Warning to the Rich

Come now, you rich(A) people, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you. Your wealth has rotted and your clothes are moth-eaten.(B) Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days.(C) Look! The pay that you withheld from the workers(D) who mowed your fields cries out, and the outcry of the harvesters has reached the ears of the Lord of Armies.(E) You have lived luxuriously on the earth and have indulged yourselves. You have fattened your hearts(F) in a day of slaughter.(G) You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous, who does not resist you.(H)

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Advice for Rich People

Now listen, you rich people! Cry and moan over the miseries that are overtaking you. Your riches are rotten, your clothes have been eaten by moths, your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be used as evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasures in these last days. Look! The wages that you kept back from the workers who harvested your fields are shouting out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies. You have lived in luxury and pleasure on earth. You have fattened yourselves[a] for the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the one who is righteous, even though he did not rebel against you.

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Footnotes

  1. James 5:5 Lit. fattened your hearts