James 5:16

Bible in Basic English (1941)

So then, make a statement of your sins to one another, and say prayers for one another so that you may be made well. The prayer of a good man is full of power in its working.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Ἐξομολογεῖσθε ἀλλήλοις τὰ παραπτώματα, καὶ εὔχεσθε ὑπὲρ ἀλλήλων, ὅπως ἰαθῆτε. Πολὺ ἰσχύει δέησις δικαίου ἐνεργουμένη.

Transliteration

Exomologeisthe allēlois ta paraptōmata, and euchesthe hyper allēlōn, so that iathēte. Poly ischuei deēsis dikaiou energoumenē.

Grammar Details

• *Exomologeisthe*: present middle imperative, 2nd plural - confess
• *allēlois*: dative, masculine, plural - to one another
• *ta paraptōmata*: accusative, neuter, plural - the trespasses
• *euchesthe*: present middle imperative, 2nd plural - pray
• *hyper*: preposition + genitive - for/on behalf of
• *allēlōn*: genitive, masculine, plural - one another
• *iathēte*: aorist passive subjunctive, 2nd plural - you may be healed
• *Poly*: adverb - much/greatly
• *ischuei*: present active, 3rd singular - is effective/powerful
• *deēsis*: nominative, feminine, singular - prayer/supplication
• *dikaiou*: genitive, masculine, singular - of righteous person
• *energoumenē*: present middle participle, nominative, feminine, singular - working/operating

Word Meanings

• *Exomologeisthe*: confess/acknowledge openly
• *paraptōmata*: trespasses/sins/offenses
• *euchesthe*: pray (formal prayer)
• *iathēte*: you may be healed/cured/made whole (can refer to physical or spiritual healing)
• *ischuei*: is effective/powerful/avails much
• *deēsis*: prayer/supplication/petition
• *dikaiou*: of righteous/just person
• *energoumenē*: working/operating/being effective (middle voice suggesting fervent activity)

