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David’s Friend, Jonathan
by Frederick Hoehn, copyright 2014, all rights reserved.  
Chapter 1
Our story starts when David is returning from destroying the giant, Goliath, enemy of Israel, and a Philistine.  
In chapter 18, the soul of Jonathan, son of King Saul, was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.  
Jonathan might have succeeded his father Saul as King, eventually.  But before that could happen, Jonathan was one of those who died in battle.  
But David and Jonathan had a strong friendship.
Why was Jonathan’s heart knit with the soul of David?  Because, in a desperate situation, David arose, and showed himself to be a mighty man of valor, and saved the day for Israel.  
Jonathan was also a might man of valor, but it was his friend, David, who gave deliverance to Israel against Goliath.  
Here is the narrative from the book of First Samuel, from the Holy Bible, Hoehn Version, (Amazon.com).  

1 Sam 17:54  And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.
 55 And when Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the host, "Abner, whose son is this youth?"  And Abner said, "As your soul lives, O king, I can't tell."
 56 And the king said, "Inquire whose son the stripling is."
 57 And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.
 58 And Saul said to him, "Whose son are you, young man?"  And David answered, "I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite."

___1_Samuel chapter 18
 1 And when he finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
 2 And Saul took him that day, and would no more let him go home to his father's house.
 3 Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.
 4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even his sword, and his bow, and his girdle.
 5 And David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely, and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants.
 6 And as they came, when David had returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music.
 7 And the women answered each other as they played, and said, "Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands."
 8 And Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him, and he said, "They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands, and what can he have more but the kingdom?"
 9 And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.
 10 And on the next day, the evil spirit from God came on Saul, and he prophesied in the middle of the house, and David played with his hand, like at other times, and there was a javelin in Saul's hand.
 11 And Saul threw the javelin, for he said, "I will strike David to the wall with it."  And David avoided out of his presence twice.
 12 And Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, and had departed from Saul.
 13 Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a thousand, and he went out and came in before the people.
 14 And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him.
 15 So when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him.
 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.
 17 And Saul said to David, "See my elder daughter Merab, I will give you her for your wife, only be valiant for me, and fight the Lord's battles."  For Saul said, "Let not my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be on him."
 18 And David said to Saul, "Who am I?  And what is my life, or my father's family in Israel, that I should be son in law to the king?"
 19 But at the time when Merab Saul's daughter should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as wife.
 20 And Michal Saul's daughter loved David, and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.
 21 And Saul said, "I will give her to him, so that she will be a trap to him, and so that the hand of the Philistines will be against him."  So Saul said to David, "You shall this day be my son in law in the one of the two."
 22 And Saul commanded his servants, saying, "Talk with David privately, and say, see, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you, now therefore be the king's son in law."
 23 And Saul's servants spoke those words in the ears of David.  And David said, "Does it seem to you a light thing to be a king's son in law, since I'm a poor man, and lightly esteemed?"
 24 And the servants of Saul told him, saying, "David spoke like this."
 25 And Saul said, "Say this to David, the king doesn't desire any dowry, but a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies."  But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.
 26 And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son in law, and the days had not expired.
 27 So David got up and went, he and his men, and killed two hundred Philistines, and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, so that he could be the king's son in law.  And Saul gave him Michal his daughter as wife.
 28 And Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal Saul's daughter loved him.
 29 And Saul was yet the more afraid of David, and Saul became David's enemy continually.
 30 Then the princes of the Philistines went out, and after they went out, David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was much set by.

___1_Samuel chapter 19
 1 And Saul said to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David.
 2 But Jonathan Saul's son delighted much in David, and Jonathan told David, "Saul my father seeks to kill you, now therefore, please, be careful until the morning, and stay in a secret place, and hide yourself,
 3 And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will talk with my father about you, and what I see, I will tell you."
 4 And Jonathan spoke good about David to Saul his father, and said to him, "Let the king not sin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his works toward you have been very good,
 5 For he put his life in his hand, and killed the Philistine, and the Lord made a great salvation for all Israel, you saw it, and rejoiced, so then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a reason?"
 6 And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, "As the Lord lives, he shall not be killed."
 7 And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things.  And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as in the past.
 8 And there was war again, and David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and killed them with a great slaughter, and they fled from him.
 9 And the evil spirit from the Lord was on Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand, and David played with his hand.
 10 And Saul sought to strike David to the wall with the javelin, but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he struck the javelin into the wall, and David fled, and escaped that night.
 11 Saul also sent messengers to David's house, to watch him, and to kill him in the morning, and Michal, David's wife told him, saying, "If you don't save your life to night, tomorrow you'll be killed."
 12 So Michal let David down through a window, and he went, and fled, and escaped.
 13 And Michal took an image, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth.
 14 And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, "He is sick."
 15 And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, "Bring him up to me in the bed, so I can kill him."
 16 And when the messengers had come in, see, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster.
 17 And Saul said to Michal, "Why have you deceived me this way, and sent away my enemy, so that he has escaped?"  And Michal answered Saul, "He said to me, Let me go, why should I kill you?"
 18 So David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him.  And he and Samuel went and lived in Naioth.
 19 And it was told Saul, see, "David is at Naioth in Ramah."
 20 And Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was on the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.
 21 And when they told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied also.  And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also.
 22 Then he went also to Ramah, and came to a great well that is in Sechu, and he asked and said, "Where are Samuel and David?"  And someone said, "See, they're at Naioth in Ramah."
 23 And he went there to Naioth in Ramah, and the Spirit of God was on him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah.
 24 And he stripped off his clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night.  So they say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"

