Misuse of Riches

(A)Come now, (B)you rich people, (C)weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. (D)Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have corroded, and their corrosion will [a]serve as a testimony against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is (E)in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! Behold, (F)the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and (G)the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of (H)the Lord [b]of armies. You have [c](I)lived for pleasure on the earth and lived luxuriously; you have [d]fattened your hearts in (J)a day of slaughter. You have condemned and [e](K)put to death (L)the righteous person; he offers you no resistance.

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Footnotes

  1. James 5:3 Lit be for
  2. James 5:4 Gr sabaoth, for Heb tsebaoth
  3. James 5:5 Or led a life of self-indulgence
  4. James 5:5 Lit nourished
  5. James 5:6 Or murdered

Warning to the Rich

Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags. Your gold and silver are corroded. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This corroded treasure you have hoarded will testify against you on the day of judgment. For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter. You have condemned and killed innocent people,[a] who do not resist you.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 5:6a Or killed the Righteous One.
  2. 5:6b Or Don’t they resist you? or Doesn’t God oppose you? or Aren’t they now accusing you before God?