Referenced Verses

• John 9:31 : 31 We have knowledge that God does not give ear to sinners, but if any man is a worshipper of God and does his pleasure, to him God's ears are open.
• Prov 15:29 : 29 The Lord is far from sinners, but his ear is open to the prayer of the upright.
• 1 John 3:22 : 22 And he gives us all our requests, because we keep his laws and do the things which are pleasing in his eyes.
• Ps 34:15 : 15 The eyes of the Lord are on the upright, and his ears are open to their cry.
• Matt 21:22 : 22 And all things, whatever you make request for in prayer, having faith, you will get.
• Acts 19:18 : 18 And a number of those who had faith came and made a public statement of their sins and all their acts.
• Luke 11:11-13 : 11 And which of you, being a father, will give a stone to his son, who makes request for bread? or for a fish, will give him a snake? 12 Or for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If, then, you who are evil are able to give good things to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who make request to him?
• 1 Pet 2:24 : 24 He took our sins on himself, giving his body to be nailed on the tree, so that we, being dead to sin, might have a new life in righteousness, and by his wounds we have been made well.
• Ps 10:17-18 : 17 Lord, you have given ear to the prayer of the poor: you will make strong their hearts, you will give them a hearing: 18 To give decision for the child without a father and for the broken-hearted, so that the man of the earth may no longer be feared.
• Jer 29:12-13 : 12 And you will go on crying to me and making prayer to me, and I will give ear to you. 13 And you will be searching for me and I will be there, when you have gone after me with all your heart.
• Gen 20:17 : 17 Then Abraham made prayer to God, and God made Abimelech well again, and his wife and his women-servants, so that they had children.
• Num 11:2 : 2 And the people made an outcry to Moses, and Moses made prayer to the Lord, and the fire was stopped.
• Ps 145:18-19 : 18 The Lord is near all those who give honour to his name; even to all who give honour to him with true hearts. 19 To his worshippers, he will give their desire; their cry comes to his ears, and he gives them salvation.
• Prov 15:8 : 8 The offering of the evil-doer is disgusting to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright man is his delight.
• Job 42:8 : 8 And now, take seven oxen and seven sheep, and go to my servant Job, and give a burned offering for yourselves, and my servant Job will make prayer for you, that I may not send punishment on you; because you have not said what is right about me, as my servant Job has.
• Heb 12:13 : 13 And make straight roads for your feet, so that the feeble may not be turned out of the way, but may be made strong.
• 1 Thess 5:17 : 17 Keep on with your prayers.
• Rom 5:19 : 19 Because, as numbers of men became sinners through the wrongdoing of one man, even so will great numbers get righteousness through the keeping of the word of God by one man.
• Luke 18:1-8 : 1 And he made a story for them, the point of which was that men were to go on making prayer and not get tired; 2 Saying, There was a judge in a certain town, who had no fear of God or respect for man: 3 And there was a widow in that town, and she kept on coming to him and saying, Give me my right against the man who has done me wrong. 4 And for a time he would not: but later, he said to himself, Though I have no fear of God or respect for man, 5 Because this widow is a trouble to me, I will give her her right; for if not, I will be completely tired out by her frequent coming. 6 And the Lord said, Give ear to the words of the evil judge. 7 And will not God do right in the cause of his saints, whose cries come day and night to his ears, though he is long in doing it? 8 I say to you that he will quickly do right in their cause. But when the Son of man comes, will there be any faith on earth?
• 2 Kgs 20:2-5 : 2 Then, turning his face to the wall, he made his prayer to the Lord, saying, 3 O Lord, keep in mind how I have been true to you with all my heart, and have done what is good in your eyes. And Hezekiah gave way to bitter weeping. 4 Now before Isaiah had gone out of the middle of the town, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 5 Go back and say to Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, The Lord, the God of David your father, says, Your prayer has come to my ears, and I have seen your weeping; see, I will make you well: on the third day you will go up to the house of the Lord.
• Prov 28:9 : 9 As for the man whose ear is turned away from hearing the law, even his prayer is disgusting.
• Matt 3:6 : 6 And they were given baptism by him in the river Jordan, saying openly that they had done wrong.
• Gen 18:23-32 : 23 And Abraham came near, and said, Will you let destruction come on the upright with the sinners? 24 If by chance there are fifty upright men in the town, will you give the place to destruction and not have mercy on it because of the fifty upright men? 25 Let such a thing be far from you, to put the upright to death with the sinner: will not the judge of all the earth do right? 26 And the Lord said, If there are fifty upright men in the town, I will have mercy on it because of them. 27 And Abraham answering said, Truly, I who am only dust, have undertaken to put my thoughts before the Lord: 28 If by chance there are five less than fifty upright men, will you give up all the town to destruction because of these five? And he said, I will not give it to destruction if there are forty-five. 29 And again he said to him, By chance there may be forty there. And he said, I will not do it if there are forty. 30 And he said, Let not the Lord be angry with me if I say, What if there are thirty there? And he said, I will not do it if there are thirty. 31 And he said, See now, I have undertaken to put my thoughts before the Lord: what if there are twenty there? And he said, I will have mercy because of the twenty. 32 And he said, O let not the Lord be angry and I will say only one word more: by chance there may be ten there. And he said, I will have mercy because of the ten.
