James Chapter 5 verse 20 Holy Bible

ASV James 5:20

let him know, that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins.
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BBE James 5:20

Be certain that he through whom a sinner has been turned from the error of his way, keeps a soul from death and is the cause of forgiveness for sins without number.
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DARBY James 5:20

let him know that he that brings back a sinner from [the] error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall cover a multitude of sins.
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KJV James 5:20

Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
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WBT James 5:20


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WEB James 5:20

let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins.
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YLT James 5:20

let him know that he who did turn back a sinner from the straying of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins.
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 20. - Let him know. So א, A, K, L, Latt., Syriac, B has γινώσκετε, "know ye." After ψυχὴν, א, A, and Vulgate add αὐτοῦ. B has it after θανάτου. And shall cover a multitude of sins (καλύψει πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν). The same expression occurs in 1 Peter 4:8, "Charity covereth a multitude of sins." It is founded on Proverbs 10:12, תְּכַסֶּה אַהֲבָה וְעַל כָּל־פְשָׁעִים, "Love covereth all sins," where the LXX. goes entirely astray: Πάντας δὲ τοὺς μὴ φιλονεικοῦντας καλύπτει φιλία: but cf. Psalm 31:1; Psalm 84:3, in the LXX. It is difficult to believe that St. Peter and St. James independently hit upon the rendering πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν for the Hebrew כָּל־פְּשָׂעִים, as there was nothing to suggest it, the LXX. never rendering כֹּל by πλῆθος. Probably the one was consciously or unconsciously influenced by the other. The striking position which the words occupy here, as those with which the Epistle closes, would make them linger in the memory; and there is nothing to militate against the conclusion, which appeared probable on the occasion of previous coincidences between the two writers, that St. James is the earlier of the two (comp. on James 4:6). The expression used by the apostle leaves it undetermined whose sins are thus "covered," whether (1) those of the man who is "converted from the error of his way," or (2) those of the man who wins him back, and through this good action obtains, by the grace of God, pardon for his own "multitude of sins." It has been well noticed that "there is a studied generality in the form of the teaching which seems to emphasize the wide blessedness of love. In the very act of seeking to convert one for whom we care we must turn to God ourselves, and in covering the past sins of another our own also are covered. In such an act love reaches its highest point, and that love includes the faith in God which is the condition of forgiveness" (Plumptre). The Epistle ends abruptly, with no salutation and no doxology. In this it stands almost by itself in the New Testament; the First Epistle of St. John alone approaching it in the abruptness of its conclusion. . . .

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(20) Let him know.--Or, as it rather seems to be, Know ye; be absolutely sure of this, in a knowledge better than all the Gnostic and Agnostic learning of the day. He which turneth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death--the means thereto being given him by the Saviour of all--and shall hide a multitude of sins; not, of course, his own, but those of the penitent, brought back by this good servant into the fold. So is it possible to be a fellow-worker with Christ (2Corinthians 6:1), and a sharer in His work of salvation, as, in another sense, we too vicariously suffer for the sins and faults of others. (Comp. Colossians 1:24, and Butler's Analogy, part 2, chap. 5)What St. James was in word that also was he in deed; for he "prayed fervently" for the pardon and conversion of those who killed him. "Hold," said some of the by-standers. when the martyr sank upon the stones, "the Just is praying for you!" Stephen's prayer won Saul for the infant Church: it can hardly be that James's last breathings of pity were unanswered of God.