Muscleman, Samson

by Frederick Hoehn, copyright 2014, all rights reserved.

Chapter 1

I think I’ve also seen the name spelled Sampson, but in both Hebrews and Judges, they use Samson.

Samson is famous as a mighty warrior and strongman.  He was a champion of Israel at a time when they needed a champion.  He was one of the Judges of Israel before they started having kings.

We now have stories of Superman and Batman, but those are just fiction, just stories.  Samson was the real thing.

Samson’s coming was announced by an angel to his parents before Samson’s birth.

The history of Samson is from the book of Judges, chapters 13 through 16.

Here it is from the Holy Bible, Hoehn Version, (Amazon).

___Judges chapter 13

1 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

2 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah, and his wife was barren, and didn't bare any children.

3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman, and said to her, "See now, you're barren, and don't bear, but you'll conceive, and bear a son.

4 Now therefore beware, please, and don't drink wine nor strong drink, and don't eat any unclean thing,

5 For see, you'll conceive, and bear a son, and no razor shall come on his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines."

6 Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, "A man of God came to me, and his facial expression was like the facial expression of an angel of God, very terrible, but I didn't ask him where he was from, nor did he tell me his name,

7 But he said to me, "See, you'll conceive, and bear a son, and now drink no wine nor strong drink, and don't eat any unclean thing, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death."

8 Then Manoah intreated the Lord, and said, "O my Lord, let the man of God that you sent come again to us, and teach us what we shall do to the child that shall be born."

9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her.

10 And the woman hurried and ran, and showed her husband, and said to him, "See, the man has appeared to me, that came to me the other day."

11 And Manoah got up, and followed his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, "Are you the man that spoke to the woman?"  And he said, "I am."

12 And Manoah said, "Now let your words happen.  How shall we order the child, and how shall we do to him?"

13 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "Of all that I said to the woman let her beware.

14 She may not eat of anything that comes of the vine, nor let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing, all that I commanded her let her observe."

15 And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, Please let us detain you, until we prepare a kid for you."

16 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "Though you detain me, I won't eat of your bread, and if you want to offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the Lord."  For Manoah didn't know that he was an angel of the Lord.

17 And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, "What is your name, so that when your sayings occur we can honor you?"

18 And the angel of the Lord said to him, "Why do you ask my name, since it is secret?"

19 So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it on a rock to the Lord, and the angel did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife watched.

20 For when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar.  And Manoah and his wife looked at it, and fell on their faces to the ground.

21 But the angel of the Lord didn't appear anymore to Manoah and to his wife.  Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the Lord.

22 And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God."

23 But his wife said to him, "If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he wouldn't have received a burnt offering and a meat offering from our hands, nor would he have showed us all these things, nor would, as at this time, have told us such things as these.

24 And the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson, and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him.

25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

___Judges chapter 14

1 And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.

2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, "I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines, now therefore get her for me as wife."

3 Then his father and his mother said to him, "Isn't there a woman among the daughters of your brothers, or among all my people, that you go to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?"  And Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she pleases me well."

4 But his father and his mother didn't know that it was of the Lord, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines, for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

5 Then Samson went down to Timnath, and his father and his mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnath, and see, a young lion roared against him.

6 And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily on him, and he tore him like he would have torn a young goat, and he had nothing in his hand, but he didn't tell his father or his mother what he had done.

7 And he went down, and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson well.

8 And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion, and see, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion.

9 And he took some of it in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they ate, but he didn't tell them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion.

10 So his father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there, since that's what the young men used to do.

11 And when they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.

12 And Samson said to them, "I will now tell you a riddle, if you can tell me the right answer within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I'll give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garments,

13 But if you can't explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments."  And they said to him, "Tell us your riddle, so we can hear it."

14 And he said to them, "Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong came sweetness."  And they couldn't in three days expain the riddle.

15 And on the seventh day, they said to Samson's wife, "Entice your husband, so he will explain to us the riddle, so we don't burn you and your father's house with fire, have you called us to take what we have?  Is it not so?"

16 And Samson's wife cried before him, and said, "You hate me, and don't love me, you've told a riddle to the children of my people, and haven't told it to me."  And he said to her, "See, I haven't told it to my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it to you?"

17 And she cried before him the seven days, while their feast lasted, and on the seventh day, he told her, because she lay severly on him, and she told the riddle to the children of her people.

