James 5:16
New International Version
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

New Living Translation
Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

English Standard Version
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Berean Standard Bible
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.

Berean Literal Bible
Therefore confess the sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man being made effective prevails much.

King James Bible
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

New King James Version
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

New American Standard Bible
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. A prayer of a righteous person, when it is brought about, can accomplish much.

NASB 1995
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

NASB 1977
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

Legacy Standard Bible
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

Amplified Bible
Therefore, confess your sins to one another [your false steps, your offenses], and pray for one another, that you may be healed and restored. The heartfelt and persistent prayer of a righteous man (believer) is able to accomplish much [when put into action and made effective by God—it is dynamic and can have tremendous power].

Christian Standard Bible
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The urgent request of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.

American Standard Version
Confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
But be confessing your offenses one to another, and pray one for another to be healed, for the power of the prayer which a righteous person prays is great.

Contemporary English Version
If you have sinned, you should tell each other what you have done. Then you can pray for one another and be healed. The prayer of an innocent person is powerful, and it can help a lot.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Confess therefore your sins one to another: and pray one for another, that you may be saved. For the continual prayer of a just man availeth much.

English Revised Version
Confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
So admit your sins to each other, and pray for each other so that you will be healed. Prayers offered by those who have God's approval are effective.

Good News Translation
So then, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you will be healed. The prayer of a good person has a powerful effect.

International Standard Version
Therefore, make it your habit to confess your sins to one another and to pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Literal Standard Version
Be confessing to one another the trespasses, and be praying for one another, that you may be healed; very strong is a working supplication of a righteous man;

Majority Standard Bible
Therefore confess your trespasses to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.

New American Bible
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.

NET Bible
So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness.

New Revised Standard Version
Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.

New Heart English Bible
Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.

Webster's Bible Translation
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much.

Weymouth New Testament
Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be cured. The heartfelt supplication of a righteous man exerts a mighty influence.

World English Bible
Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.

Young's Literal Translation
Be confessing to one another the trespasses, and be praying for one another, that ye may be healed; very strong is a working supplication of a righteous man;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Prayer of Faith
15And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail. 17Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.…

Cross References
Genesis 18:23
Abraham stepped forward and said, "Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

Genesis 20:17
Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants, so that they could again bear children--

1 Samuel 12:17
Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call on the LORD to send thunder and rain, so that you will know and see what a great evil you have committed in the sight of the LORD by asking for a king."

1 Kings 13:6
Then the king responded to the man of God, "Intercede with the LORD your God and pray that my hand may be restored." So the man of God interceded with the LORD, and the king's hand was restored to him as it was before.

2 Chronicles 30:20
And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people.

Job 42:8
So now, take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken accurately about Me, as My servant Job has."

Jeremiah 42:2
Jeremiah the prophet and said, "May our petition come before you; pray to the LORD your God on behalf of this entire remnant. For few of us remain of the many, as you can see with your own eyes.


Treasury of Scripture

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Confess.

Genesis 41:9,10
Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults this day: …

2 Samuel 19:19
And said unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart.

Matthew 3:6
And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

pray.

Colossians 1:9
For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

1 Thessalonians 5:17,23,25
Pray without ceasing…

Hebrews 13:18
Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.

that.

Genesis 20:17
So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.

2 Chronicles 30:20
And the LORD hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.

Luke 9:6
And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where.

The effectual.

Genesis 18:23-32
And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? …

Genesis 19:29
And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.

Genesis 20:7,17
Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine…

a righteous.

Romans 3:10
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

Romans 5:19
For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

Hebrews 11:4,7
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh…

Jump to Previous
Accomplish Availeth Confess Cured Effective Effects Effectual Faults Fervent Full Good Great Healed Heartfelt Influence Insistent Mighty Offences Offenses Power Powerfully Prayer Prayers Righteous Sins Statement Supplication Working
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Accomplish Availeth Confess Cured Effective Effects Effectual Faults Fervent Full Good Great Healed Heartfelt Influence Insistent Mighty Offences Offenses Power Powerfully Prayer Prayers Righteous Sins Statement Supplication Working
James 5
1. Rich oppressors are to fear God's vengeance.
7. We ought to be patient in afflictions, after the example of the prophets, and Job;
12. to forbear swearing;
13. to pray in adversity, to sing in prosperity;
14. to acknowledge mutually our several faults, to pray one for another;
19. and to correct a straying brother.














