Genesis 4:10

Hebrew Bible

8 Cain spoke to his brother Abel.21 While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” And he replied, “I don’t know! Am I my brother’s guardian?” 10 But the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground! 11 So now you are banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you try to cultivate the ground it will no longer yield its best for you. You will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”

James 5:4

New Testament

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.

 Notes and References

"... The use of 'krazein' continues the personification of the wealth. In verse 3, its rust bore witness against the hoarders. Now, as wealth gained by oppression and fraud, it 'cries out.' The verb echoes the 'crying out' of Israel to the Lord when in distress (Exodus 5:8; 22:22; 32:17; Numbers 11:2; Judges 1:14; 3:9; 4:3; 6:7; Psalm 3:5; 17:42; 21:3; 27:1; 64:14; Micah 3:4; Isaiah 19:20). the cries of the reapers: The use of 'therisantes' ("those who have harvested") is synonymous with 'amesantes' in the previous clause. The use of the aorist participle is again significant: they have completed the task and now are owed. They join their cries to those of the expropriated wages. James again chooses a particularly evocative term (boai). The blood of the innocent Abel 'cried out' (boan) to God and led to the punishment of Cain (Genesis 4:10). Likewise, the 'cries' (boai) of the defrauded Israelites in Egypt reached God (Exodus 2:23) ..."

Johnson, Luke Timothy The Letter of James: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (p. 302) Doubleday, 1995

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