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Riches are going to prove a liability, not an asset, to the selfish

1-6 And now, you plutocrats, is the time for you to weep and moan because of the miseries in store for you! Your richest goods are ruined, your hoard of clothes is moth-eaten, your gold and silver are tarnished. Yes, their very tarnish will be the evidence of your wicked hoarding and you will shrink from them as if they were red-hot. You have made a fine pile in these last days, haven’t you? But look, here is the pay of the reaper you hired and whom you cheated, and it is shouting against you! And the cries of the other labourers you swindled are heard by the Lord of Hosts himself. Yes, you have had a magnificent time on this earth, and have indulged yourselves to the full. You have picked out just what you wanted like soldiers looting after battle. You have condemned and ruined innocent men in your career, and they have been powerless to stop you.

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Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.(A) Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers(B) who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries(C) of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.(D) You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves(E) in the day of slaughter.[a](F)

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Footnotes

  1. James 5:5 Or yourselves as in a day of feasting