18 And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey?  And what is stronger than a lion?"  And he said to them, "If you had not plowed with my heifer, you wouldn't have found out my riddle."

19 And the Spirit of the Lord came on him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and killed thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments to those who explained the riddle.  And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house.

20 But Samson's wife was given to his companion, who used to be his friend.

___Judges chapter 15

1 But a while afterward, in the time of wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a kid, and he said, "I will go in to my wife into the bedroom."  But her father wouldn't allow him to go in.

2 And her father said, "I truly thought that you completely hated her, therefore I gave her to your companion, isn't her younger sister more attractivfe than her?  Please take her, instead of the other."

3 And Samson said concerning them, "Now I shall be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure."

4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the middle between two tails.

5 And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.

6 Then the Philistines said, "Who did this?"  And they answered, "Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion."  And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.

7 And Samson said to them, "Though you've done this, yet I will be avenged against you, and after that I will stop."

8 And he struck them hip and thigh with a great slaughter, and he went down and lived on the top of the rock Etam.

9 Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.

10 And the men of Judah said, "Why have you come up against us?"  And they answered, "We've come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he has done to us."

11 Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, "Don't you know that the Philistines are rulers over us?  What is this that you've done to us?"  And he said to them, "Like they did to me, so I've done to them."

12 And they said to him, "We've come down to bind you, so we can deliver you into the hand of the Philistines."  And Samson said to them, "Swear to me, that you won't fall on me yourselves."

13 And they said to him, saying, "No, but we will bind you tightly, and deliver you into their hand, but surely we won't kill you."  And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.

14 And when he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him, and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily on him, and the cords that were on his arms became like flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.

15 And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put out his hand, and took it, and killed a thousand men with it.

16 And Samson said, "With the jawbone of an ass, heaps on heaps, with the jaw of an ass I've killed a thousand men."

17 And when he had stopped speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramathlehi.

18 And he was very thirsty, and called on the Lord, and said, "You've given this great deliverance into the hand of your servant, and now shall I die from thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?"

19 But God split a hollow place that was in the jaw, and water came water from there, and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived, so he called the name of it Enhakkore, which is in Lehi until this day.

20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

___Judges chapter 16

1 Then Samson went to Gaza, and saw a prostitute there, and had sex with her.

2 And it was told the Gazites, saying, "Samson has come here."  And they surrounded him, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, "In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him."

3 And Samson lay 'til midnight, and got up at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of a hill that is before Hebron.

4 And afterward, he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, "Entice him, and find out the source of his great strength, and how we can prevail against him, so we can bind him to afflict him, and we will give you every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

6 And Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me, please, what the source of your great strength is, and how you can be bound to afflict you.

7 And Samson said to her, "If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then I'll be weak, and be like another man."

8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs that had'n't been dried, and she bound him with them.

9 Now there were men lying in wait, staying with her in the room.  And she said to him, "The Philistines are on you, Samson."  And he broke the withs, like a thread of tow is broken when it touches the fire.  So his strength was not known.

10 And Delilah said to Samson, "See, you have mocked me, and told me lies, now tell me, please, how you can be bound."

11 And he said to her, "If they bind me tightly with new ropes that never were occupied, then I'll be weak, and be like another man."

12 Therefore, Delilah took new ropes, and bound him with them, and said to him, "The Philistines are on you, Samson."  And there were liers in wait staying in the room.  And he broke them off his arms like a thread.

13 And Delilah said to Samson, "Until now you've mocked me, and told me lies, tell me how you can be bound."  And he said to her, "If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web."

14 And she fastened it with the pin, and said to him, "The Philistines are on you, Samson."  And he awoke out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web.

15 And she said to him, "How can you say, I love you, when your heart is not with me?  You've mocked me these three times, and haven't told me the source of your great strength."

16 And when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed to death,

17 He told her all his heart, and said to her, "A razor hasn't come on my head, for I've been a Nazarite to God from my mother's womb, if I'm shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I'll become weak, and be like any other man."

18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, "Come up this once, for he's shown me all his heart."  Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought money in their hand.

19 And she made him sleep on her knees, and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head, and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

20 And she said, "The Philistines are on you, Samson."  And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, "I'll go out like at other times before, and shake myself."  And he didn't know that the Lord had departed from him.

