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James 2:6

Poverty and the vulnerableJusticeMoney and wealth

4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?

But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?

7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the noble name by which you have been called?

8 If you really fulfill the royal law stated in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

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Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB
But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?
KJV
But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
WEB
But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you and personally drag you before the courts?
ASV
But ye have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you, and themselves drag you before the judgment-seats?
DARBY
But *ye* have despised the poor [man]. Do not the rich oppress you, and [do not] *they* drag you before [the] tribunals?
BLB
But you⁺ dishonored the poor one. Do not the rich oppress you⁺, and they drag you⁺ into court?
ÅB
Men dere har vanæret den fattige. Er det ikke de rike som underkuer dere, og som drar dere for domstolene?
OTB
Men dere har vanæret de fattige. Er det ikke de rike som undertrykker dere og drar dere for retten?
B1930
Men I har vanæret den fattige. Er det ikke de rike som underkuer eder, og som drar eder for domstolene?

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

  • Proverbs 17:5

    He who mocks the poor insults their Maker; whoever gloats over calamity will not go unpunished.

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  • Proverbs 14:31

    Whoever oppresses the poor taunts their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors Him.

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  • 1 Corinthians 11:22

    Don’t you have your own homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What can I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? No, I will not!

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  • Psalms 14:6

    You sinners frustrate the plans of the oppressed, yet the LORD is their shelter.

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  • James 5:4

    Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

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  • Isaiah 3:14–15

    The LORD brings this charge against the elders and leaders of His people: “You have devoured the vineyard; the plunder of the poor is in your houses.

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  • Amos 5:11

    Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted.

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  • Psalms 12:5

    “For the cause of the oppressed and for the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will bring safety to him who yearns.”

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