HomeLog inTodaySubscriptionVerse LibraryApproachAboutPrivacy中文English
← Back to Library

James 5:1-6

雅各书 5:1-6

The Passage

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies. You have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn't resist you.

In the other language

嗐！你们这些富足人哪，应当哭泣、号啕，因为将有苦难临到你们身上。你们的财物坏了，衣服也被虫子咬了。你们的金银都长了銹；那锈要证明你们的不是，又要吃你们的肉，如同火烧。你们在这末世只知积攒钱财。工人给你们收割庄稼，你们亏欠他们的工钱，这工钱有声音呼叫，并且那收割之人的冤声已经入了万军之主的耳了。你们在世上享美福，好宴乐，当宰杀的日子竟娇养你们的心。你们定了义人的罪，把他杀害，他也不抵挡你们。

Theme

Wages that cry out

Bring a question to this passage

Many readers arrive here from a real question. These are reflections for how this passage speaks to the questions people bring most often — not an answer about what will happen, but an invitation to sit with it slowly.

How do I face this season of pressure at work?

Withheld wages, accumulated wealth, and unheard workers stand at the center of this passage’s severe warning. If your pressure at work includes exploitation, these words do not ask you to rename injustice as a personal failure to cope. The laborers’ cries matter, and the passage says they reach the Lord’s ears. It does not tell you when wrongs will be addressed or which action to take. It does distinguish the comfort of those who profit from the suffering of those they mistreat. You can also consider any power you hold over others’ pay or workload. Which injustice needs to be named honestly rather than absorbed as ordinary pressure?

Carry thisThe suffering behind withheld wages is not invisible to God.

Other passages for this questionGenesis 1:26-28 · Isaiah 41:10 · 1 Corinthians 7:3-4

I want to learn to love better in this relationship.

James gives withheld wages a voice: they cry out alongside the workers who have been cheated. This is a warning about exploitation, not a guide to relationships directly, but it asks you to take fairness seriously wherever you hold power. Wanting to love better includes noticing who carries the cost of your comfort. Money, household work, decision-making, and emotional attention can reveal patterns that affectionate words leave untouched. You need not assume every imbalance is deliberate to examine it honestly. The passage refuses to treat another person's suffering as an acceptable price for ease. Where might your comfort in this relationship depend on a burden you have not fully acknowledged?

Carry thisLove takes the cost of another person's labor seriously.

Other passages for this questionGenesis 1:26-28 · Isaiah 41:10 · 1 Corinthians 7:3-4

What do I need to let go of in the coming weeks?

James names things that must be released: wealth kept through fraud, comfort sustained by exploitation, and power used against the innocent. This is not a general warning against enjoying what you have. Its sharpest concern is the people whose wages have been withheld and whose cries have been heard. As you consider the coming weeks, the passage invites more than a private feeling of generosity. You can examine whether anything you control is owed to someone else, and whether your convenience depends on ignoring their cost. What money, advantage, or excuse are you holding onto at another person's expense?

Carry thisAnother person's rightful wages are not mine to keep.

Other passages for this questionGenesis 1:26-28 · Isaiah 41:10 · 1 Corinthians 7:3-4

How can I find stillness in a busy life?

These are unsettling words, not a gentle lesson in relaxation. James does not directly address finding stillness; he confronts wealth gathered through injustice, especially wages withheld from workers. The cries of those workers are heard by the Lord. For someone seeking quiet, this passage asks that peace not depend on ignoring another person's burden. You might consider whose labor supports your busy life, and whether your pursuit of ease leaves room for fairness and attention. If you are the one being exploited, the passage names that wrong rather than asking you to accept it peacefully. Whose experience needs your attention when you pause long enough to listen?

Carry thisStillness need not turn away from the cries of others.

Other passages for this questionGenesis 1:26-28 · Isaiah 41:10 · 1 Corinthians 7:3-4

Have a different question?

Write what you are actually carrying right now, and Lectio will answer it with this passage — James 5:1-6.

Or walk this passage through the five steps of Lectio →

James 5 — in context

1Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.

2Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.

3Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days.

4Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies.

5You have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

6You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn’t resist you.

7Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain.

8You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

9Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door.

10Take, brothers, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

11Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

12But above all things, my brothers, don’t swear, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath; but let your “yes” be “yes”, and your “no”, “no”; so that you don’t fall into hypocrisy.

More from James

Related topics

Work and Calling

Begin a Lectio reading

Log in

Continue with Google
or use email

Don't have an account? Sign up