James 5:7–12

Verse 7–11. Be patient, and so forth He now in these five following verses turns his discourse from the rich to the poor, exhorting them to patience till the coming of the Lord to judgment, which draweth near; his coming to judge every one is at his death. Imitate the patience of the husbandman, waiting for fruit after that the earth hath received the timely and early [1] rain soon after the corn is sown, and again more rain, that comes later to fill the grain before it comes to be ripe. This seems to be the sense by the Greek: others expound it, till he receive the early and latter fruits. Witham.—Behold the judge standeth before the door. This expression is synonymous with that in the foregoing verse. “The coming of the Lord is at hand.” This way of speaking is not uncommon in Scripture. Thus God said to Cain: “If thou hast done evil, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door?” Saint James is here speaking of the approaching ruin of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, and the dispersion of the Jews by the Romans. Calmet.—Call to mind for your encouragement the trials and constancy [2] of the prophets: the patience of Job, after which God rewarded him with great blessings and property, and you have seen the end of the Lord; that is, what end the Lord was pleased to give to Job’s sufferings. But Saint Augustine Ven. Bede, and so forth would have these words, the end of the Lord, to be understood of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, on the cross, for which God exalted him, and so forth Witham.

Verse 7–11. Be patient, and so forth He now in these five following verses turns his discourse from the rich to the poor, exhorting them to patience till the coming of the Lord to judgment, which draweth near; his coming to judge every one is at his death. Imitate the patience of the husbandman, waiting for fruit after that the earth hath received the timely and early [1] rain soon after the corn is sown, and again more rain, that comes later to fill the grain before it comes to be ripe. This seems to be the sense by the Greek: others expound it, till he receive the early and latter fruits. Witham.—Behold the judge standeth before the door. This expression is synonymous with that in the foregoing verse. “The coming of the Lord is at hand.” This way of speaking is not uncommon in Scripture. Thus God said to Cain: “If thou hast done evil, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door?” Saint James is here speaking of the approaching ruin of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, and the dispersion of the Jews by the Romans. Calmet.—Call to mind for your encouragement the trials and constancy [2] of the prophets: the patience of Job, after which God rewarded him with great blessings and property, and you have seen the end of the Lord; that is, what end the Lord was pleased to give to Job’s sufferings. But Saint Augustine Ven. Bede, and so forth would have these words, the end of the Lord, to be understood of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, on the cross, for which God exalted him, and so forth Witham.

Verse 7–11. Be patient, and so forth He now in these five following verses turns his discourse from the rich to the poor, exhorting them to patience till the coming of the Lord to judgment, which draweth near; his coming to judge every one is at his death. Imitate the patience of the husbandman, waiting for fruit after that the earth hath received the timely and early [1] rain soon after the corn is sown, and again more rain, that comes later to fill the grain before it comes to be ripe. This seems to be the sense by the Greek: others expound it, till he receive the early and latter fruits. Witham.—Behold the judge standeth before the door. This expression is synonymous with that in the foregoing verse. “The coming of the Lord is at hand.” This way of speaking is not uncommon in Scripture. Thus God said to Cain: “If thou hast done evil, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door?” Saint James is here speaking of the approaching ruin of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, and the dispersion of the Jews by the Romans. Calmet.—Call to mind for your encouragement the trials and constancy [2] of the prophets: the patience of Job, after which God rewarded him with great blessings and property, and you have seen the end of the Lord; that is, what end the Lord was pleased to give to Job’s sufferings. But Saint Augustine Ven. Bede, and so forth would have these words, the end of the Lord, to be understood of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, on the cross, for which God exalted him, and so forth Witham.

Verse 7–11. Be patient, and so forth He now in these five following verses turns his discourse from the rich to the poor, exhorting them to patience till the coming of the Lord to judgment, which draweth near; his coming to judge every one is at his death. Imitate the patience of the husbandman, waiting for fruit after that the earth hath received the timely and early [1] rain soon after the corn is sown, and again more rain, that comes later to fill the grain before it comes to be ripe. This seems to be the sense by the Greek: others expound it, till he receive the early and latter fruits. Witham.—Behold the judge standeth before the door. This expression is synonymous with that in the foregoing verse. “The coming of the Lord is at hand.” This way of speaking is not uncommon in Scripture. Thus God said to Cain: “If thou hast done evil, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door?” Saint James is here speaking of the approaching ruin of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, and the dispersion of the Jews by the Romans. Calmet.—Call to mind for your encouragement the trials and constancy [2] of the prophets: the patience of Job, after which God rewarded him with great blessings and property, and you have seen the end of the Lord; that is, what end the Lord was pleased to give to Job’s sufferings. But Saint Augustine Ven. Bede, and so forth would have these words, the end of the Lord, to be understood of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, on the cross, for which God exalted him, and so forth Witham.

Verse 7–11. Be patient, and so forth He now in these five following verses turns his discourse from the rich to the poor, exhorting them to patience till the coming of the Lord to judgment, which draweth near; his coming to judge every one is at his death. Imitate the patience of the husbandman, waiting for fruit after that the earth hath received the timely and early [1] rain soon after the corn is sown, and again more rain, that comes later to fill the grain before it comes to be ripe. This seems to be the sense by the Greek: others expound it, till he receive the early and latter fruits. Witham.—Behold the judge standeth before the door. This expression is synonymous with that in the foregoing verse. “The coming of the Lord is at hand.” This way of speaking is not uncommon in Scripture. Thus God said to Cain: “If thou hast done evil, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door?” Saint James is here speaking of the approaching ruin of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, and the dispersion of the Jews by the Romans. Calmet.—Call to mind for your encouragement the trials and constancy [2] of the prophets: the patience of Job, after which God rewarded him with great blessings and property, and you have seen the end of the Lord; that is, what end the Lord was pleased to give to Job’s sufferings. But Saint Augustine Ven. Bede, and so forth would have these words, the end of the Lord, to be understood of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, on the cross, for which God exalted him, and so forth Witham.

Verse 12. But above all things … swear not, and so forth This earnest admonition is against all kind of oaths in common conversation, (not against oaths made on just and necessary occasions) and in the very same words, as our blessed Saviour warned all people against this sin of swearing. Mat. chapter 5. How unaccountably is this commandment of God contemned? And what a dreadful account will some day be exacted for so many oaths, curses, and blasphemies, which are now so common, that we may rather wonder at the patience of God and that already exemplary punishments have not fallen upon whole cities and kingdoms for this continued profanation of the holy name of God? Witham.—Saint James here repeats the injunctions of our Saviour, not to swear at all. Matthew 5:34. See the annotations in that place.

TR reads “under judgment” instead of “into hypocrisy”