James 5:12

10 ^aMy brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and ^bpatience.

11 Indeed ^awe count them blessed who ^bendure. You have heard of ^cthe perseverance of Job and seen ^dthe end intended by the Lord—that ^ethe Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

12 But above all, my brethren, ^ado not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into¹ judgment.

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13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him ^apray. Is anyone cheerful? ^bLet him sing psalms.

14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, ^aanointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. ^aAnd if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

16 ¹Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. ^aThe effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

17 Elijah was a man ^awith a nature like ours, and ^bhe prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.

18 And he prayed ^aagain, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

Commentaries:

Adam Clarke

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James 5:12

Above all things - swear not - What relation this exhortation can have to the subject in question, I confess I cannot see. It may not have been designed to stand in any connection, but to be a separate piece of advice, as in the several cases which immediately follow. That the Jews were notoriously guilty of common swearing is allowed on all hands; and that swearing by heaven, earth, Jerusalem, the temple, the altar, different parts of the body, was not considered by them as binding oaths, has been sufficiently proved. Rabbi Akiba taught that "a man might swear with his lips, and annul it in his heart; and then the oath was not binding." See the notes on Matthew 5:33, etc., where the subject is considered in great detail.

Let your yea be yea, etc. - Do not pretend to say yea with your lips, and annul it in your heart; let the yea or the nay which you express be bona fide such. Do not imagine that any mental reservation can cancel any such expressions of obligation in the sight of God.

Lest ye fall into condemnation - ̔ ̔ · Lest ye fall under judgment. Several MSS. join ̔ and together, ̔ , and prefix , into, which makes a widely different reading: Lest ye fall into hypocrisy. Now, as it is a fact, that the Jews did teach that there might be mental reservation, that would annul the oath, how solemnly soever it was taken; the object of St. James, if the last reading be genuine, and it is supported by a great number of excellent MSS., some versions, and some of the most eminent of the fathers, was to guard against that hypocritical method of taking an oath, which is subversive of all moral feeling, and must make conscience itself callous.

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