James 5:20

The concluding words (quoted from Proverbs 10:12 and found also in 1 Peter 4:8) are usually referred to the sinner. But passages like Sir 3:30; Daniel 4:27; Tob 4:10; Tob 12:9 show that the later Jews held that good deeds blot out the sins of those who do them. Probably St. James has these passages in his mind, and teaches that he who waters others shall be watered also himself—that, in covering the sins of another a man may be covering his own.