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.
• 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.
• New Living Translation (NLT)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.

Context of James 5:4

2Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 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. 5You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing 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 defraud or rob your neighbor. “ ‘Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight.
• Deuteronomy 24:14Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.
• Job 24:10Lacking clothes, they go about naked; they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.
• Job 31:38“if my land cries out against me and all its furrows are wet with tears,
• Isaiah 5:7The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.
• Jeremiah 22:13“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labor.
• Habakkuk 2:11The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.
• Malachi 3:5“So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.
• Colossians 4:1Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.
• Genesis 4:10The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.
• Exodus 2:23During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.
• Exodus 3:9And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.
• Exodus 22:22“Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless.
• Deuteronomy 24:15Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
• Job 34:28They caused the cry of the poor to come before him, so that he heard the cry of the needy.
• Psalms 9:12For he who avenges blood remembers; he does not ignore the cries 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