James 5:4

ἰδοὺ : this interjection, though good Attic, is used by some N.T. writers with a frequency which is unclassical, (Mayor) e.g., in this short Epistle it occurs six times, while on the other hand St. Paul uses it only nine times (once in a quotation) in the whole of his writings; its frequent occurrence is a mark of Jewish authorship, as Jews were accustomed to the constant use of an equivalent interjection (הנה) in their own tongue. ὁ μισθὸς τῶν ἐργατῶν : μισθός occurs several times in Sir. in the sense of reward, but not in that of wages due; in the same book ἐργάτης occurs twice (Sir 19:1, Sir 40:18), but in neither case with the meaning “agricultural labourer,” which is its usual meaning in the N.T., cf. Matthew 9:37, but on the other hand Luke 10:7, ἄξιος ὁ ἐργάτης τοῦ μισθοῦ αὐτοῦ. τῶν ἀμησάντων : ἅπ. λεγ. in N.T.; whatever difference of meaning there may have been originally between ἀμᾶν and θερίζειν they are used as synonyms in the Septuagint, and the same is true, according to Mayor, of classical Greek. τὰς χώρας ὑμῶν : often, as here, used in the restricted sense of “fields,” cf. for the variety of meaning which it can bear the three instances of its occurrence in Sir 10:16; Sir 43:3; Sir 47:17; for its meaning of “fields,” both in singular and plural, see Luke 12:16; Luke 21:21; John 4:35. ὁ ἀφυστερημένος ἀφʼ ὑμῶν : “which is kept back by you,” “on your part,” or as Mayor renders as an alternative, “comes too late from you”; the ἀφʼ ὑμῶν is not really required, it is omitted by ff. The withholding of wages due was evidently a sin of frequent occurrence, see Leviticus 19:13; Deuteronomy 24:14-15; Job 24:10; Micah 3:10; Jeremiah 22:13; Proverbs 3:27-28; Malachi 3:5; Sirach 31 (34):22; Tob 4:14. ἀφυστ. only here in N.T. κράζει : a thoroughly Hebraic idea which occurs several times in the O.T., cf. for the “crying out” of inanimate things, Genesis 4:10; Job 24:12; Psalms 84:2; Proverbs 8:1; Lamentations 2:18; Habakkuk 2:11. αἱ βοαὶ : only here in N.T., cf. Exodus 2:23. εἰς τὰ ὦτα κυρίου σαβαώθ : quoted from Isaiah 5:9; one of the many marks in this section, James 5:1-6, which suggest that it did not originally belong to the N.T.; it is certainly extraordinary that the usual Septuagint rendering, Κύριος παντοκράτωρ or ὁ Κύριος τῶν δυνάμεων, is not used here; though it is true σαβαώθ is sometimes transliterated, it is nevertheless exceptional. “Jahwe Sabaoth” was the ancient Israelite name of Jehovah as war-god.