Bible Strands
James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — James writes to scattered Jewish believers, closing his letter in a passage (5:13–16) on suffering, sickness, and sin. He moves from the elders anointing the sick to a practice the whole community is to do.
The words — ἐξομολογεῖσθε (exomologeisthe) is the imperative of exomologeō, literally "to say out loud, to acknowledge openly"; it is the root of "confess" but carries the force of vocalizing, not merely inward admission.
The thread — Proverbs 15:29 states that the LORD hears the prayer of the righteous; Matthew 21:22 ties answered prayer to belief. The mutual, spoken confession to one another has no direct parallel in the NT outside James.
Why it lands — It requires two concrete acts: speaking a sin aloud to another person and praying for that person. Healing is framed as the outcome of this communal exchange, not of private devotion.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 29:12 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
- Proverbs 15:29 The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.
- Matthew 21:22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
- Psalms 34:15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their cry.
- John 9:31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but He does listen to the one who worships Him and does His will.
- Psalms 145:18 The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call out to Him in truth.
- Jeremiah 33:3 Call to Me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
- 1 Peter 2:24 He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”
- Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
- 1 John 3:22 and we will receive from Him whatever we ask, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight.