Yakobus 5:1-6

Warning to the Rich

5:1 Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud ¹  over the miseries that are coming on you. 5:2 Your riches have rotted and your clothing has become moth-eaten. 5:3 Your gold and silver have rusted and their rust will be a witness against you. It will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have hoarded treasure! ²  5:4 Look, the pay you have held back from the workers who mowed your fields cries out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5:5 You have lived indulgently and luxuriously on the earth. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. ³  5:6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person, although he does not resist you. ⁴ 

Yakobus 2:1-3

Prejudice and the Law of Love

2:1 My brothers and sisters, ⁵  do not show prejudice ⁶  if you possess faith ⁷  in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. ⁸  2:2 For if someone ⁹  comes into your assembly ¹⁰  wearing a gold ring and fine clothing, and a poor person enters in filthy clothes, 2:3 do you pay attention to the one who is finely dressed and say, ¹¹  “You sit here in a good place,” ¹²  and to the poor person, “You stand over there,” or “Sit on the floor”? ¹³ 

[5:1]  ¹ tn Or “wail”; Grk “crying aloud.”

[5:3]  ² tn Or “hoarded up treasure for the last days”; Grk “in the last days.”

[5:5]  ³ sn James’ point seems to be that instead of seeking deliverance from condemnation, they have defied God’s law (fattened your hearts) and made themselves more likely objects of his judgment (in a day of slaughter).

[5:6]  ⁴ tn Literally a series of verbs without connectives, “you have condemned, you have murdered…he does not resist.”

[2:1]  ⁵ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[2:1]  ⁶ tn Or “partiality.”

[2:1]  ⁷ tn Grk “do not have faith with personal prejudice,” with emphasis on the last phrase.

[2:1]  ⁸ tn Grk “our Lord Jesus Christ of glory.” Here δόξης (doxhs) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

[2:2]  ⁹ tn The word for “man” or “individual” here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But as BDAG 79 s.v. 2 says, “equivalent to τὶς someone.”

[2:2]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “synagogue.” Usually συναγωγή refers to Jewish places of worship (e.g., Matt 4:23, Mark 1:21, Luke 4:15, John 6:59). The word can be used generally to refer to a place of assembly, and here it refers specifically to a Christian assembly (BDAG 963 s.v. 2.b.).

[2:3]  ¹¹ tn Grk “and you pay attention…and say,” continuing the “if” clauses from v. 2. In the Greek text, vv. 2-4 form one long sentence.

[2:3]  ¹² tn Or “sit here, please.”

[2:3]  ¹³ tn Grk “sit under my footstool.” The words “on the floor” have been supplied in the translation to clarify for the modern reader the undesirability of this seating arrangement (so also TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). Another option followed by a number of translations is to replace “under my footstool” with “at my feet” (NAB, NIV, NRSV).