Yaakov 5:15

15 And the tefillah of emunah will deliver the choleh (sick person), and Hashem will raise him up. And if he may have been committing peysha’im, he will be given selicha (forgiveness).

Yaakov 5:15 Meaning and Commentary

James 5:15

And the prayer of faith shall save the sick
That is, the prayer of the elders, being put up in faith by them, and in which the sick person joins by faith; such a prayer is a means of bringing down from God a blessing on the sick man, and of restoring him to his former health:

and the Lord shall raise him up;
from his bed of sickness, on which he is laid, and bring him forth to praise his name, and to fear and glorify him.

And if he have committed sins;
not that it is a question whether he has or not, for no man lives without sin, nor the commission of it; but the sense is, if he has been guilty of any sins, which God in particular has taken notice of, and on account of which he has laid his chastising hand upon him, in order to bring him to a sense of them, and to acknowledge them; which is sometimes the case, though not always, at the same time that his bodily health is restored:

they shall be forgiven him;
he shall have a discovery, and an application of pardoning grace to him: and indeed the removing the sickness or disease may be called the forgiveness of his sins, which is sometimes the sense of this phrase in Scripture, as in ( 1 Kings 8:34 1 Kings 8:36 1 Kings 8:50 ) .

Yaakov 5:15 In-Context

13 If anyone is suffering among you, let him daven. If anyone has simcha, let him sing niggunim. [Ps 50:15]
14 Are there any cholim (sick ones) among you? Let the choleh (sick person) summon [for Bikkur Cholim (Visiting the Sick)] the Ziknei HaKehillah (Elders of the Congregation) and let them daven tefillos over him, having applied the shemen mishchah (anointing oil), b’Shem Adoneinu. [Ps 23:5; Isa 1:6]
15 And the tefillah of emunah will deliver the choleh (sick person), and Hashem will raise him up. And if he may have been committing peysha’im, he will be given selicha (forgiveness).
16 Therefore, make vidduy (confession of sin) to one another, and daven tefillos on behalf of one another, so that you may have refuah sheleimah (complete healing). The tefillah of a tzaddik is powerful and effective.
17 Eliyahu [HaNavi] was a man of like nature to us, and with tefillah he davened for it not to rain, and it did not rain upon ha’aretz for shalosh shanim and shishah chodashim (three years and six months). [MELACHIM ALEF 17:1]
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.