---
title: "James 5 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/james/5/
description: "A woe to the rich that oppress the poor. Exhortations to patience and to avoid… James 5 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# James 5

James 5 is chapter 5 of 5 in the Letter of James. Here are all 20 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> A woe to the rich that oppress the poor. Exhortations to patience and to avoid swearing. Of the anointing the sick, confession of sins and fervour in prayer.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## James 5 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. Act now, you who are wealthy! Weep and wail in your miseries, which will soon come upon you!
2. Your riches have been corrupted, and your garments have been eaten by moths.
3. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be a testimony against you, and it will eat away at your flesh like fire. You have stored up wrath for yourselves unto the last days.
4. Consider the pay of the workers who reaped your fields: it has been misappropriated by you; it cries out. And their cry has entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.
5. You have feasted upon the earth, and you have nourished your hearts with luxuries, unto the day of slaughter.
6. You led away and killed the Just One, and he did not resist you.
7. Therefore, be patient, brothers, until the advent of the Lord. Consider that the farmer anticipates the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently, until he receives the early and the late rains.
8. Therefore, you too should be patient and should strengthen your hearts. For the advent of the Lord draws near.
9. Brothers, do not complain against one another, so that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge stands before the door.
10. My brothers, consider the Prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of departing from evil, of labor, and of patience.
11. Consider that we beatify those who have endured. You have heard of the patient suffering of Job. And you have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is merciful and compassionate.
12. But before all things, my brothers, do not choose to swear, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor in any other oath. But let your word ‘Yes’ be yes, and your word ‘No’ be no, so that you may not fall under judgment.
13. Is any of you sad? Let him pray. Is he even-tempered? Let him sing psalms.
14. Is anyone ill among you? Let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15. And a prayer of faith will save the infirm, and the Lord will alleviate him. And if he has sins, these will be forgiven him.
16. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be saved. For the unremitting prayer of a just person prevails over many things.
17. Elijah was a mortal man like us, and in prayer he prayed that it would not rain upon the earth. And it did not rain for three years and six months.
18. And he prayed again. And the heavens gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
19. My brothers, if anyone of you strays from the truth, and if someone converts him,
20. he ought to know that whoever causes a sinner to be converted from the error of his ways will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

## James 5 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Agite nunc divites, plorate ululantes in miseriis vestris, quæ advenient vobis.
2. Divitiæ vestræ putrefactæ sunt, et vestimenta vestra a tineis comesta sunt.
3. Aurum et argentum vestrum æruginavit: et ærugo eorum in testimonium vobis erit, et manducabit carnes vestras sicut ignis. Thesaurizastis vobis iram in novissimis diebus.
4. Ecce merces operariorum, qui messuerunt regiones vestras, quæ fraudata est a vobis, clamat: et clamor eorum in aures Domini sabbaoth introivit.
5. Epulati estis super terram, et in luxuriis enutristis corda vestra in die occisionis.
6. Addixistis, et occidistis justum, et non restitit vobis.
7. Patientes igitur estote, fratres, usque ad adventum Domini. Ecce agricola exspectat pretiosum fructum terræ, patienter ferens donec accipiat temporaneum et serotinum.
8. Patientes igitur estote et vos, et confirmate corda vestra: quoniam adventus Domini appropinquavit.
9. Nolite ingemiscere, fratres, in alterutrum, ut non judicemini. Ecce judex ante januam assistit.
10. Exemplum accipite, fratres, exitus mali, laboris, et patientiæ, prophetas qui locuti sunt in nomine Domini.
11. Ecce beatificamus eos qui sustinuerunt. Sufferentiam Job audistis, et finem Domini vidistis, quoniam misericors Dominus est, et miserator.
12. Ante omnia autem, fratres mei, nolite jurare, neque per cælum, neque per terram, neque aliud quodcumque juramentum. Sit autem sermo vester: Est, est: Non, non: ut non sub judicio decidatis.
13. Tristatur aliquis vestrum? oret. Æquo animo est? psallat.
14. Infirmatur quis in vobis? inducat presbyteros ecclesiæ, et orent super eum, ungentes eum oleo in nomine Domini:
15. et oratio fidei salvabit infirmum, et alleviabit eum Dominus: et si in peccatis sit, remittentur ei.
16. Confitemini ergo alterutrum peccata vestra, et orate pro invicem ut salvemini: multum enim valet deprecatio justi assidua.
17. Elias homo erat similis nobis passibilis: et oratione oravit ut non plueret super terram, et non pluit annos tres, et menses sex.
18. Et rursum oravit: et cælum dedit pluviam, et terra dedit fructum suum.
19. Fratres mei, si quis ex vobis erraverit a veritate, et converterit quis eum:
20. scire debet quoniam qui converti fecerit peccatorem ab errore viæ suæ, salvabit animam ejus a morte, et operiet multitudinem peccatorum.

## Catechism of the Catholic Church

Paragraph numbers and the Catechism's own section headings (never quoted); text at vatican.va.
- CCC ¶ 2445: Love For the Poor ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 1867: The Proliferation of Sin ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 2409: Respect for Persons and Their Goods ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 2434: Economic Activity and Social Justice ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 1510: Its Foundations in the Economy of Salvation ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 1511: Its Foundations in the Economy of Salvation ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 1519: How is This Sacrament Celebrated? ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- cf. CCC ¶ 1499: The Anointing of the Sick ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- cf. CCC ¶ 1519: How is This Sacrament Celebrated? ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 2582: In the Old Testament ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 2737: Filial Trust ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- cf. CCC ¶ 1434: The Many Forms of Penance in Christian Life ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))

## The saints

- “Know that the greatest service that man can offer to God is to help convert souls.” — St. Rose of Lima, Recorded words, c. 1615 (On this theme: verse 20)

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 14: “Let him bring in” … See here a plain warrant of scripture for the sacrament of extreme unction, that any controversy against its institution would be against the express words of the sacred text in the plainest terms.
- Verse 16: That is, to the priests of the church, whom (ver. 14) he had ordered to be called for, and brought in to the sick; moreover, to confess to persons who had no power to forgive sins, would be useless. Hence the precept here means, that we must confess to men whom God hath appointed, and who, by their ordination and jurisdiction, have received the power of remitting sins in his name.

## Read at Mass (US)

- Sun, Sep 26, 2027 (computed): Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time — Second Reading, James 5:1-6
- Thu, Feb 24, 2028 (computed): Thursday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time — First Reading, James 5:1-6
- Fri, Feb 25, 2028 (computed): Friday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time — First Reading, James 5:9-12
- Sat, Feb 26, 2028 (computed): Saturday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time — First Reading, James 5:13-20

1 more date through December 31, 2028, in the [liturgical calendar](https://blessbible.app/calendar/).

Dates after May 31, 2027 are computed by Bless from the US Lectionary cycle — confirm with your parish.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).