YAC 5:5 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 5:1–6: James warned rich people who mistreat others

This section consists of a series of warnings that God is about to condemn rich people who have lived in luxury and exploited poor people. James wrote in the style of the Old Testament prophets using very harsh language and vivid, even frightening, images of God’s judgment. In your translation, you should use strong language that communicates the certainty of God’s judgment.

James wrote as though he were addressing rich people directly (“you rich people”). But he was not really expecting these rich people to read or to hear his letter. He was writing about rich people who were certainly unbelievers. They were not members of the Christian community. So this section is actually an encouragement to Christians. Many Christians were poor and were being exploited by wealthy landowners. James encouraged these Christians by telling them that, though they were suffering, God would judge the rich. He also wanted to warn them not to envy the rich and not to think or live like them.

In some languages, it will be more natural to use third person forms (“they,” “their,” “them”) throughout this section instead of second person forms (“you”). For example:

^1aRich people ^1bshould weep and wail ^1cbecause of the misery that is coming upon them. ^2aTheir wealth has rotted ^2band moths have eaten their clothes. ^3aTheir gold and silver are corroded. ^3bThis corrosion will testify against them ^3cand eat their flesh like fire. ^3dThey have hoarded wealth in the last days. ^4aLook! The wages they failed to pay the workmen who mowed their fields ^4bare crying out against them. ^4cThe cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. ^5aThey have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. ^5bThey have fattened themselves in the day of slaughter. ^6aThey have condemned and murdered innocent men, ^6bwho were not opposing them.

James does not condemn the rich simply because they are rich. He accuses them of specific things they have done wrong.

Some other possible headings for this section are:

Warning to the Rich (GNT)

A warning to rich people who mistreat others

James encouraged the poor, mistreated believers by speaking about the judgment that will come to their rich oppressors

5:5

In this verse, James condemned rich people for the way they lived. The past tense verbs “have lived” and “have fattened” describe how the rich people had lived their lives until that time.

5:5a

You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence.

You^(plur) have lived your life on earth in comfort and have indulged yourselves in every pleasure.
While in this world, you^(plur) have enjoyed life because of your riches, and you have done whatever you wanted.

You have lived…in luxury: The Greek verb that the BSB translates as You have lived…in luxury means that the rich men lived an easy life. They had everything they liked that gave them comfort or great joy without doing any hard work.

Some other ways to translate this verb are:

Your life…was full of rich living (NCV)

you have had a life of comfort (NJB)

You^(plur) have had an easy life with lots of money to buy nice things

on earth: The phrase on earth implies a contrast with how these men would live after God’s Day of Judgment.

In some languages, it will be more natural to put this phrase first in 5:5. For example:

While here on earth (CEV)

Your life on earth (NCV)

In this world

and self-indulgence: The Greek verb that the BSB translates as self-indulgence is similar in meaning to the verb “lived in luxury.” It means that the rich people did anything they wanted so that they could have as much pleasure as they liked.

Some other ways to translate this verb are:

and pleasure (GNT)

satisfying your every desire (NLT)

and pleasing yourselves with everything you wanted (NCV)

5:5b

You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter.

You made yourselves fat, like an animal ready to be killed. (NCV)
You^(plur) have made yourselves ready to be judged. You are like fattened animals that men prepare for the day that they will slaughter them.
In doing this, you^(plur) are like animals that are made fat just before they are killed and eaten. Like them, you are not aware that you are about to be judged/destroyed.

You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter: This is a metaphor. Parts of it are implicit. In this metaphor, James compared rich people to animals. Some ways that they are similar are:

Both fatten themselves. The rich people were indulging themselves, not doing any physical work and getting fat. They are just like animals that farmers allow not to work, but to enjoy eating and becoming fat before the farmer slaughters them for food.
By fattening themselves, both are unaware that they are preparing their own doom. For animals, their doom is to be slaughtered. For the rich, their doom is to be punished as part of God’s judgment.

Some ways to translate this metaphor are:

Change the metaphor to a simile and make the image explicit. For example:
You made yourselves fat, like an animal ready to be killed. (NCV)
you are like fat cattle on their way to be butchered. (CEV)
Change the metaphor to a simile and make explicit the way that they are similar. For example:
You^(plur) have made yourselves fat and will be judged/punished like fattened animals that men prepare for the day of slaughter.
Like animals that are fed well just before they are slaughtered to be eaten, you^(plur) live for pleasure and are not aware that you are about to face judgment.
Translate the meaning without using a metaphor. In this metaphor, “getting fat” is a sign of self-indulgence and not following God’s law to help others. For example:
You^(plur) have not followed God’s laws and will be judged.
You have lived only for your own pleasures, and in that way, you have prepared yourselves for God to judge you. And you are not even aware of it!

your hearts: The phrase “your hearts” is figurative language that refers to the entire person. So many modern English versions translate it as “yourselves.”

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

You^(plur) have made yourselves like animals that have been fattened

But now you are like fat cattle (CEV)

in the day of slaughter: The phrase in the day of slaughter means “prepared for the day to be killed.” This phrase refers to the day that the farmer will kill the fattened animals for food. In this metaphor, this phrase is parallel to the day that God will judge the rich.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

in the day when men slaughter the animals

prepared for a day to be killed

and in this way you^(plur) have prepared yourselves for God’s judgment

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / parallelism

ἐτρυφήσατε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἐσπαταλήσατε

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ἐτρυφήσατε ἐπί τῆς γῆς Καί ἐσπαταλήσατε ἐθρέψατε τάς καρδίας ὑμῶν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ σφαγῆς)

These two phrases mean similar things. James is using them together for emphasis. If it would be helpful in your language, you could combine them. Alternate translation: [You have indulged yourselves with earthly luxuries]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ἐθρέψατε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ σφαγῆς

˱you_all˲_nourished (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ἐτρυφήσατε ἐπί τῆς γῆς Καί ἐσπαταλήσατε ἐθρέψατε τάς καρδίας ὑμῶν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ σφαγῆς)

James is speaking of these rich people as if they were cattle that had been fed luxuriously on grain so they would becomefattened for slaughter as banqueting food. In this case the banquet is not a positive image, as it often is elsewhere when it describes God’s future reign. Alternate translation: [Your self-indulgence has made you subject to harsh judgment]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ἐθρέψατε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ σφαγῆς

James is speaking of the heart as the center of human desire. Alternate translation: [You have indulged your desires]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

ἐν ἡμέρᾳ

in ˓the˒_day

James is using the term day to refer to a particular time. Alternate translation: [at a time]

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ἐν ἡμέρᾳ σφαγῆς

in ˓the˒_day ˱of˲_slaughter

James is using the idea of slaughter to refer to God’s judgment. Alternate translation: [at a time when God is about to judge everyone for what they have done]

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.

Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.

OET interlinear YAC (JAM) 5:5

SR Greek word order (including unused variant words in grey)

Section 5:1–6: James warned rich people who mistreat others

5:5

5:5a

5:5b

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)