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Chapter 5

Woe to the Rich.[a] Come now, you who are rich. Lament and weep over the miseries that will soon overwhelm you. Your riches have rotted. Your clothes are all moth-eaten.

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Footnotes

  1. James 5:1 Here, we hear again the cries of the Prophets denouncing the injustice and inhumanity of riches (see Isa 5:8-10; Jer 5:26-30; Am 8:4-8); we also hear the voice of Christ placing us on guard against the danger of riches (see Lk 6:24; 18:24-27). The Bible has always seen the accumulation of goods as tarnished by some injustice. It instinctively feels how riches give birth to a type of person whose sense of his own human condition becomes warped and who loses sight of the proper relationship of fraternity and justice in regard to others.

Warning to Rich Oppressors

Now listen,(A) you rich people,(B) weep and wail(C) because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.(D)

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