• Exod 9:28-29 : 28 Make prayer to the Lord; for there has been enough of these thunderings of God and this ice-storm; and I will let you go and will keep you no longer. 29 And Moses said, When I am gone outside the town, my hands will be stretched out to the Lord; the thunders and the ice-storm will come to an end, so that you may see that the earth is the Lord's.
• Exod 9:33 : 33 So Moses went out of the town, and stretching out his hands made prayer to God: and the thunders and the ice-storm came to an end; and the fall of rain was stopped.
• Exod 17:11 : 11 Now while Moses' hand was lifted up, Israel was the stronger: but when he let his hand go down, Amalek became the stronger.
• Exod 32:10-14 : 10 Now do not get in my way, for my wrath is burning against them; I will send destruction on them, but of you I will make a great nation. 11 But Moses made prayer to God, saying, Lord, why is your wrath burning against your people whom you took out of the land of Egypt, with great power and with the strength of your hand? 12 Why let the Egyptians say, He took them out to an evil fate, to put them to death on the mountains, cutting them off from the earth? Let your wrath be turned away from them, and send not this evil on your people. 13 Have in mind Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you gave your oath, saying, I will make your seed like the stars of heaven in number, and all this land will I give to your seed, as I said, to be their heritage for ever. 14 So the Lord let himself be turned from his purpose of sending punishment on his people.
• Gen 19:29 : 29 So it came about that when God sent destruction on the towns of the lowland, he kept his word to Abraham, and sent Lot safely away when he put an end to the towns where he was living.
• Gen 20:7 : 7 So now, give the man back his wife, for he is a prophet, and let him say a prayer for you, so your life may be safe: but if you do not give her back, be certain that death will come to you and all your house.
• Gen 32:28 : 28 And he said, Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel: for in your fight with God and with men you have overcome.
• Gen 41:9-9 : 9 Then the chief wine-servant said to Pharaoh, The memory of my sin comes back to me now; 10 Pharaoh had been angry with his servants, and had put me in prison in the house of the captain of the army, together with the chief bread-maker;
• 1 Kgs 17:18-24 : 18 And she said to Elijah, What have I to do with you, O man of God? have you come to put God in mind of my sin, and to put my son to death? 19 And he said to her, Give your son to me. And lifting him out of her arms, he took him up to his room and put him down on his bed. 20 And crying to the Lord he said, O Lord my God, have you sent evil even on the widow whose guest I am, by causing her son's death? 21 And stretching herself out on the child three times, he made his prayer to the Lord, saying, O Lord my God, be pleased to let this child's life come back to him again. 22 And the Lord gave ear to the voice of Elijah, and the child's spirit came into him again, and he came back to life. 23 And Elijah took the child down from his room into the house and gave him to his mother and said to her, See, your son is living. 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, Now I am certain that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is true.
• 2 Kgs 4:33-35 : 33 So he went in, and shutting the door on the two of them, made prayer to the Lord. 34 Then he got up on the bed, stretching himself out on the child, and put his mouth on the child's mouth, his eyes on his eyes and his hands on his hands; and the child's body became warm. 35 Then he came back, and after walking once through the house and back, he went up, stretching himself out on the child seven times; and the child's eyes became open.
• 2 Kgs 19:15-20 : 15 And Hezekiah made his prayer to the Lord, saying, O Lord, the God of Israel, seated between the winged ones, you only are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 16 Let your ear be turned to us, O Lord, and let your eyes be open, O Lord, and see; take note of all the words of Sennacherib who has sent men to say evil against the living God. 17 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have made waste the nations and their lands, 18 And have given their gods to the fire; for they were no gods, but wood and stone, the work of men's hands; so they have given them to destruction. 19 But now, O Lord our God, give us salvation from his hands, so that it may be clear to all the kingdoms of the earth that you and only you, O Lord, are God. 20 Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, The prayer which you have made to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, has come to my ears.
