James 5:4

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Summary

Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

The hire

The cries

General references

1 Corinthians 6:8

Bible References

The hire

“You must not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages due a hired hand must not remain with you until morning.

“Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether one of your brothers or one of the foreigners residing within a town in your land.

Without clothing, they wander about naked.
They carry sheaves but go hungry.

If my land cries out against me
and its furrows join in weeping,

For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah,
the plant He delighted in.
He looked for justice
but saw injustice,
for righteousness,
but heard cries of wretchedness.

Woe for the one who builds his palace
through unrighteousness,
his upper rooms through injustice,
who makes his fellow man serve without pay
and will not give him his wages,

For the stones will cry out from the wall,
and the rafters will answer them
from the woodwork.

“I will come to you in judgment, and I will be ready to witness against sorcerers and adulterers; against those who swear falsely; against those who oppress the widow and the fatherless, and cheat the wage earner; and against those who deny justice to the foreigner. They do not fear Me,” says the Lord of Hosts.

Masters, supply your slaves with what is right and fair, since you know that you too have a Master in heaven.

The cries

Then He said, “What have you done? Your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground!

After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their difficult labor, and they cried out; and their cry for help ascended to God because of the difficult labor.

The Israelites’ cry for help has come to Me, and I have also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.

“You must not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.

You are to pay him his wages each day before the sun sets, because he is poor and depends on them. Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be held guilty.

but caused the poor to cry out to Him,
and He heard the outcry of the afflicted.

For the One who seeks an accounting
for bloodshed remembers them;
He does not forget the cry of the afflicted.

Will not God grant justice to His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He delay to help them?

General references

If you make a sale to your neighbor or a purchase from him, do not cheat one another.

They crush olives in their presses;
they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty.

They eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.

Should I not punish them for these things?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Should I not avenge Myself
on such a nation as this?

I will put an end to the noise of your songs, and the sound of your lyres will no longer be heard.

It will be the same as it was in the days of Lot: People went on eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building.

Instead, you act unjustly and cheat—and you do this to believers!