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 riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. 3Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 5You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he 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

• Beholdἰδούidou · look!G2400
• the payμισθόςmisthos · wageG3408
• of the laborersἐργάτηςergatēs · workerG2040
• who mowedἀμάωamaō · to mowG270
• your fieldsχώραchōra · countryG5561
• by you, criesκράζωkrazō · to cryG2896
• the outcryβοήboē · outcryG995
• of thoseὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• who didθερίζωtheridō · to reapG2325
• has reachedεἰσέρχομαιeiserchomai · to enterG1525
• the earsοὖςous · earG3775
• the Lordκύριοςkurios · lord: GodG2962
• Sabaothσαβαώθsabaōth · hostsG4519

Cross-references for James 5:4

• Leviticus 19:13‘You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning.
• Deuteronomy 24:14“You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your countrymen or one of your aliens who is in your land in your towns.
• Job 24:10They cause the poor to go about naked without clothing, And they take away the sheaves from the hungry.
• Job 31:38“If my land cries out against me, And its furrows weep together;
• Isaiah 5:7For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel And the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.
• Jeremiah 22:13“Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness And his upper rooms without justice, Who uses his neighbor’s services without pay And does not give him his wages,
• Habakkuk 2:11Surely the stone will cry out from the wall, And the rafter will answer it from the framework.
• Malachi 3:5“Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me,” says the Lord of hosts.
• Colossians 4:1Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.
• Genesis 4:10He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.
• Exodus 2:23Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God.
• Exodus 3:9Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.
• Exodus 22:22You shall not afflict any widow or orphan.
• Deuteronomy 24:15You shall give him his wages on his day before the sun sets, for he is poor and sets his heart on it; so that he will not cry against you to the Lord and it become sin in you.
• Job 34:28So that they caused the cry of the poor to come to Him, And that He might hear the cry of the afflicted--
• Psalms 9:12For He who requires blood remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the afflicted.

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