• Num 21:7-9 : 7 Then the people came to Moses and said, We have done wrong in crying out against the Lord and against you: make prayer to the Lord to take away the snakes from us. So Moses made prayer for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, Make an image of a snake and put it on a rod, and anyone who has been wounded by the snakes, looking on it will be made well. 9 So Moses made a snake of brass and put it on a rod; and anyone who had a snakebite, after looking on the snake of brass, was made well.
• Deut 9:18-20 : 18 And I went down on my face before the Lord, as at the first, for forty days and forty nights, without taking food or drinking water, because of all your sin, in doing evil in the eyes of the Lord and moving him to wrath. 19 For I was full of fear because of the wrath of the Lord which was burning against you, with your destruction in view. But again the Lord's ear was open to my prayer. 20 And the Lord, in his wrath, would have put Aaron to death: and I made prayer for Aaron at the same time.
• Josh 10:12 : 12 It was on the day when the Lord gave up the Amorites into the hands of the children of Israel that Joshua said to the Lord, before the eyes of Israel, Sun, be at rest over Gibeon; and you, O moon, in the valley of Aijalon.
• Matt 7:7-9 : 7 Make a request, and it will be answered; what you are searching for you will get; give the sign, and the door will be open to you: 8 Because to everyone who makes a request, it will be given; and he who is searching will get his desire, and to him who gives the sign, the door will be open. 9 Or which of you, if his son makes a request for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he makes a request for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, being evil, are able to give good things to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who make requests to him?
• Dan 9:20-22 : 20 And while I was still saying these words in prayer, and putting my sins and the sins of my people Israel before the Lord, and requesting grace from the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God; 21 Even while I was still in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at first when my weariness was great, put his hand on me about the time of the evening offering. 22 And teaching me and talking to me he said, O Daniel, I have come now to give you wisdom.
• Jer 33:3 : 3 Let your cry come to me, and I will give you an answer, and let you see great things and secret things of which you had no knowledge.
• 2 Chr 30:20 : 20 And the Lord gave ear to Hezekiah, and made the people well.
• 2 Chr 32:20-22 : 20 And Hezekiah the king, and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, made prayer because of this, crying out to heaven. 21 And the Lord sent an angel who put to death all the men of war and the chiefs and the captains in the army of the king of Assyria. So he went back to his country in shame. And when he came into the house of his god, his sons, the offspring of his body, put him to death there with the sword. 22 So the Lord gave Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem salvation from the power of Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, and from all others, giving them rest on every side.
• Luke 7:3-4 : 3 And when news of Jesus came to his ears, he sent to him rulers of the Jews, requesting that he would come and make his servant well. 4 And they, when they came to Jesus, made their request warmly, saying,
• Acts 4:24-31 : 24 And hearing it, they all, with one mind, made prayer to God and said, O Lord, maker of heaven and earth and the sea and all things in them: 25 Who has said, by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David your servant, Why are the nations so violently moved, and why are the thoughts of the people so foolish? 26 The kings of the earth were lifted up, the rulers came together, against the Lord, and against his Christ: 27 For, truly, in this town, against your holy servant, Jesus, who was marked out by you as Christ, Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, came together, 28 To do that which had been fixed before by your hand and your purpose. 29 And now, Lord, take note of their cruel words, and give your servants power to be preachers of your word without fear, 30 While your hand is stretched out to do works of mercy; so that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus. 31 And when their prayer was ended, the place where they were was violently moved, and they all became full of the Holy Spirit, preaching the word of God without fear.
• Acts 10:38 : 38 About Jesus of Nazareth, how God gave the Holy Spirit to him, with power: and how he went about doing good and making well all who were troubled by evil spirits, for God was with him.
• Acts 12:5-9 : 5 So Peter was kept in prison: but the church made strong prayer to God for him. 6 And when Herod was about to take him out, the same night Peter was sleeping in chains between two armed men, and the watchmen were keeping watch before the door of the prison. 7 And a great light was seen shining in the room, and an angel of the Lord came to Peter and, touching him on his side so that he came out of his sleep, said, Get up quickly. And his chains came off his hands. 8 Then the angel said, Put on your shoes and get ready to go. And he did so. And he said, Put your coat round you and come with me. 9 And he went out after him; and he was not certain if what was done by the angel was a fact, for it seemed to him that he was seeing a vision. 10 And when they had gone past the first and second watchmen they came to the iron door into the town, which came open by itself: and they went out and down one street; and then the angel went away. 11 And when Peter came to his senses he said, Now, truly, I am certain that the Lord has sent his angel and taken me out of the hands of Herod, against all the hopes of the Jews.
