which would be better in the text.<p>He prayed fervently (προσευχῇ προσηύξατο)<p>Lit., he prayed with prayer. See a similar mode of expression, <a href="/genesis/2-17.htm">Genesis 2:17</a> (Sept.), ye shall surely die (θανάτῳ ἀποθανεῖσθε); lit., ye shall die with death. Compare <a href="/luke/22-15.htm">Luke 22:15</a>; <a href="/john/3-29.htm">John 3:29</a>; <a href="/acts/4-17.htm">Acts 4:17</a>. The addition of the cognate noun gives intenseness to the verb.<p>Hide - sins<p>A familiar Hebrew phrase. See <a href="/psalms/32-1.htm">Psalm 32:1</a>; <a href="/psalms/85-2.htm">Psalm 85:2</a>; <a href="/proverbs/10-12.htm">Proverbs 10:12</a>. <div class="vheading2">Links</div><a href="/interlinear/james/5-17.htm">James 5:17 Interlinear</a><br /><a href="/texts/james/5-17.htm">James 5:17 Parallel Texts</a><br /><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/niv/james/5-17.htm">James 5:17 NIV</a><br /><a href="/nlt/james/5-17.htm">James 5:17 NLT</a><br /><a href="/esv/james/5-17.htm">James 5:17 ESV</a><br /><a href="/nasb/james/5-17.htm">James 5:17 NASB</a><br /><a href="/kjv/james/5-17.htm">James 5:17 KJV</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="http://bibleapps.com/james/5-17.htm">James 5:17 Bible Apps</a><br /><a href="/james/5-17.htm">James 5:17 Parallel</a><br /><a href="http://bibliaparalela.com/james/5-17.htm">James 5:17 Biblia Paralela</a><br /><a href="http://holybible.com.cn/james/5-17.htm">James 5:17 Chinese Bible</a><br /><a href="http://saintebible.com/james/5-17.htm">James 5:17 French Bible</a><br /><a href="http://bibeltext.com/james/5-17.htm">James 5:17 German Bible</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a><br /></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="mdd"><div align="center"><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td align="center"><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /><br /> </div> <div id="left"><a href="../james/5-16.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="James 5:16"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="James 5:16" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../james/5-18.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="James 5:18"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="James 5:18" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div> <div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhnew2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>