5:5

In this verse, James condemned rich people for the way they lived. The past tense verbs “have lived” and “have fattened” describe how the rich people had lived their lives until that time.

5:5a

You have lived…in luxury: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as You have lived…in luxury means that the rich men lived an easy life. They had everything they liked that gave them comfort or great joy without doing any hard work.

Some other ways to translate this verb are:

Your life…was full of rich living (New Century Version)
-or-
you have had a life of comfort (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
You^(plur) have had an easy life with lots of money to buy nice things

on earth: The phrase on earth implies a contrast with how these men would live after God’s Day of Judgment.

In some languages, it will be more natural to put this phrase first in 5:5. For example:

While here on earth (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Your life on earth (New Century Version)
-or-
In this world

and self-indulgence: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as self-indulgence is similar in meaning to the verb “lived in luxury.” It means that the rich people did anything they wanted so that they could have as much pleasure as they liked.

Some other ways to translate this verb are:

and pleasure (Good News Translation)
-or-
satisfying your every desire (New Living Translation (2004 Revision))
-or-
and pleasing yourselves with everything you wanted (New Century Version)

5:5b

You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter: This is a metaphor. Parts of it are implicit. In this metaphor, James compared rich people to animals. Some ways that they are similar are:

(a) Both fatten themselves. The rich people were indulging themselves, not doing any physical work and getting fat. They are just like animals that farmers allow not to work, but to enjoy eating and becoming fat before the farmer slaughters them for food.

(b) By fattening themselves, both are unaware that they are preparing their own doom. For animals, their doom is to be slaughtered. For the rich, their doom is to be punished as part of God’s judgment.

Some ways to translate this metaphor are:

• Change the metaphor to a simile and make the image explicit. For example:

You made yourselves fat, like an animal ready to be killed. (New Century Version)
-or-
you are like fat cattle on their way to be butchered. (Contemporary English Version)

• Change the metaphor to a simile and make explicit the way that they are similar. For example:

You^(plur) have made yourselves fat and will be judged/punished like fattened animals that men prepare for the day of slaughter.
-or-
Like animals that are fed well just before they are slaughtered to be eaten, you^(plur) live for pleasure and are not aware that you are about to face judgment.

• Translate the meaning without using a metaphor. In this metaphor, “getting fat” is a sign of self-indulgence and not following God’s law to help others. For example:

You^(plur) have not followed God’s laws and will be judged.
-or-
You have lived only for your own pleasures, and in that way, you have prepared yourselves for God to judge you. And you are not even aware of it!

your hearts: The phrase “your hearts” is figurative language that refers to the entire person. So many modern English versions translate it as “yourselves.”

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

You^(plur) have made yourselves like animals that have been fattened
-or-
But now you are like fat cattle (Contemporary English Version)

in the day of slaughter: The phrase in the day of slaughter means “prepared for the day to be killed.” This phrase refers to the day that the farmer will kill the fattened animals for food. In this metaphor, this phrase is parallel to the day that God will judge the rich.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

in the day when men slaughter the animals
-or-
prepared for a day to be killed
-or-
and in this way you^(plur) have prepared yourselves for God’s judgment

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.