(16) Confess your faults one to another.--The meaning attributed to the words of this verse by many devout Catholics cannot be established either from the opinion of antiquity, or a critical examination of the Greek text according to modern schools. "We have," observes Alford, "a general injunction arising out of a circumstance necessarily to be inferred in the preceding example (James 5:14-15). There, the sin would of necessity have been confessed to the elders, before the prayer of faith could deal with it. And seeing the blessed consequences in that case 'generally,' says the Apostle, in all similar cases, and 'one to another universally, pursue the same salutary practice of confessing your sins . . .' Confess therefore one to another--not only to the elders (presbyters) in the case supposed, but to one another generally--your transgressions, and pray for one another that ye may be healed, in case of sickness, as above. The context here forbids any wider meaning . . . and it might appear astonishing, were it not notorious, that on this passage, among others, is built the Romish doctrine of the necessity of confessing sins to a priest."

Not that all Roman Catholic divines, indeed, have thus read the injunction. Some of the ablest and greatest have admitted "that we cannot certainly affirm sacramental confession to have been meant or spoken of in this place" (Hooker). How then did the gradual perversion take hold of men's minds? The most laborious investigation of history and theology will alone answer the question properly; and here only a brief resume is possible. There can be little doubt that, strictly consonant with the apostolic charge, open confession was the custom of old. Offenders hastened to some minister of God, and in words, by which all present in the congregation might take notice of the fault, declared their guilt; convenient remedies were as publicly prescribed, and then all present joined in prayer to God. But after awhile, for many patent reasons, this plain talk about sins was rightly judged to be a cause of mischief to the young and innocent; and such confessions were relegated to a private hearing. The change was in most ways beneficial, and hardly suspected of being a step in a completely new doctrine. It needed years--centuries, in fact--to develop into the hard system of compulsory individual bondage which cost Europe untold blood and treasure to break asunder. A salutary practice in the case of some unhappy creatures, weakened by their vices into a habit of continual sin, was scarcely to be conceived as a rule thrust upon all the Christian world. Yet such it was, and "at length auricular confession, followed by absolution and satisfaction, was elevated to the full dignity of a necessary sacrament. The Council of Trent anathematises all who deny it to be truly and properly a sacrament instituted by Christ Himself, and necessary to salvation (jure divino); or who say that the method of confessing secretly to the priest alone . . . is alien to Christ's institution, and of human invention" (Harold Browne). Marvellous perversity of acute brains and worthy sentiment, showing only how steep is the way of error; and how for Christian as for Jew the danger of tradition is perilous indeed. "To conclude," in the words of Hooker, "we everywhere find the use of confession, especially public, allowed of, and commended by the fathers; but that extreme and rigorous necessity of auricular and private confession, which is at this day so mightily upheld by the Church of Rome, we find not. It was not then the faith and doctrine of God's Church, as of the Papacy at this present--(1) that the only remedy for sin after baptism is sacramental penitency; (2) that confession in secret is an essential part thereof; (3) that God Himself cannot now forgive sins without the priest; (4) that because forgiveness at the hands of the priests must arise from confession in the offender, therefore to confess unto him is a matter of such necessity as, being not either in deed, or, at the least, in desire, performed, excludeth utterly from all pardon, and must consequently in Scripture be commanded wheresoever any promise of forgiveness is made. No, no; these opinions have youth in their countenance. Antiquity knew them not; it never thought nor dreamed of them" (E. P., vi. iv. 14).

"As for private confession," says Jewel in his Apology, "abuses and errors set apart, we condemn it not, but leave it at liberty." Such must be the teaching of any Church which, in the epigram of Bishop Ken, "stands distinguished from all papal and puritan innovations," resting upon God's Word, and the earliest, holiest, simplest, best traditions of the Apostles of His dear Son. And if an ancient custom has become a universal practice in the Latin communion, presumed to be of sacramental virtue, scholars will tell us that the notion has never been absent altogether from any branch of the Catholic Church; and that in some shape or form, it lives in most of those societies which sprang into existence at the Reformation largely from abhorrence of the tyranny and misuse of confession.

