James 5:6

κατεδικάσατε, ἐφονεύσατε τὸν δίκαιον : this expresses what must often have taken place; the prophetical books often refer to like things; there is no reason for regarding this as some specific case of judicial murder. Cf. Amos 2:6-7; Amos 5:12; Wis 2:10 ff. The antithesis between the צדיק (“righteous”) and רשׁע (“wicked”) is a commonplace in Jewish theology. οὐκ ἀντιτάσσεται ὑμῖν : the statement of fact here, instead of the interrogative as read by some authorities, is more natural, and more in accordance with the prophetical style which is so characteristic of this whole passage. This picture of patient acquiescence in ill-treatment is really a very vivid touch, for it shows, on the one hand, that the down-trodden realised the futility of resistance; on the other, that their hopes were centred on the time to come.

With the whole of this section cf. the words in The first book of Clement, which is called The Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ, 12: “The harvest is come, that the guilty may be reaped and the Judge appear suddenly and confront them with their works”.