hmmmmmm...

As you read this, just remember that for the most part, a HUGE majority of the world finds even those below the poverty level in this country to be “rich”...

Btw, this presents a bleak picture for “the rich”...

James 5 (NLT)

1 Look here, you rich people:

Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you.

2 Your wealth is rotting away,

and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags.

3 Your gold and silver have become worthless.

The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire.

This treasure you have accumulated will stand as evidence against you on the day of judgment.

4 For listen!

Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay.

The wages you held back cry out against you.

The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the LORD of Heaven's Armies.

  5 You have spent your years on earth in luxury,

satisfying your every desire.

You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter.

6 You have condemned and killed innocent people,

who do not resist you.

And here's that passage in The Message...

James 5 (The Message)

1-3 And a final word to you arrogant rich:

Take some lessons in lament.

You’ll need buckets for the tears when the crash comes upon you.

Your money is corrupt and your fine clothes stink.

Your greedy luxuries are a cancer in your gut,

destroying your life from within.

You thought you were piling up wealth.

What you’ve piled up is judgment.

4-6 All the workers you’ve exploited and cheated cry out for judgment.

The groans of the workers you used and abused are a roar in the ears of the Master Avenger.

You’ve looted the earth and lived it up.

But all you’ll have to show for it is a fatter than usual corpse.

In fact, what you’ve done is condemn and murder perfectly good persons, who stand there and take it.

One more translation... J B Phillips

James 5



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.