Warning to the Rich

5 Come now, ^(A)you rich, weep and howl for the ^(B)miseries that are coming upon you. ^2 (C)Your riches have rotted and ^(D)your garments are moth-eaten. ³ Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. ^(E)You have laid up treasure ^(F)in the last days. ⁴ Behold, ^(G)the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and ^(H)the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of ^(I)the Lord of hosts. ^5 (J)You have lived on the earth in luxury and ^(K)in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in ^(L)a day of slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned and ^(M)murdered ^(N)the righteous person. He does not resist you.

¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up ^(A)for many years; relax, ^(B)eat, drink, be merry.”’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ^(C)‘Fool! ^(D)This night ^(E)your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, ^(F)whose will they be?’ ²¹ So is the one ^(G)who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

²² For we know that ^(A)the whole creation ^(B)has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

³ This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that ^(A)the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and ^(B)madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.