James 5:11
“Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Those who endure are blessed; Job's steadfastness reveals the Lord's great compassion.
What Does James 5:11 Mean?
James pronounces the enduring blessed: we count them happy who endure. He points to Job, whose steadfastness through devastating loss became proverbial, and to the outcome the Lord brought about, the end that revealed God's purpose in it all.
From Job's story James draws the heart of God: the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. The point of Job's suffering was not cruelty but the unveiling of a God full of tender mercy. So present endurance is held up not as bleak fortitude but as the path along which God's compassion is finally seen. The reader, in the middle of his own trial before its end is in view, is assured that the Lord who oversees it is merciful, and that those who endure will find, as Job did, the goodness of God.
In the Original Language
polysplanchnos (πολύσπλαγχνος), 'very pitiful' -- abounding in compassion, deeply tender-hearted.