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Selected Verse: James 5:13 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Jas 5:13 |
King James |
Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
afflicted--referring to the "suffering affliction" (Jam 5:10).
let him pray--not "swear" in rash impatience.
merry--joyous in mind.
sing psalms--of praise. Paul and Silas sang psalms even in affliction. |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Is any among you afflicted? - By sickness, bereavement, disappointment, persecutions, loss of health or property. The word used here refers to suffering evil of any kind, (κακοπαθεῖ kakopathei.)
Let him pray - That is, prayer is appropriate to trial. The mind naturally resorts to it, and in every way it is proper. God only can remove the source of sorrow; he can grant unto us "a happy issue out of all our afflictions;" he can make them the means of sanctifying the soul. Compare Ch2 33:12; Psa 34:4; Psa 107:6, Psa 107:13, Psa 107:28. It matters not what is the form of the trial, it is a privilege which all have to go to God in prayer. And it is an inestimable privilege. Health fails, friends die, property is lost, disappointments come upon us, danger threatens, death approaches - and to whom shall we go but to God? He ever lives. He never fails us or disappoints us if we trust in him, and his ear is ever open to our cries. This would be a sad world indeed, if it were not for the privilege of prayer. The last resource of millions who suffer - for millions suffer every day - would be taken away, if men were denied the access to the throne of grace. As it is, there is no one so poor that he may not pray; no one so disconsolate and forsaken that he may not find in God a friend; no one so broken-hearted that he is not able to bind up his spirit. One of the designs of affliction is to lead us to the throne of grace; and it is a happy result of trials if we are led by our trials to seek God in prayer.
Is any merry? - The word merry now conveys an idea which is not properly found in the original word here. It refers now, in common usage, to light and noisy pleasure; to that which is jovial; to that which is attended with laughter, or which causes laughter, as a merry jest. In the Scriptures, however, the word properly denotes "cheerful, pleasant, agreeable," and is applied to a state of mind free from trouble - the opposite of affliction - happy, Pro 15:13, Pro 15:15; Pro 17:22; Isa 24:7; Luk 15:23-24, Luk 15:29, Luk 15:32. The Greek word used here (εὐθυμεῖ euthumei) means, literally, "to have the mind well" (εῦ eu and θυμὸς thumos;) that is, to have it happy, or free from trouble; to be cheerful.
Let him sing psalms - That is, if anyone is happy; if he is in health, and is prospered; if he has his friends around him, and there is nothing to produce anxiety; if he has the free exercise of conscience and enjoys religion, it is proper to express that in notes of praise. Compare Eph 5:19-20. On the meaning of the word here rendered "sing psalms," see the notes at Eph 5:19, where it is rendered "making melody." It does not mean to sing psalms in contradistinction from singing hymns, but the reference is to any songs of praise. Praise is appropriate to such a state of mind. The heart naturally gives utterance to its emotions in songs of thanksgiving. The sentiment in this verse is well expressed in the beautiful stanza:
In every joy that crowns my days,
In every pain I bear,
My heart shall find delight in praise,
Or seek relief in prayer.
- Mrs. Williams. |
Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
Is afflicted (κακοπαθεῖ)
See on the kindred word κακοπάθεια, suffering, Jam 5:10. Only here and Ti2 2:3, Ti2 2:9; Ti2 4:5.
Let him sing psalms (ψαλλέτω)
The word means, primarily, to pluck or twitch. Hence of the sharp twang on a bowstring or harp-string, and so to play upon a stringed instrument. Our word psalm, derived from this, is, properly, a tune played upon a stringed instrument. The verb, however, is used in the New Testament of singing praise generally. See Co1 14:15; Rom 15:9. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Is any among you afflicted? let him pray - The Jews taught that the meaning of the ordinance, Lev 13:45, which required the leper to cry, Unclean! unclean! was, "that thus making known his calamity, the people might be led to offer up prayers to God in his behalf," Sota, page 685, ed. Wagens. They taught also, that when any sickness or affliction entered a family, they should go to the wise men, and implore their prayers. Bava bathra, fol. 116, 1.
In Nedarim, fol. 40, 1, we have this relation: "Rabba, as often as he fell sick, forbade his domestics to mention it for the first day; if he did not then begin to get well, he told his family to go and publish it in the highways, that they who hated him might rejoice, and they that loved him might intercede with God for him."
Is any merry? let him sing psalms - These are all general but very useful directions. It is natural for a man to sing when he is cheerful and happy. Now no subject can be more noble than that which is Divine: and as God alone is the author of all that good which makes a man happy, then his praise should be the subject of the song of him who is merry. But where persons rejoice in iniquity, and not in the truth, God and sacred things can never be the subject of their song. |
10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
7 The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh.
22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
15 All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.
13 A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
28 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
13 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.
6 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
4 I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
12 And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
9 And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.
15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
9 Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.
3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
45 And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean.