James 5:5

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - James 5:1-11

The apostle is here addressing first sinners and then saints. I. Let us consider the address to sinners; and here we find James seconding what his great Master had said: Woe unto you that are rich; for you have received your consolation, Luke 6:24. The rich people to whom this word of warning was sent were not such as professed the Christian religion, but the worldly and unbelieving Jews, such as are here said to condemn and kill the just, which the Christians had no power to do; and though... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 5:4-6

5:4-6 Look you, the pay of the reapers who reaped your estates, the pay kept back from them by you, cries against you, and the cries of those who reaped have come to the ears of the Lord of Hosts. On the earth you have lived in soft luxury and played the wanton; you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter. You condemned, you killed the righteous man, and he does not resist you. Here is condemnation of selfish riches and warning of where they must end. (i) The selfish rich have... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 5:5

Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth ,.... This is said of other rich men; for all that is here said is not to be understood of the same individuals, but some things of one, and some of another; some made no use of their riches, either for themselves, or others; some did make use of them, and employed the poor, and then would not give them their wages; and others lived a voluptuous and luxurious life, indulged themselves in carnal lusts and pleasures, and gratified the senses by eating,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - James 5:5

Ye have lived in pleasure - Ετρυφησατε . Ye have lived luxuriously; feeding yourselves without fear, pampering the flesh. And been wanton - Εσπαταλησατε· Ye have lived lasciviously. Ye have indulged all your sinful and sensual appetites to the uttermost; and your lives have been scandalous. Ye have nourished your hearts - Εθρεψατε· Ye have fattened your hearts, and have rendered them incapable of feeling, as in a day of slaughter, ἡμερᾳ σφαγης , a day of sacrifice, where... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - James 5:5

Verse 5 5In pleasure. He comes now to another vice, even luxury and sinful gratifications; for they who abound in wealth seldom keep within the bounds of moderation, but abuse their abundance by extreme indulgences. There are, indeed, some rich men, as I have said, who pine themselves in the midst of their abundance. For it was not without reason that the poets have imagined Tantalus to be hungry near a table well furnished. There have ever been Tantalians in the world. But James, as it has... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - James 5:1-6

DENUNCIATION OF THE RICH FOR The whole section resembles nothing so much as an utterance of one of the old Jewish prophets. It might almost be a leaf torn out of the Old Testament. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - James 5:1-6

The judgment on selfishness. Selfishness lay at the root of the sinfulness of the rich men, whose conduct is so sternly denounced. The sin read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - James 5:1-6

The judgments coming upon the wicked rich. This apostrophe is so dreadful that we cannot imagine it to have been addressed to professing Christians. It would rather seem that the apostle here turns aside to glance at the godless rich Jews of his time, who were in the habit of persecuting the Church and defrauding the poor ( James 2:6 , James 2:7 ). His words regarding them are words of stern denunciation. Like one of the old Hebrew prophets, he curses them in the name of the Lord. Its... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - James 5:1-6

The doom of misused wealth. We have in these opening words an echo of James 4:9 ; but with a difference. There, a call to repentance; here, a denunciation. The very word "howl" recalls old prophecies of doom ( Isaiah 13:6 ; Isaiah 14:31 ; Isaiah 15:3 ). So here, the coming doom. The destruction of Jerusalem? Yes; but this only the "beginning of sorrows." The culminating judgments, and the second advent These rich, these delicate-living and pleasure-taking ones? Yes, let them weep... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - James 5:5

Further description of their sin. Ye have lived in pleasure ( ἐτρυφήσατε , here only) on the earth, and been wanton ( ἐσπαλατήσατε , only here and 1 Timothy 5:6 ); ye have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter. The ὡς of the Received Text (" as in a day," etc., A.V) is quite wrong; it is wanting in א , A, B, Latt., Memphitic. The clause seems to imply that they were like brute beasts, feeding securely on the very day of their slaughter. Vulgate (Clem), in die... read more

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