21 But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with shackles of brass, and he ground in the prison house.

22 But the hair of his head began to grow again after he'd been shaved.

23 Then the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice, for they said, "Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hand."

24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said, "Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, who killed many of us."

25 And when their hearts were merry, they said, "Call for Samson, so he can make sport for us."  And they called for Samson out of the prison house, and he made them sport, and they set him between the pillars.

26 And Samson said to the lad that held him by the hand, "Allow me to feel the pillars that support the house, so I can lean on them."

27 Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there, and there were on the roof about three thousand men and women, that watched while Samson made sport.

28 And Samson called to the Lord, and said, "O Lord God, remember me, please, and strengthen me, please, only this once, O God, so I can at once be avenged aginst the Philistines for my two eyes."

29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the house stood, and on which it was supported, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.

30 And Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines."  And he bowed himself with all his might, and the house fell on the lords, and on all the people that were in it.  So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those that he killed in his life.

31 Then his brothers and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burying place of Manoah his father.  And he judged Israel twenty years.

Chapter 2

Although Samson had dealings with the Philistines, essentially, the Philistines were enemies with Israel.

Samson was a Nazarite.  There were certain rules to follow.  Samson didn’t cut his hair.  Later, that was his downfall when his hair was cut, and he became weak like other men.

Jesus was a Nazarene because he had been a resident of the city of Nazareth.  Samson was a Nazarite.

In chapter 15, Samson found the jawbone of an ass, and killed a thousand men with it.

In chapter 16, Samson went to Gaza.  They thought they had him locked in at that city, and were going to kill him in the morning.  At midnight, Samson got up, picked up the gate of the city, and walked off.

But Samson’s downfall was Delilah, an outlandish woman, that is, a woman not of Israel.  Samson’s parents had spoken to him about finding a woman of the tribes of Israel.  Samson didn’t heed their advice.

When parents try to make rules for their children, it’s generally because the parents want the best for their children.

Samson kept his secret from Delilah for a while, but finally, he relented and told her the secret about cutting his hair.

While Samson loved Delilah, she didn’t love him.  To her, Samson was just merchandise to be sold for money to the enemies of Israel.

After cutting Samson’s hair, his eyes were put out, and Samson was imprisoned.

But in the prison, Samson’s hair continued to grow.  Samson was brought out to a gathering of the Philistines for entertainment.  Samson prayed, and brought down the building, literally, by collapsing the supporting columns.

As a tribute to Samson, the Bible says, he killed more in his death than he did in his life.

If you read the book of Judges, the judges typically ruled for forty years.  Samson for only twenty years.  Why?  Because he got mixed up with the wrong woman.

But Samson is still one of the heroes of the Bible.

___James chapter 1

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are dispersed around, greetings.

2 My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations,

3 Knowing this, that the testing of your faith works patience.

4 But let patience have its perfect work, so you'll be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God for it, who gives to all men liberally, and won't find fault, and it shall be given to him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.

7 For let that man not think that he'll receive anything from the Lord.

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted,

10 But the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he'll pass away.

11 For the sun has no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and the flower of it falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes, so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation, for after he's been tested, he'll receive the crown of life, that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God can't be tempted with evil, nor does he tempt any man,

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.

15 Then when lust has conceived, it produces sin, and sin when it's finished, produces death.

16 Do not err, my beloved brothers.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.

18 He chose to father us with the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

19 So, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,

20 For the anger of man doesn't accomplish the righteousness of God.

21 So, lay apart all filthiness and the unnecessary naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man seeing his natural face in a mirror,

24 For he sees himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

25 But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

26 If any man among you seems to be religious, and doesn't bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is for nothing.

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

___James chapter 2

1 My brothers, don't have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

2 For if a man with a gold ring comes to your assembly in fancy clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes comes in also,

3 And you have respect to him that wears the fancy clothes, and say to him, "Sit here in a good place," and say to the poor, "Stand there, or sit here under my footstool,"

4 Aren't you then partial in yourselves, and have become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my beloved brothers, hasn't God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?

6 But you have despised the poor.  Don't rich men oppress you, and bring you before the judgment seats?

7 Don't they blaspheme that worthy name by which you're called?

8 If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor like yourself," you do well,

9 But if you have respect of persons, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as sinners.

10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

11 For he that said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not kill."  Now if you don't commit adultery, yet if you kill, you've become a breaker of the law.

