A little time with Scripture.
SCRIPTURE READER

James 5:1-6

World English Bible · Public domain

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James 5:1-6

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

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

World English Bible (WEB). Public-domain translation. Publisher: eBible.org. Local WEB chapter text; additional external requests use bible-api.com.

A few questions for reading in context
  • Who is speaking, and to whom?
  • What is happening before and after this passage?
  • What kind of writing is this—poetry, narrative, letter, or another form?
  • What does the passage say before I consider how to apply it?