• Col 1:9 : 9 For this reason, we, from the day when we had word of it, keep on in prayer for you, that you may be full of the knowledge of his purpose, with all wisdom and experience of the Spirit,
• Rom 3:10 : 10 As it is said in the holy Writings, There is not one who does righteousness;
• 1 Thess 5:23 : 23 And may the God of peace himself make you holy in every way; and may your spirit and soul and body be free from all sin at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• 1 Thess 5:25 : 25 Brothers, keep us in mind in your prayers.
• Heb 11:7 : 7 By faith Noah, being moved by the fear of God, made ready an ark for the salvation of his family, because God had given him news of things which were not seen at the time; and through it the world was judged by him, and he got for his heritage the righteousness which is by faith.
• Heb 13:18 : 18 Make prayers for us, for we are certain that our hearts are free from the sense of sin, desiring the right way of life in all things.
• Heb 11:4 : 4 By faith Abel made a better offering to God than Cain, and he had witness through it of his righteousness, God giving his approval of his offering: and his voice still comes to us through it though he is dead.
• Luke 9:6 : 6 And they went away, journeying through all the towns, preaching the good news and making people free from diseases in all places.
• 2 Chr 14:11-12 : 11 And Asa made prayer to the Lord his God and said, Lord, you only are able to give help against the strong to him who has no strength; come to our help, O Lord our God, for our hope is in you, and in your name we have come out against this great army. O Lord, you are our God; let not man's power be greater than yours. 12 So the Lord sent fear on the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah; and the Ethiopians went in flight.
• 1 Kgs 13:6 : 6 Then the king made answer and said to the man of God, Make a prayer now for the grace of the Lord your God, and for me, that my hand may be made well. And in answer to the prayer of the man of God, the king's hand was made well again, as it was before.
• Dan 2:18-23 : 18 So that they might make a request for the mercy of the God of heaven in the question of this secret; so that Daniel and his friends might not come to destruction with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 Then the secret was made clear to Daniel in a vision of the night. And Daniel gave blessing to the God of heaven. 20 And Daniel said in answer, May the name of God be praised for ever and ever: for wisdom and strength are his: 21 By him times and years are changed: by him kings are taken away and kings are lifted up: he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those whose minds are awake: 22 He is the unveiler of deep and secret things: he has knowledge of what is in the dark, and the light has its living-place with him. 23 I give you praise and worship, O God of my fathers, who have given me wisdom and strength, and have now made clear to me what we were requesting from you: for you have given us knowledge of the king's business.
• Jer 15:1 : 1 Then the Lord said to me, Even if Moses and Samuel came before me, I would have no desire for this people: send them away from before me, and let them go.
• Hos 12:3-4 : 3 The Lord has a cause against Judah, and will give punishment to Jacob for his ways; he will give him the reward of his acts. 4 In the body of his mother he took his brother by the foot, and in his strength he was fighting with God;
• Matt 18:15-17 : 15 And if your brother does wrong to you, go, make clear to him his error between you and him in private: if he gives ear to you, you have got your brother back again. 16 But if he will not give ear to you, take with you one or two more, that by the lips of two or three witnesses every word may be made certain. 17 And if he will not give ear to them, let it come to the hearing of the church: and if he will not give ear to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax-farmer.
• Num 14:13-20 : 13 And Moses said to the Lord, Then it will come to the ears of the Egyptians; for by your power you took this people out from among them; 14 And they will give the news to the people of this land: they have had word that you, Lord, are present with this people, letting yourself be seen face to face, and that your cloud is resting over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if you put to death all this people as one man, then the nations who have had word of your glory will say, 16 Because the Lord was not able to take this people into the land which he made an oath to give them, he sent destruction on them in the waste land. 17 So now, may my prayer come before you, and let the power of the Lord be great, as you said: 18 The Lord is slow to wrath and great in mercy, overlooking wrongdoing and evil, and will not let wrongdoers go free; sending punishment on children for the sins of their fathers, to the third and fourth generation. 19 May the sin of this people have forgiveness, in the measure of your great mercy, as you have had mercy on them from Egypt up till now. 20 And the Lord said, I have had mercy, as you say:
• 1 Sam 12:18 : 18 So Samuel made prayer to the Lord; and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people were in fear of the Lord and of Samuel.
• 2 Sam 19:19 : 19 And said to him, Let me not be judged as a sinner in your eyes, O my lord, and do not keep in mind the wrong I did on the day when my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, or take it to heart.