12 Speak in such a way, and do, as those who'll be judged by the law of liberty.

13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has shown no mercy, and mercy rejoices against judgment.

14 What does it profit, my brothers, though a man says he has faith, and doesn't have works?  Can faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister needs clothes, and lacks daily food,

16 And one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you don't give them the things that are needed for the body, what good is that?

17 Even so faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead, being alone.

18 Yes, a man could say, "You have faith, and I have works, show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works."

19 You believe that there is one God, you do well, the devils also believe, and tremble.

20 But don't you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son on the altar?

22 Do you see how faith worked with his deeds, and by works faith was made perfect?

23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God."

24 You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

25 Likewise also wasn't Rahab the prostitute justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?

26 For like the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

___James chapter 3

1 My brothers, don't be many masters, knowing that we'll receive the greater condemnation.

2 For in many things we offend all.  If any man doesn't offend in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

3 See, we put bits in the horses' mouths, so they'll obey us, and we turn around their whole bodies.

4 Look also at the ships, which though they're so large, and are driven by fierce winds, yet they're turned around by a very small helm, wherever the captain wants.

5 Even so, the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things.  See how great a matter a little fire kindles!

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of sin, so is the tongue among our members that it makes dirty the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell.

7 For every kind of animals, and of birds, and of snakes, and of things in the sea, gets tamed, and has been tamed by mankind,

8 But no man can tame the tongue, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless God, the Father, and with it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God.

10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing.  My brothers, these things ought not to be.

11 Does a fountain send out at the same place sweet water and bitter?

12 Can the fig tree, my brothers, produce olive berries?  Or a vine, figs?  So no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh.

13 Who is a wise man, possessing knowledge among you?  Let him show out of a good lifestyle his works with meekness of wisdom.

14 But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, don't glory, and don't lie against the truth.

15 This wisdom doesn't descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be reasoned with, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

18 And the fruit of righteousness is planted in peace by those who make peace.

___James chapter 4

1 Where do wars and fightings among you come from?  Don't they come from your lusts that war in your members?

2 You lust, and don't have, you kill, and desire to have, and can't obtain, you fight and war, yet you don't have, because you don't ask.

3 You ask, and don't receive, because you ask wrongly, so you can consume it on your lusts.

4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don't you know that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.

5 Do you think that the scripture says for nothing, "The spirit that lives in us lusts to envy?"

6 But he gives more grace.  So he says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he'll run away from you.

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and cry, let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he'll lift you up.

11 Don't speak evil about each other, brothers.  He that speaks evil about his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil about the law, and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy, who are you that judges someone else?

13 Go on now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we'll go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and make a profit,"

14 Actually, you don't know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is a puff of steam, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.

15 For you ought to say, "Lord willing, we'll live, and do this, or that."

16 But now you rejoice in your boastings, all such rejoicing is evil.

17 Therefore to him that knows to do good, and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.

___James chapter 5

1 Go on now, you rich men, cry and howl for your miseries that shall come on you.

2 Your riches are corrupted, and your clothes are moth eaten.

3 Your gold and silver are rusted, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire.  You've heaped treasure together for the last days.

4 See, the wages of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which you've kept back by fraud, shouts, and the shouts of those who've reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.

5 You've lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton, you've nourished your hearts, like in a day of slaughter.

6 You've condemned and killed the just, and he doesn't resist you.

7 Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.  See, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receives the early and latter rain.

8 You also be patient.  Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is getting near.

9 Don't grudge against each other, brothers, so you won't be condemned, see, the judge stands at the door.

10 Take, my brothers, the prophets, who've spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

11 See, we count them happy that endure.  You've heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

12 But above all things, my brothers, don't swear, not by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath, but let your yes be yes, and your no, no, so that you don't fall into condemnation.

13 Is anyone among you afflicted?  Let him pray.  Is anyone merry?  Let him sing psalms.

14 Is anyone sick among you?  Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,

15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he'll be forgiven.

16 Confess your faults to each other, and pray for each other so you'll be healed.  The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man is does a lot of good.

17 Elijah was a man subject to the same kind of passions that we are, and he prayed earnestly that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't rain on the earth for three years and six months.

18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

19 Brothers, if any of you strays from the truth, and someone converts him,

20 Let him know, that he that converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.