YAC 5:6 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

5:6a

You have condemned and murdered the righteous,

You^(plur) have caused righteous people to be judged guilty and then to be killed.
You^(plur) have influenced judges to declare guilty and have killed those who are not guilty.

You have condemned and murdered the righteous: James accused the rich men of misusing their power in the law courts. Rich men were leaders among the people. They had friends who were judges. They used their power to oppress ordinary people even as far as having them condemned to death.

You have condemned: The word condemned means “declare/judge to be guilty (because he has done something wrong).” It can also imply “decide the punishment.” The rich men asked judges to do these things.

Some other ways to translate this clause are:

You have judged guilty (NCV)

You^(plur) have caused innocent men to be declared guilty

You have made judges declare that innocent men have broken the law

murdered: The word murdered means “caused them to be killed.” This word refers to influencing a judge to condemn a person to die and then have him executed.

Some other ways to translate this word are:

punished by death

executed/killed

the righteous: The Greek word that the BSB translates as the righteous literally says “the righteous person.” Most commentators agree that this does not refer here to one individual person, but to righteous people in general who obey the laws.

Some other ways to translate this word are:

those who are not guilty

those who keep/follow God’s laws

people who do what is right/just

people who have done nothing wrong

See righteous, meaning 1, in the Glossary.

5:6b

who did not resist you.

They did not oppose/resist you.^(plur)
These people did not fight back.

who did not resist you: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as who did not resist you is literally “and he does not resist you.” James meant that the righteous people did not oppose the rich men while the rich men persecuted them. At no point did they attempt to resist or fight back.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

who do not resist you (NLT)

They did not fight back.

resist: The Greek verb that the BSB translates as resist occurs also in 4:6 (“opposes”). It means actively resisting, not just a feeling of hatred.

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / synecdoche

κατεδικάσατε, ἐφονεύσατε τὸν δίκαιον

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Κατεδικάσατε ἐφονεύσατε τόν δίκαιον οὐκ ἀντιτάσσεται ὑμῖν)

James probably does not mean that these rich people have done these things personally. He is likely referring to the kind of actions he described in [2:6](../02/06.md), where he told how rich people “overpower” the poor by taking them to court. He may mean that the rich people have gotten the courts to condemn innocent people and in some cases even to execute them. He could also mean that the rich people have gotten the courts to decide lawsuits in their favor and that as a result, some poor people have died because of the great poverty this caused them. James would be speaking of the rich people as the ones who did these actions, using them to represent all the people who were involved. Alternate translation: [You have gotten the courts to condemn and even execute innocent people] or [You have gotten the courts to decide lawsuits in your favor and, as a result, innocent people have died from poverty]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / nominaladj

τὸν δίκαιον

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Κατεδικάσατε ἐφονεύσατε τόν δίκαιον οὐκ ἀντιτάσσεται ὑμῖν)

James is using the adjective righteous as a noun to refer to a type of person. Your language may use adjectives in the same way. If not, you could translate this with an equivalent expression. Alternate translation: [the righteous person] or [the innocent person]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / genericnoun

τὸν δίκαιον

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Κατεδικάσατε ἐφονεύσατε τόν δίκαιον οὐκ ἀντιτάσσεται ὑμῖν)

The expression the righteous refers to righteous people in general, not to one specific person. Alternate translation: [righteous people] or [innocent people]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

οὐκ ἀντιτάσσεται ὑμῖν

˱yet˲_not ˱he˲_˓is˒_opposing ˱against˲_you_all

This could mean: (1) the innocent people are not able to resist what the rich people are doing. Alternate translation: [He is not able to resist you] (2) the innocent people wanted a peaceful resolution and were not fighting back. Alternate translation: [You have done this even though the innocent person wanted a peaceful resolution]

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

οὐκ ἀντιτάσσεται ὑμῖν

˱yet˲_not ˱he˲_˓is˒_opposing ˱against˲_you_all

In light of everything that James says in [5:1–6](../05/01.md), the implications are that even though these innocent people are not able to defend themselves, God will defend them by judging and punishing these rich people. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could state that explicitly, as UST does.

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) 5:6

SR Greek word order

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

5:6a

5:6b

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