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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 Sirach 29:10 and James 5:3

Deuterocanon · New Testament

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Summary

James 5 uses the image of silver rusting, similar to Sirach 29, to condemn the hoarding of wealth. Both urge people not to misuse money, urging people to use their resources to help others instead of keeping them for themselves.

Passages

Sirach 29:10

Deuterocanon · Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
7 Many on account of fraud have turned away. They are afraid of being defrauded for nothing. 8 However be patient with a man in poor estate. Don’t keep him waiting for your alms. 9 Help a poor man for the commandment’s sake. According to his need don’t send him empty away. 10 Lose your money for a brother and a friend. Don’t let it rust under a stone and be lost. 11 Allocate your treasure according to the commandments of the Most High and it will profit you more than gold. 12 Store up almsgiving in your store-chambers and it will deliver you out of all affliction. 13 It will fight for you against your enemy better than a mighty shield and a ponderous spear.
195–180 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Sirach

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

"... Much evidence suggests that James is adapting his language from a specific Jewish tradition (Sirach 12:10–11; 29:8–12) that similarly condemns the static hoarding of wealth. The high likelihood that James is interacting with Sirach is based on the following evidence: (1) the verb “to corrode” occurs in the Greek Bible only in Sirach 12:10–11 and James 5:3. (2) The noun “rust” is rare, occurring in only two other contexts in the Greek Bible: Epistle of Jeremiah 1:10, 23 and Ezekiel 24:6–12. The verbal form “to rust” occurs only in Sirach 12:10; 29:10. Thus, the rare word group occurs in only five contexts total in the Greek Bible, with three being James 5:3, Sirach 12:10, and Sirach 29:10. (3) Like James 5, Sirach 12 and 29 teach about the use of wealth. (4) The terms silver, gold, and treasure all occur in James 5:2–3 and Sirach 29:10–11. This linguistic and thematic evidence suggests that James is interacting with Sirach’s teaching on wealth and poverty ..."
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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Sirach 29:10 and James 5:3

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