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Yaakov 5:11-20 Orthodox Jewish Bible (OJB)

11. Hinei, we call me'ashirim the ones having endured: the enduring orech ru'ach (patience) of Iyov you heard of, and the toitzaa (outcome) from Hashem you saw, that Eloheinu is full of rachamim and channun Hashem. [Job 1:21,22; 2:10; 42:10,12-17; Ex 34:6; Num 14:18; Ps 103:8]

12. But, above all, my Achim b'Moshiach, do not swear shevuot (oaths) neither by Shomayim nor by ha'aretz nor any other shevu'ah, but let your "ken" be "ken," and your "lo" be "lo," for fear that you fall under HaDin (the Judgment).

13. If anyone is suffering among you, let him daven. If anyone has simcha, let him sing niggunim. [Ps 50:15]

14. Are there any cholim (sick ones) among you? Let the choleh (sick person) summon [for Bikkur Cholim (Visiting the Sick)] the Ziknei HaKehillah (Elders of the Congregation) and let them daven tefillos over him, having applied the shemen mishchah (anointing oil), b'Shem Adoneinu. [Ps 23:5; Isa 1:6]

15. And the tefillah of emunah will deliver the choleh (sick person), and Hashem will raise him up. And if he may have been committing peysha'im, he will be given selicha (forgiveness).

16. Therefore, make vidduy (confession of sin) to one another, and daven tefillos on behalf of one another, so that you may have refuah sheleimah (complete healing). The tefillah of a tzaddik is powerful and effective.

17. Eliyahu [HaNavi] was a man of like nature to us, and with tefillah he davened for it not to rain, and it did not rain upon ha'aretz for shalosh shanim and shishah chodashim (three years and six months). [MELACHIM ALEF 17:1]

18. And again Eliyahu [HaNavi] davened, and Shomayim gave GESHEM (rain) and ha'aretz caused its p'ri to sprout. [MELACHIM ALEF 18:45]

19. My Achim b'Moshiach, if anyone among you wanders vait (astray) from HaEmes and someone turns a choteh (sinner) to become a ba'al teshuva

20. You should have da'as that the one having helped a choteh (sinner) to become a ba'al teshuva and to turn from the toyus (error) of his derech, and from setiyah HaDerech Hashem (turning aside or deviating from the Way of Hashem) will save the neshamah of him from mavet and will cover a multitude of chatta'im. [T.N. This may be the earliest writing in the Brit Chadasha. Of royal blood, Ya'akov Bar Yosef Ben Dovid, like Rav Sha'ul, was an unbeliever until he came to faith by the appearance of the Risen Moshiach (see I Cor 15:7). He died al kiddush ha-Shem 62 C.E. according to Josephus. His brother Yehuda wrote the letter on p.1118. See p848.]

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