Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies.
- KJV 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.
- NKJV Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
- NASB Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of armies.
- NLT For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The withheld wages of exploited laborers cry out to God, who hears them. The Lord of Armies takes the side of the defrauded poor.
Overview
James indicts the rich for defrauding workers, whose unpaid wages cry to heaven, recalling the law's protection of laborers (Leviticus 19:13; Deuteronomy 24:14-15). The title Lord of Armies (Lord of Hosts) underscores God's power to vindicate the oppressed. This assures the mistreated that God hears their cries and warns oppressors that he will hold them accountable.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Lev 19:13You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him. You must not withhold until morning the wages due a hired hand.
- Jer 22:13“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms without justice, who makes his countrymen serve without pay, and fails to pay their wages,
- Deut 24:14–15Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.
- Rom 9:29It is just as Isaiah foretold: “Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.”
- Mal 3:5“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
- Job 24:10–11Without clothing, they wander about naked. They carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.
- Exod 22:27because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body. What else will he sleep in? And if he cries out to Me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.
- Exod 3:9And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them.
- Job 34:28They caused the cry of the poor to come before Him, and He heard the outcry of the afflicted.
- Gen 4:10“What have you done?” replied the LORD. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.
- Luke 18:7Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He continue to defer their help?
- Col 4:1Masters, supply your slaves with what is right and fair, since you know that you also have a Master in heaven.
- Ps 9:12For the Avenger of bloodshed remembers; He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.
- Isa 5:7For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress.
- Exod 2:23–24After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.
- Hab 2:11For the stones will cry out from the wall, and the rafters will echo it from the woodwork.
- Isa 1:9Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
- Job 31:38–39if my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together,
- Exod 22:22–24You must not mistreat any widow or orphan.
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