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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 Proverbs 16:27 and James 5:3

Hebrew Bible · New Testament

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Summary

James 5 warns the rich that their corroded wealth will consume them like fire, using language similar to Proverbs 16, which compares destructive speech to a scorching fire. Both use fire as a symbol of self-inflicted ruin.

Passages

Proverbs 16:27

Hebrew Bible
25 There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way that leads to death. 26 A laborer’s appetite has labored for him, for his hunger has pressed him to work. 27 A wicked scoundrel digs up evil, and his slander is like a scorching fire. 28 A perverse person spreads dissension, and a gossip separates the closest friends. 29 A violent person entices his neighbor, and then leads him down a path that is terrible.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Proverbs

James 5:3

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.
80–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in James

References

"... James explains the tongue's disastrous impacts by converting his active voice participle into a passive voice: 'and is itself set on fire by hell.' The tongue is a world of injustice in that it is stoked by hell. The word 'hell' translates the Greek word gehenna (from 'valley of Hinnom,' 2 Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 7:31), the fire pit where rubbish was burned outside Jerusalem. The term became an idiom, not for the dwelling place of Satan or demons but for the place of condemnation because it was an everlasting fire (Matthew 5:22; 18:9). Hell inspires the abusive tongue, and James personifies hell as something 'on the march' because he wants to drive home to the teachers that they will be held accountable to God for what they say. The punishment, then, fits the crime: if it sets things on fire, it, too, will be set on fire (e.g., James 2:13; 1 Corinthians 3:17; compare Proverbs 16:27; Sirach 28:22-23; Psalms of Solomon 12:1-4) ..."
Scot McKnight, The Letter of James (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2011), 285–286.

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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Proverbs 16:27 and James 5:3

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