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 are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. 3Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. 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. 5Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. 6Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth 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

• ·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 19:13Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.
• Deuteronomy 24:14Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates:
• Job 24:10They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
• Job 31:38If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;
• Isaiah 5:7For the vineyard of Yhwh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
• Jeremiah 22:13Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
• Habakkuk 2:11For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.
• Malachi 3:5And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith Yhwh of Armies.
• Colossians 4:1Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.
• Genesis 4:10And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.
• Exodus 2:23And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
• Exodus 3:9Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.
• Exodus 22:22Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.
• Deuteronomy 24:15At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto Yhwh, and it be sin unto thee.
• Job 34:28So that they cause the cry of the poor to come unto him, and he heareth the cry of the afflicted.
• Psalms 9:12When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.

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