James 5:4

James 5:4 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
• New International Version (NIV)Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

Context of James 5:4

2Your wealth has rotted and your clothes are moth-eaten. 3Your 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. Look! The pay that you withheld from the workers who mowed your fields cries out, and the outcry of the harvesters has reached the ears of the Lord of Armies. 5You have lived luxuriously on the earth and have indulged yourselves. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous, who does not resist you.

James 5:4 word by word

ἰδοὺ ὁ μισθὸς τῶν ἐργατῶν τῶν ἀμησάντων τὰς χώρας ὑμῶν ὁ ἀπεστερημένος ἀφ᾽ ὑμῶν κράζει καὶ αἱ βοαὶ τῶν θερισάντων εἰς τὰ ὦτα κυρίου σαβαὼθ εἰσεληλύθασιν.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• Beholdὁράωhoraō · to see: seeG3708
• the hireμισθόςmisthos · wageG3408
• of the labourersἐργάτηςergatēs · workerG2040
• reaped downἀμάωamaō · to mowG270
• yourσύsu · youG4771
• fieldsχώραchōra · countryG5561
• which is ofἀπόapo · away fromG575
• kept back by fraudἀποστερέωapostereō · to defraudG650
• criethκράζωkrazō · to cryG2896
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• the criesβοήboē · outcryG995
• which have reapedθερίζωtheridō · to reapG2325
• are enteredεἰσέρχομαιeiserchomai · to enterG1525
• intoεἰςeis · towardG1519
• the earsοὖςous · earG3775
• of the Lordκύριοςkurios · lord: GodG2962
• of sabaothσαβαώθsabaōth · hostsG4519

Cross-references for James 5:4

• Leviticus 19:13“Do not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages due a hired worker must not remain with you until morning.
• Deuteronomy 24:14“Do not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether one of your Israelite brothers or one of the resident aliens in a town in your land.
• Job 24:10Without clothing, they wander about naked. They carry sheaves but go hungry.
• Job 31:38If my land cries out against me and its furrows join in weeping,
• Isaiah 5:7For the vineyard of the Lord of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah, the plant he delighted in. He expected justice but saw injustice; he expected righteousness but heard cries of despair.
• Jeremiah 22:13Woe for the one who builds his palace through unrighteousness, his upstairs rooms through injustice, who makes his neighbor serve without pay and will not give him his wages,
• Habakkuk 2:11For the stones will cry out from the wall, and the rafters will answer them from the woodwork.
• Malachi 3:5“I will come to you in judgment, and I will be ready to witness against sorcerers and adulterers; against those who swear falsely; against those who oppress the hired worker, the widow, and the fatherless; and against those who deny justice to the resident alien. They do not fear me,” says the Lord of Armies.
• Colossians 4:1Masters, deal with your slaves justly and fairly, since you know that you too have a Master in heaven.
• Genesis 4:10Then he said, “What have you done? Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!
• Exodus 2:23After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their difficult labor, they cried out, and their cry for help because of the difficult labor ascended to God.
• Exodus 3:9So because the Israelites’ cry for help has come to me, and I have also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them,
• Exodus 22:22“You must not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.
• Deuteronomy 24:15You are to pay him his wages each day before the sun sets, because he is poor and depends on them. Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be held guilty.
• Job 34:28but caused the poor to cry out to him, and he heard the outcry of the needy.
• Psalms 9:12For the one who seeks an accounting for bloodshed remembers them; he does not forget the cry of the oppressed.

Commentaries on James 5:4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4The hire of the laborers - The law, Leviticus 19:13, had ordered: The wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning, every day's labor being paid for as soon as ended. This is more clearly stated in another law, Deuteronomy 24:15; : At his day thou shalt give him his hire; neither shall the sun go down upon it; - lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee. And that God particularly resented this…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields - In the previous verses the form of the sin which the apostle specified was that they had hoarded their property. He now states another form of their guilt, that, while doing this, they had withheld what was due from the very laborers who had cultivated their fields, and to whose labor they were indebted for what they had. The phrase “who have reaped down your fields,” is used to denote…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4These wealthy individuals were landowners who exploited their workers (5:1). They are like those in 2:6 who oppressed and took Christians to court. These rich people exploited the day laborers who harvested their fields. cries … have reached the ears of the Lord: God hears the prayers of the oppressed (see Deuteronomy 24:14–15). Even while the laborers are still suffering, the Lord has heard them (see Exodus 3:7). the Lord of Hosts (1 Samuel 17:45; Psalm…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. Behold--calling attention to their coming doom as no vain threat. labourers--literally "workmen." of you kept back--So English Version rightly. Not as Alford, "crieth out from you." The "keeping back of the hire" was, on the part OF the rich, virtually an act of "fraud," because the poor laborers were not immediately paid. The phrase is therefore not, "kept back by you," but "of you"; the latter implying virtual, rather than overt, fraud. James refers…Read the comment

Topics related to James 5:4

• Dishonesty
• Employee
• Employer
• Labor
• Master
• Oppression
• Poor
• Riches
• Servant
• Wages

In the dictionaries

• Convert
• Grudge
• Howl
• Nourish
• Pitiful
• Sabaoth
• Tender
• Wages
• Wanton
• Ear

Commentaries on James 5

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings