6 and ye did dishonour the poor one; do not the rich oppress you and themselves draw you to judgment-seats;
why, have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or the assembly of God do ye despise, and shame those not having? what may I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I do not praise!
and not having found them, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the city rulers, calling aloud -- `These, having put the world in commotion, are also here present,
An oppressor of the poor reproacheth his Maker, And whoso is honouring Him Is favouring the needy.
Whoso is mocking at the poor Hath reproached his Maker, Whoso is rejoicing at calamity is not acquitted.
And the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the first men of the city, and did raise persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and did put them out from their borders;
And Gallio being proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a rush with one accord upon Paul, and brought him unto the tribunal,
Thou hast pierced with his staves the head of his leaders, They are tempestuous to scatter me, Their exultation `is' as to consume the poor in secret.
lo, the reward of the workmen, of those who in-gathered your fields, which hath been fraudulently kept back by you -- doth cry out, and the exclamations of those who did reap into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth have entered;
And her masters having seen that the hope of their employment was gone, having caught Paul and Silas, drew `them' to the market-place, unto the rulers, and having brought them to the magistrates, they said, `These men do exceedingly trouble our city, being Jews;
then the magistrate having gone away with officers, brought them without violence, for they were fearing the people, lest they should be stoned; and having brought them, they set `them' in the sanhedrim, and the chief priest questioned them,
the kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ; for gathered together of a truth against Thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint, were both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with nations and peoples of Israel, to do whatever Thy hand and Thy counsel did determine before to come to pass.
And as they are speaking unto the people, there came to them the priests, and the magistrate of the temple, and the Sadducees -- being grieved because of their teaching the people, and preaching in Jesus the rising again out of the dead -- and they laid hands upon them, and did put them in custody unto the morrow, for it was evening already;
Do I reckon `it' pure with balances of wickedness? And with a bag of deceitful stones? Whose rich ones have been full of violence, And its inhabitants have spoken falsehood, And their tongue `is' deceitful in their mouth.
And the men of his city, the elders and the freemen who are dwelling in his city, do as Jezebel hath sent unto them, as written in the letters that she sent unto them, they have proclaimed a fast, and caused Naboth to sit at the head of the people, and two men -- sons of worthlessness -- come in, and sit over-against him, and the men of worthlessness testify of him, even Naboth, before the people, saying, `Naboth blessed God and Melech;' and they take him out to the outside of the city, and stone him with stones, and he dieth;
He doth sit in an ambush of the villages, In secret places he doth slay the innocent. His eyes for the afflicted watch secretly,
He is bruised -- he boweth down, Fallen by his mighty ones hath the afflicted.
Because of the spoiling of the poor, Because of the groaning of the needy, Now do I arise, saith Jehovah, I set in safety `him who' doth breathe for it.
He is oppressing the poor to multiply to him, He is giving to the rich -- only to want.
and there hath been found in it a poor wise man, and he hath delivered the city by his wisdom, and men have not remembered that poor man! And I said, `Better `is' wisdom than might, and the wisdom of the poor is despised, and his words are not heard.' --
Jehovah into judgment doth enter With elders of His people, and its heads: `And ye, ye have consumed the vineyard, Plunder of the poor `is' in your houses. What -- to you? ye bruise My people, And the faces of the poor ye grind.' An affirmation of the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, And Jehovah saith:
Thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, And for four, I do not reverse it, Because of their selling for silver the righteous, And the needy for a pair of sandals. Who are panting for the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, And the way of the humble they turn aside, And a man and his father go unto the damsel, So as to pollute My holy name.
Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, Who `are' in the mountain of Samaria, Who are oppressing the poor, Who are bruising the needy, Who are saying to their lords: `Bring in, and we do drink.'
Hear this, ye who are swallowing up the needy, To cause to cease the poor of the land, Saying, When doth the new moon pass, And we sell ground corn? And the sabbath, and we open out pure corn? To make little the ephah, And to make great the shekel, And to use perversely balances of deceit. To purchase with money the poor, And the needy for a pair of sandals, Yea, the refuse of the pure corn we sell.
For he oppressed -- he forsook the poor, A house he hath taken violently away, And he doth not build it.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on James 2
Commentary on James 2 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 2
In this chapter the apostle condemns a sinful regarding of the rich, and despising the poor, which he imputes to partiality and injustice, and shows it to be an acting contrary to God, who has chosen the poor, and whose interest is often persecuted, and his name blasphemed, by the rich (v. 1-7). He shows that the whole law is to be fulfilled, and that mercy should be followed, as well as justice (v. 8-13). He exposes the error and folly of those who boast of faith without works, telling us that this is but a dead faith, and such a faith as devils have, not the faith of Abraham, or of Rahab (v. 14-26).
Jam 2:1-7
The apostle is here reproving a very corrupt practice. He shows how much mischief there is in the sin of prosoµpoleµpsia-respect of persons, which seemed to be a very growing evil in the churches of Christ even in those early ages, and which, in these after-times, has sadly corrupted and divided Christian nations and societies. Here we have,
Jam 2:8-13
The apostle, having condemned the sin of those who had an undue respect of persons, and having urged what was sufficient to convict them of the greatness of this evil, now proceeds to show how the matter may be mended; it is the work of a gospel ministry, not only to reprove and warn, but to teach and direct. Col. 1:28, Warning every man, and teaching every man. And here,
Jam 2:14-26
In this latter part of the chapter, the apostle shows the error of those who rested in a bare profession of the Christian faith, as if that would save them, while the temper of their minds and the tenour of their lives were altogether disagreeable to that holy religion which they professed. To let them see, therefore, what a wretched foundation they built their hopes upon, it is here proved at large that a man is justified, not by faith only, but by works. Now,