James 5:1-9 ▼

1 Come, you rich men, weep aloud and howl for your sorrows which will soon be upon you.

2 Your treasures have rotted, and your piles of clothing are moth-eaten;

3 your gold and your silver have become covered with rust, and the rust on them will give evidence against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded up wealth in these last days.

4 I tell you that the pay of the labourers who have gathered in your crops--pay which you are keeping back--is calling out against you; and the outcries of those who have been your reapers have entered into the ears of the Lord of the armies of Heaven.

5 Here on earth you have lived self-indulgent and profligate lives. You have stupefied yourselves with gross feeding; but a day of slaughter has come.

6 You have condemned--you have murdered-- the righteous man: he offers no resistance.

7 Be patient therefore, brethren, until the Coming of the Lord. Notice how eagerly a farmer waits for a valuable crop! He is patient over it till it has received the early and the later rain.

8 So you also must be patient: keeping up your courage; for the Coming of the Lord is now close at hand.

9 Do not cry out in condemnation of one another, brethren, lest you come under judgement. I tell you that the Judge is standing at the door.