“Confess your faults one to another”
KING JAMES VERSION (KJV)
TRANSLATION, MEANING, CONTEXT
This verse speaks to the power of prayer and forgiveness. It tells us to pray from one another. Confess your sins to one another so we may be healed again. A heartfelt prayer from a well-intentioned Christian can be very effective.
To get what James 5:16 means in detail, scroll down or follow these links for the original scriptural meaning , biblical context and relative popularity.
“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.”
What does this verse really mean? Use this table to get a word-for-word translation of the original Greek Scripture. This shows the English words related to the source biblical texts along with brief definitions. Follow the buttons in the right-hand column for detailed definitions and verses that use the same root words. Use this reference information to gain deeper insight into the Bible and enrich your understanding. Information based on Strong's Exhaustive Concordance[1].
| KJV Verse | Original Greek | Meaning/ Definition This is a simplified translation of the original Greek word. Follow the buttons on the right to get more detail. | More Use the buttons below to get details on the Greek word and view related Bible verses that use the same root word. |
|---|---|---|---|
| “Confess” | ἐξομολογεῖσθε | To acknowledge or (by implication, of assent) agree fully | Confess |
| “your” | (No Greek definition. English implied.) | ||
| “faults” | παραπτώματα, | A side-slip (lapse or deviation), i.e., (unintentional) error or (wilful) transgression | faults |
| “one to another,” | ἀλλήλοις | One another | one another |
| “and” | καὶ | And, also, even, so then, too, etc.; often used in connection (or composition) with other particles or small words | and |
| “pray” | εὔχεσθε | To wish; by implication, to pray to God | pray |
| “one” | ἀλλήλων | One another | one |
| “for” | ὑπὲρ | "over", i.e., (with the genitive case) of place, above, beyond, across, or causal, for the sake of, instead, regarding; with the accusative case superior to, more than | for |
| “another,” | ἀλλήλων | One another | another |
| “that” | ὅπως | What(-ever) how, i.e., in the manner that (as adverb or conjunction of coincidence, intentional or actual) | that |
| “ye may be healed.” | ἰαθῆτε | To cure (literally or figuratively) | healed |
| “The effectual fervent” | ἐνεργουμένη | To be active, efficient | effectual fervent |
| “prayer” | δέησις | A petition | prayer |
| “of a righteous man” | δικαίου | Equitable (in character or act); by implication, innocent, holy (absolutely or relatively) | righteous man |
| “availeth” | ἰσχύει | To have (or exercise) force (literally or figuratively) | availeth |
| “much.” | πολὺ | (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) many; neuter (singular) as adverbial, largely; neuter (plural) as adverb or noun often, mostly, largely | much |
See James 5:16 with its adjacent verses in bold below. Follow either of the two large buttons below to see these verses in their broader context of the King James Bible or a Bible concordance.
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14 Is any 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 have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 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.
17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
The King James Bible (1611) and Strong's Concordance (1890) with Hebrew and Greek dictionaries are sourced from the BibleForgeDB database (https://github.com/bibleforge) within the BibleForge project (http://bibleforge.com). Popularity rankings are based on search volume data from the Google AdWords Keyword Planner tool.