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James

About this book
Chapter 5

1 Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud over the miseries that are coming on you.⁠ 2 Your riches have rotted and your clothing has become moth-eaten.⁠ 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! 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 Heaven’s Armies.⁠ 5 You have lived indulgently and luxuriously on the earth. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.⁠ 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person, although he does not resist you. 7 So be patient, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s return. Think of how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the ground and is patient for it until it receives the early and late rains. 8 You also be patient and strengthen your hearts, for the Lord’s return is near. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be judged.⁠ See, the judge stands before the gates! 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name. 11 Think of how we regard as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and you have seen the Lord’s purpose, that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. 12 And above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath. But let your “Yes” be yes and your “No” be no, so that you may not fall into judgment.⁠ 13 Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone in good spirits? He should sing praises. 14 Is anyone among you ill? He should summon the elders of the church, and they should pray for him and anoint him with olive oil in the name of the Lord.⁠ 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up—and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness.⁠ 17 Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and there was no rain on the land for three years and six months!⁠ 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land sprouted with a harvest. 19 My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back,⁠ 20 he should know that the one who turns a sinner back from his wandering path will save that person’s soul from death⁠ and will cover a multitude of sins.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 94:8 and James 5:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

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Summary

James echoes 1 Enoch 94, which warns the rich that their wealth will fade and bring judgment. Both condemn greed and injustice, reflecting a wisdom and ethical tradition that connects wealth with corruption and oppression.

Passages

1 Enoch 94:8

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
6 Woe to those who build unrighteousness and oppression and lay deceit as a foundation; for they shall be suddenly overthrown, and they shall have no peace. 7 Woe to those who build their houses with sin; for they shall be overthrown from all their foundations, and they shall fall by the sword. [And those who acquire gold and silver in judgment suddenly shall perish.] 8 Woe to you, you rich, for you have trusted in your riches, and you shall depart from your riches, because you have not remembered the Most High in the days of your riches. 9 You have committed blasphemy and unrighteousness, and have become ready for the day of slaughter, and the day of darkness and the day of the great judgment. 10 Thus I speak and declare to you: He who created you will overthrow you, and for your fall there shall be no compassion, and your Creator will rejoice at your destruction. 11 And your righteous ones in those days shall be a reproach to the sinners and the godless.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

James 5:1

New Testament
1 Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud over the miseries that are coming on you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your clothing has become moth-eaten. 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! 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 Heaven’s Armies. 5 You have lived indulgently and luxuriously on the earth. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person, although he does not resist you.
80–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in James

References

"... For two reasons, James may also have in mind 1 Enoch 97:1–8. First, 1 Enoch 94–97 is a clear, extended passage of prophetic denunciation of the rich for their abuses of the poor. Second, 1 Enoch 97:4 says that if you misuse money, your heart will condemn you and “this very matter shall be a witness against you, as a record of your evil deeds.” This passage may have been part of James’s inspiration for personifying the rust of the rich’s wealth, which would condemn them at the judgment. In 1 Enoch 97:1–8, the author condemns the rich who “have water available to [them] all the time” and who “eat the best bread” and “drink wine in large bowls.” But, like James 5, it does not condemn the rich simply for possessing wealth. Rather, they are denounced because they “carry out oppression, deceit, and blasphemy,” and because they are powerful people “who coerce the righteous with [their] power.” Love of money causes men to become greedy and oppressive so that they acquire goods to hoard ..."
Todd Scacewater, “The Dynamic and Righteous Use of Wealth in James 5:1–6,” Journal of Markets & Morality 20.2 (2017): 227–242.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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1 Enoch 94:8 and James 5:1

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