___1_Samuel chapter 20
 1 And David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, "What have I done?  What is my iniquity?  And what is my sin before your father, so that he seeks my life?"
 2 And he said to him, "God forbid, you shall not die, see, my father will do nothing either great or small, but that he will show it to me, and why should my father hide this thing from me?  It is not so."
 3 And David swore also, and said, "Your father certainly knows that I have found grace in yours eyes, and he says, let Jonathan not know this, so he won't be grieved, but truly as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death."
 4 Then Jonathan said to David, "Whatever your soul desires, I will do it for you."
 5 And David said to Jonathan, "See, tomorrow is the new moon, and I shouldn't fail to sit with the king to eat, but let me go, so I can hide myself in the field until the third day at evening.
 6 If your father at all misses me, then say, David earnestly asked permission from me to run to Bethlehem his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.
 7 If he says thus, It is well, your servant shall have peace, but if he's very angry, then be sure that evil is determined by him.
 8 Therefore you shall deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you, but if there's iniquity in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?"
 9 And Jonathan said, "Far be it from you, for if I knew certainly that evil were determined by my father to come on you, then wouldn't I tell it you?"
 10 Then David said to Jonathan, "Who shall tell me?  Or what if your father answers you roughly?"
 11 And Jonathan said to David, "Come, and let us go out into the field."  And they went out both of them into the field.
 12 And Jonathan said to David, "O Lord God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about tomorrow any time, or the third day, and, see, if there is good toward David, and I then don't send to you, and show it you,
 13 The Lord do so and much more to Jonathan, but if it pleases my father to do you evil, then I will show it you, and send you away, so you can go in peace, and the Lord be with you, as he has been with my father.
 14 And you shall not only while yet I live show me the kindness of the Lord, that I don't die,
 15 But also you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever, no, not when the Lord has cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth."
 16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, "Let the Lord even require it at the hand of David's enemies."
 17 And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul.
 18 Then Jonathan said to David, "Tomorrow is the new moon, and you shall be missed, because your seat will be empty.
 19 And when you've stayed three days, then you shall go down quickly, and come to the place where you hid yourself when the business was in hand, and shall remain by the stone Ezel.
 20 And I will shoot three arrows on the side of it, as though I shot at a mark.
 21 And see, I will send a lad, saying, go, find the arrows.  If I specifically say to the lad, see, the arrows are on this side of you, take them, then come, for there is peace to you, and no hurt, as the Lord lives.
 22 But if I say thus to the young man, see, the arrows are beyond you, go your way, for the Lord has sent you away.
 23 And concerning the matter that you and I have spoken of, see, the Lord be between you and me forever."
 24 So David hid himself in the field, and when the new moon had come, the king sat down to eat.
 25 And the king sat on his seat, as at other times, on a seat by the wall, and Jonathan got up, and Abner sat by Saul's side, and David's place was empty.
 26 But Saul didn't say anything that day, for he thought, something has happened him, he is not clean, surely he is not clean.
 27 And on the next day, that was the second day of the month, David's place was empty, and Saul said to Jonathan his son, "Why doesn't the son of Jesse come to eat, neither yesterday, nor today?"
 28 And Jonathan answered Saul, "David earnestly asked permission from me to go to Bethlehem,
 29 And he said, let me go, please, for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there, and now, if I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away, please, and see my brothers.  That's why he didn't come to the king's table."
 30 Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, "You son of the perverse rebellious woman, don't I know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own confusion, and to the confusion of your mother's nakedness?
 31 For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom.  So now send and fetch him to me, for he shall surely die."
 32 And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, "Why should he be killed?  What has he done?"
 33 And Saul threw a javelin at him to strike him, by which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to kill David.
 34 So Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger, and ate no meat the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father had done him shame.
 35 And it in the morning, Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad with him.
 36 And he said to his lad, "Run, find now the arrows that I shoot."  And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.
 37 And when the lad had come to the place of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, Jonathan shouted to the lad, and said, "Is not the arrow beyond you?"
 38 And Jonathan shouted to the lad, "Make speed, hurry up, don't stay."  And Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows, and came to his master.
 39 But the lad didn't know anything, only Jonathan and David knew the matter.
 40 And Jonathan gave his bow and arrows to his lad, and said to him, "Go, carry them to the city.
 41 And as soon as the lad had gone, David got up out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times, and they kissed each other, and wept with each other, until David finished.
 42 And Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, since 
we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, the Lord be between me and you, and between my seed and your seed forever."  And he got up and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.

Chapter 2

It very much displeased Saul that the women sang in their songs, “Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”  

Saul said, “What can he have more but the kingdom?”  

Many kings have been paranoid about who might bump them out of office.  Paranoia comes from demons.  The Bible tells us Saul was troubled by an evil spirit.  Sometimes music would soothe King Saul.  

Perhaps David caught on before Jonathan that Saul wanted David dead.  So David and Jonathan agreed that Jonathan would go to Saul about David, and then bring answer to his friend David.  

Saul got angry with his son Jonathan, who then saw that Saul meant David evil.

Jonathan went to the field where David was and shot arrows.  It had been arranged that David would know his answer from Jonathan by what Jonathan said to the boy that had come along to fetch the arrows.  

After the lad took the archery gear back home, David and Jonathan had some moments to talk together.  

Both men made a covenant together.  

David had to flee from Saul.

In one scripture, David says that Jonathan’s love for David surpassed the love of women.  There’s nothing sexual about this.  Just that David and Jonathan were very close friends.  

And Jonathan grieved that David was being persecuted by his father Saul.  

When Saul died, the Lord put David in as the second King of Israel.  

___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.