James 5:13
in James 5Is any one of you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Is any among you suffering? let him pray. Is any cheerful? let him sing praise.
KJV
Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
⋯
This verse in James 5
Commentary
12 notes on this verseIs anyone among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Prayer go together with affliction, so that for the one who is afflicted, the withdraw from afflictions or temptations may be lighter. Then, when through prayer it has pleased God …
This site's exposition
Above all, my brothers, do not swear
on James 5:12-13
Above all, my brothers, do not swear, not by heaven or earth, the Lord's teaching of Matthew 5:34-37, aimed at oaths graded by their formula. Readers divide on the civil oath. Verse 13 opens the letter's closing call: the one suffering should pray, and the cheerful should sing praises.
This site's exposition
Is any one of you suffering?
Barnes reads the word for suffering, kakopathei, as affliction of any kind, from sickness to persecution and loss. Matthew Henry notes that affliction draws out complaint, and he sends it to the Lord in prayer. Verse 9 forbade the same complaint against a brother.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church3 voices
What should you do when you are in trouble? Call on God. And what should you do when you are happy? Praise him.
Is anyone among you in trouble? etc. He who previously forbade brothers to groan to each other under trials now demonstrates what should be done in contrast. If, he says, any of you is oppressed by sadness, whether an injury received from other men may …
Let prayer accompany suffering, so that for the one being tried the way out of trials may be easier. Then, when our agitations have been stilled through prayer and the soul has attained the state proper to it, let it sing psalms, so that its …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Afflictions naturally draw out complaints; and to whom should we complain but to God in prayer? It is necessary to exercise faith and hope under afflictions; and prayer is the appointed means both for obtaining and increasing these graces in us.
Is any among you afflicted?....
4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Is any among you afflicted? - By sickness, bereavement, disappointment, persecutions, loss of health or property. The word used here refers to suffering evil of any kind, (κακοπαθεῖ kakopathei.) Let him pray - That is, prayer is appropriate to trial. The mind naturally resorts to it, and in every way it is proper. God only can remove the source of sorrow; he can grant unto us “a happy issue out of all our afflictions;” he can make them the means of sanctifying the soul. Compare 2Ch 33:12; Psa 34:4; Psa 107:6, Psa 107:13, Psa 107:
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
afflicted--referring to the "suffering affliction" (Jas 5:10). let him pray--not "swear" in rash impatience. merry--joyous in mind. sing psalms--of praise.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Is any among you afflicted? let him pray - The Jews taught that the meaning of the ordinance, Lev 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 this relation: “Rabba, as often as he fell sick, forbade his domestics to mention it for the first day; if he did not then begin to get well, he told his family to go and publish it in the highways, that they who hated him might rejoice, and they that loved him might intercede with God for him.” Is any merry? let him sing psalms - These are all general but very useful directions. It is natural for a man to sing when he is cheerful and happy. Now no subject can be more noble than that which is Divine: and as God alone is the author of all that good which makes a man happy, then his praise should be the subject of the song of him who is merry. But where persons rejoice in iniquity, and not in the truth, God and sacred things can never be the subject of their song.
Modern Voices1 voice
A commentator
GK ChestertonTremendous Trifles, XXX. The Little Birds Who Won't Sing (1909) (1909)
proposed
As I passed homewards I passed a little tin building of some religious sort, which was shaken with shouting as a trumpet is torn with its own tongue. THEY were singing anyhow; and I had for an instant a fancy I had often had before: …
The words behind it
8 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Κακοπαθεῖ | kakopathei | Is suffering hardships | G2553 → | |
| τις | tis | anyone | G5100 → | 528 times |
| ἐν | en | among | G1722 → | 2738 times |
| ὑμῖν; | humin | you? | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| προσευχέσθω· | proseuchestho | he should pray; | G4336 → | 85 times |
| εὐθυμεῖ | euthumei | Is cheerful | G2114 → | |
| τις; | tis | anyone? | G5100 → | 528 times |
| ψαλλέτω. | psalleto | he should sing praises. | G5567 → |
ΚακοπαθεῖIs suffering hardships
kakopatheiG2553 →
τιςanyone
tisG5100 →528 times
ἐνamong
enG1722 →2738 times
ὑμῖν;you?
huminG4771 →2973 times
προσευχέσθω·he should pray;
proseuchesthoG4336 →85 times
εὐθυμεῖIs cheerful
euthumeiG2114 →
τις;anyone?
tisG5100 →528 times
ψαλλέτω.he should sing praises.
psalletoG5567 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 50:15Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”
it leads to
- Psalms 107:28
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress.
- Psalms 91:15
When he calls out to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.
- Psalms 34:3–4
Magnify the LORD with me; let us exalt His name together.
- Psalms 107:19
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress.
- Zechariah 13:9
This third I will bring through the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They…
- Psalms 107:28
Through
Ephesians 5:19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord,
it leads to
- Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to…
- Psalms 95:2
Let us enter His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him in song.
- 1 Corinthians 14:26
What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a psalm or a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. All of these must be done to build up the…
- Colossians 3:16
Where this verse is studied
About James
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Andreas of Caesarea, CATENA; Bede, Commentary on the Catholic Epistles; GK Chesterton, Tremendous Trifles, XXX. The Little Birds Who Won't Sing (1909); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oecumenius, Commentary on James and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on James.