James 5:1-20
James 5:1-6:
5:1Lead (on this) now!, the wealthy-people, you must cry uttering-loudly on your distresses, the coming-on (distresses); .2your wealth rotted2 and your outer-garments became2 moth-eaten; .3your gold and silver was rusted-down2, and the emitted-rust of them will be for a witness to you and it will eat your fleshes as fire; you treasured in (the) last days.
.4Look!, the compensation of the workers, the (workers) having collected your country(-areas), the (compensation) having been deprived2 from you, shouts, and the loud-cries of the (people) having harvested went2 into the ears of (the) Lord of Hosts.
.5You lived-luxuriously on the earth and you were self-indulgent, you nourished your hearts in (the) day of slaughter, .6you condemned, you murdered the righteous-one, he does not arrange-himself-against you.
James issues prophetic statements regarding the past, present and future situation of rich people who rely on their wealth instead of God, including a warning of future judgment if people do not change their behavior now as he instructs, similar to the way that the old covenant prophets prophesied to Israel and Gentiles.
Emphatically you must lead your minds to observe what I am writing at the present time!, you who are the rich people…
- you must cry (weep, shedding tears, expressing grief, mourn) uttering loudly on your distresses (crying aloud to God based on your endurance of toil, hardships, misery),
- emphatically and specifically the distresses which are presently in motion coming on/upon you (referring to the impending future time of God’s judgment);
- your wealth rotted and continues rotten (your riches have become putrid like a decaying vegetable from God's viewpoint and remain that way)
- and your outer-garments (clothes, which indicate your ‘social status’ or position within the community from the worldly viewpoint) became and continue to be moth-eaten (eaten by moths);
- your gold (gold coins) and silver (silver coins, money in general) as one unit was caused to be rusted over in a downward motion (corroded down to the bottom, completely tarnished, eroded) and it remains that way,
- and the emitted rust of them (the quality of the emission of tarnish, corrosion)
- will in the future be for/into a witness to you (an attestation or declaration which is borne by it bringing to light or confirming what happened as being authentic information or knowledge regarding this subject; in this context it will be a witness against you) and
- will eat your fleshes (your physical makeup, the body and soul parts) in comparison to fire devouring what is burnable in its path;
- you treasured (you have already stored up, laid in store for/to yourselves, stored-up as in a thesaurus, in-storage) during the last days (the final or extreme days, the more remote, uttermost span of time in which we all live currently as we await the Lord’s presence).
Look (behold, see, pay attention)!...
- the compensation (wage, hire) of the workers (people who expend energy and effort doing things to receive pay, wages, compensation in return),
- emphatically and specifically the workers who have collected (cut/mowed and gathered the produce from) your country areas (surrounding spaces, your farms, fields),
- emphatically and specifically the compensation which has been deprived and is still being deprived from you (the compensation has been forced to be without you, in the sense that you did not make it available to the workers; in other words: you have taken it away from those who should have it and your behavior results in their not-having completeness in that specific area of their lives),
- shouts (the compensation cries out),
…and the loud-cries (bellows) of the people who have harvested (reaped) have gone into the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
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