The effectual fervent prayer . . .--Better, The prayer of a righteous man availeth much in its working. It moves the hand of Him Who moves the world.

"What are men better than sheep, or goats,

That nourish a blind life within the brain,

If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer--

Both for themselves, and those who call them friend?

For so the whole round earth is, every way,

Bound by gold chains about the feet of God." . . .

Verse 16. - Confess therefore your sins, etc. The authority for the insertion of οῦν (omitted in the Received Text) is overwhelming (א, A, B, K, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic), as is also that for the substitution of τὰς ἁμαρτίας for τὰ παραπτώματα, which includes the three oldest manuscripts, א, A, B, the two latter of which also read προσεύχεσθε for εὔχεσθε. It is difficult to know exactly what to make of this injunction to confess "one to another," which is stated in the form of an inference from the preceding. The form of the expression, "one to another," and the perfectly general term, "a righteous man," forbid us to see in it a direct injunction to confess to the clergy, and to the clergy only. But on the other hand, it is unfair to lose sight of the fact that it is directly connected with the charge to send for the elders of the Church. Marshall, in his' Penitential Discipline,' is perfectly justified in saying that St. James "hath plainly supposed the presence of the elders of the Church, and their intercession to God for the sick penitent, and then recommended the confession of his faults in that presence, where two or three assembled together in the Name of Christ might constitute a Church for that purpose" ('Penit. Discipline,' p. 80). We may, perhaps, be content with saying, with Bishop Jeremy Taylor, "When St. James exhorts all Christians to confess their sins one to another, certainly it is more agreeable to all spiritual ends that this be done rather to the curate of souls than to the ordinary brethren" ('Dissuasive from Popery,' II. 1:11; cf. Hooker, 'Eccl. Pol.,' 6. 4:5, 7). The effectual fervent prayer, etc.; rather, the petition of a righteous man availeth much in its working. On the distinction between δέησις the narrower, and προσευχή the wider word, see Trench on ' Synonyms,' p. 179.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
Therefore
οὖν (oun)
Conjunction
Strong's 3767: Therefore, then. Apparently a primary word; certainly, or accordingly.

confess
Ἐξομολογεῖσθε (Exomologeisthe)
Verb - Present Imperative Middle - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 1843: From ek and homologeo; to acknowledge or agree fully.

[your]
τὰς (tas)
Article - Accusative Feminine Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

sins
ἁμαρτίας (hamartias)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural
Strong's 266: From hamartano; a sin.

to each other
ἀλλήλοις (allēlois)
Personal / Reciprocal Pronoun - Dative Masculine Plural
Strong's 240: One another, each other. Genitive plural from allos reduplicated; one another.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

pray
εὔχεσθε (euchesthe)
Verb - Present Imperative Middle or Passive - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 2172: To pray, wish. Middle voice of a primary verb; to wish; by implication, to pray to God.

for
ὑπὲρ (hyper)
Preposition
Strong's 5228: Gen: in behalf of; acc: above.

each other
ἀλλήλων (allēlōn)
Personal / Reciprocal Pronoun - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 240: One another, each other. Genitive plural from allos reduplicated; one another.

so that
ὅπως (hopōs)
Conjunction
Strong's 3704: From hos and pos; what(-ever) how, i.e. In the manner that (as adverb or conjunction of coincidence, intentional or actual).

you may be healed.
ἰαθῆτε (iathēte)
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Passive - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 2390: To heal, generally of the physical, sometimes of spiritual, disease. Middle voice of apparently a primary verb; to cure.

[The] prayer
δέησις (deēsis)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1162: Supplication, prayer, entreaty. From deomai; a petition.

of a righteous [man]
δικαίου (dikaiou)
Adjective - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 1342: From dike; equitable; by implication, innocent, holy.

has great power
ἐνεργουμένη (energoumenē)
Verb - Present Participle Middle - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1754: From energes; to be active, efficient.

to prevail.
ἰσχύει (ischyei)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2480: To have strength, be strong, be in full health and vigor, be able; meton: I prevail. From ischus; to have force.


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NT Letters: James 5:16 Confess your offenses to one another (Ja Jas. Jam)
James 5:15
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