ἰδοὺ ὁ μισθὸς τῶν ἐργατῶν τῶν ἀμησάντων τὰς χώρας ὑμῶν ὁ ἀπεστερημένος ἀφ᾽ ὑμῶν κράζει, καὶ αἱ βοαὶ τῶν θερισάντων εἰς τὰ ὦτα κυρίου Σαβαὼθ εἰσεληλύθασιν.
4Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
The Greek that is translated as “Lord of hosts” in English is translated “our Lord, the person who governs heaven and earth” in Yatzachi Zapotec, as “the Lord who rules all” in Isthmus Zapotec, as “God who commands many people” in Sayula Popoluca, and as “our Lord who has many men” in Tzeltal. (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
See also LORD of hosts.
Following are a number of back-translations of James 5:4:
For the Old Testament quote, see Isaiah 5:9.
The Hebrew adonai in the Old Testament typically refers to God. The shorter adon (and in two cases in the book of Daniel the Aramaic mare [מָרֵא]) is also used to refer to God but more often for concepts like “master,” “owner,” etc. In English Bible translations all of those are translated with “Lord” if they refer to God.
In English Old Testament translations, as in Old Testament translations in many other languages, the use of Lord (or an equivalent term in other languages) is not to be confused with Lord (or the equivalent term with a different typographical display for other languages). While the former translates adonai, adon and mare, the latter is a translation for the tetragrammaton (YHWH) or the Name of God. See tetragrammaton (YHWH) and the article by Andy Warren-Rothlin in Noss / Houser, p. 618ff. for more information.
In the New Testament, the Greek term kurios has at least four different kinds of use:
In the first and fourth case, it is also translated as “Lord” in English.
Most languages naturally don’t have one word that covers all these meanings. According to Bratcher / Nida, “the alternatives are usually (1) a term which is an honorific title of respect for a high-ranking person and (2) a word meaning ‘boss’, ‘master’, or ‘chief.’ (…) and on the whole it has generally seemed better to employ a word of the second category, in order to emphasize the immediate personal relationship, and then by context to build into the word the prestigeful character, since its very association with Jesus Christ will tend to accomplish this purpose.”
When looking at the following list of back-translations of the terms that translators in the different languages have used for both kurios and adonai to refer to God and Jesus respectively, it might be helpful for English readers to recall the etymology of the English “Lord.” While this term might have gained an exalted meaning in the understanding of many, it actually comes from hlaford or “loaf-ward,” referring to the lord of the castle who was the keeper of the bread (source: Rosin 1956, p. 121).
Following are some of the solutions that don’t rely on a different typographical display (see above):
We have come to rely on another term which emphasizes God’s essential nature as YHWH, namely jukurrarnu (see tetragrammaton (YHWH)). This word is built on the same root jukurr– as is jukurrpa, ‘dreaming.’ Its basic meaning is ‘timelessness’ and it is used to describe physical features of the land which are viewed as always being there. Some speakers view jukurrarnu in terms of ‘history.’ In all Genesis references to YHWH we have used Kaatu Jukurrarnu. In all Mark passages where kurios refers to God and not specifically to Christ we have also used Kaatu Jukurrarnu.
New Testament references to Christ as kurios are handled differently. At one stage we experimented with the term Watirirririrri which refers to a ceremonial boss of highest rank who has the authority to instigate ceremonies. While adequately conveying the sense of Christ’s authority, there remained potential negative connotations relating to Warlpiri ceremonial life of which we might be unaware.
Here it is that the Holy Spirit led us to make a chance discovery. Transcribing the personal testimony of the local Warlpiri pastor, I noticed that he described how ‘my Warlaljamarri called and embraced me (to the faith)’. Warlaljamarri is based on the root warlalja which means variously ‘family, possessions, belongingness’. A warlaljamarri is the ‘owner’ or ‘possessor’ of something. While previously being aware of the ‘ownership’ aspect of warlaljamarri, this was the first time I had heard it applied spontaneously and naturally in a fashion which did justice to the entire concept of ‘Lordship’. Thus references to Christ as kurios are now being handled by Warlaljamarri.” (Source: Stephen Swartz, The Bible Translator 1985, p. 415ff. )
Law (2013, p. 97) writes about how the Ancient Greek Septuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew adonai was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments: “Another case is the use of kurios referring to Jesus. For Yahweh (in English Bibles: ‘the Lord‘), the Septuagint uses kurios. Although the term kurios usually has to do with one’s authority over others, when the New Testament authors use this word from the Septuagint to refer to Jesus, they are making an extraordinary claim: Jesus of Nazareth is to be identified with Yahweh.”
See also Father / Lord.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
The poverty of hired laborers is reflected in the Bible, and there are humane regulations protecting their rights. Jesus’ parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matt 20.1-16) is told against this general background, and in it we see that the workers expect their pay at the end of the day. In the Old Testament the importance of paying laborers at the end of the day’s work is emphasized (Lev 19.13; Deut 24.14, 15), and employers who exploit their workers are often rebuked (Jer 22.13; Mal 3.5; Amos 8.4). The purpose of the regulations was to protect the rights of the poor laborers; they needed the wage to meet the immediate needs of their families every day; there is no way to feed the family the next day without it. There is an additional reason why immediate payment is to the advantage of the workers. If the payment is not made immediately, it becomes easy for employers to defraud the workers, as poor workers dare not demand justice for fear that doing so may deprive them of the opportunity to work. It is against this background that we can begin to appreciate the significance of James’ charge against the rich landowners. In this verse James levels his second charge against the rich: they withhold wages from the laborers. The rich are obviously the wealthy farmers who own much land.
Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields … cry out: James is fond of using the rhetorical interjection Behold to call attention to important sayings and examples (3.4, “Look,” 5, “[See] how great”; 5.4, 7, 9, 11). As a device to call attention, this interjection, though sometimes left untranslated, may also be rendered as “Why” (Goodspeed), “Listen” (New Revised Standard Version), “Look” (New International Version), or “Pay attention.” In a number of Asian and African languages, where particles such as this are an essential part of discourse, translators should use an appropriate particle here as an attention-getter.
The subject of the long sentence is the wages, and the verb is cry out. James obviously uses this picturesque language not only for dramatic effect, but also to highlight the plight of the exploited laborers. The verb cry out is used of Abel’s blood crying out to God from the ground for justice and vengeance (Gen 4.10; compare also Exo 2.23; Rev 6.9-10). To cry out is to cry aloud against someone or something, often in protest against injustice. It means “to complain loudly” (compare “complaints,” Good News Translation). The verb is in the present tense here and can be taken as a continual crying out. A number of translations (including New International Version and Revised English Bible) have chosen to render it as a present progressive, “are crying out.” Wages may be expressed as “daily pay” or “money for a day’s work.” In some languages it is impossible to say the wages … cry out. If so translators may have to say simply “the workers … cry out”; so Good News Translation has “Listen to their complaints!”
The laborers are hired farm workers; they are defined as the ones who mowed your fields. The word mowed is used only here in the New Testament and can mean “to reap” (similarly Goodspeed, Barclay) or “to harvest” (similarly New American Bible). In many languages a term with a more general meaning such as “work in your fields” will be an adequate translation. The word rendered fields refers to a large area of farmland and so may be rendered as “farms” or “ranches.” The crying aloud is against the rich, and this may be brought out; for example, “cry out against you” (New International Version) or “complain against you.”
Which you have kept back by fraud: what the rich did with the wages was that they held them back. There is a textual problem related to the compound verb rendered as kept back by fraud. The text adopted by the UBS Greek Testament, more widely attested, means “to rob” or “to defraud,” that is to take something from someone by means of deception. In addition to the Revised Standard Version rendering (so also New Revised Standard Version), some translations have tried to bring out the sense by emphasizing one component of the meaning; for example, “you have cheated of their pay” (Living Bible), “The wages you have fraudulently withheld” (Jewish New Testament). We can even render it more forcefully as “you have fraudulently robbed of their wages.” An alternative text, favored by some, is weaker in meaning. It means simply “to withhold” (similarly Goodspeed, New American Standard Bible) or “to keep back” (similarly New Jerusalem Bible). The renderings like “have not paid” (Good News Translation) and “failed to pay” (New International Version) appear also to have followed this reading. The rich landowners have not simply delayed the payment, but have actually not paid at all. On the whole the first option is preferable. An alternative translation model for the first part of verse 4 is:
• You have deceived the men who work in your fields by refusing to pay them their daily wage [or, money]. Pay attention to their loud complaints.
The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts: the cries of the poor have not gone unheard. The Greek noun translated cries is used only here in the New Testament. This second use of “cries” (though a different word than the verb used in the previous clause) serves to again highlight the plight of the exploited laborers and to bring home the fact that the rich people hoarded their wealth and fraudulently stole what was due to the poor laborers. Here again the cries are loud protests (compare “The clamorous protests,” Barclay). In translation it is desirable to retain “cries” if we have rendered the verb in the previous statement as “cry out.” This will make the translation more forceful, as it is obviously intended to be. It is possible to render the pair of words in English as “cry out … outcry” (similarly Revised English Bible). We may also express this as “loud cries of complaint” if the word “complaints” has been used in the previous sentence. The cries are those of the harvesters, the people who gather in crops for the landowners, and therefore there is no excuse not to give them the wages due them.
The cries … have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts: this expression is a human way of saying that God has heard the cries, and the intended sense is that he will listen and respond to his people (compare the Contemporary English Version rendering: “… has surely heard”). God’s ears are always open to the poor, and this means that his judgment will be on those who oppress them (Psa 17.1-6; 18.6). The title the Lord of hosts is a common Old Testament expression but is used in the New Testament only here and in Rom 9.29. It is rendered as “the Lord of sabaoth” by King James Version, the word “sabaoth” being a transliteration of a Hebrew word that means “armies.” The word “armies” can refer to earthly armies (compare 1 Sam 17.45), but more often it refers to heavenly armies, namely angels and stars (Psa 103.19-22). The title depicts God as the powerful commander of the great army. Reflecting the translation in the Septuagint, it may be rendered as “the Lord Almighty” (so Good News Translation, New International Version). Most likely James picks up this title from Isaiah 5, where it is used four times, and where it is related to God’s judgment upon Israelites for their oppression of the poor. James’ intention here is to convey the fact that for God to hear the outcry of the poor is for him to bring judgment to their rich exploiters. The Lord of hosts is a title for God, and so this may be expressed as Good News Translation has done “God, the Lord Almighty”; or if the use of Lord will confuse readers who normally associate this title with Christ, we may translate, for example, “God who is all powerful,” or “God who is the strongest of all.”
In some languages translators will run into difficulty translating a long sentence with several relative clauses like the ones we have here. It may be necessary therefore to restructure the verse into several shorter sentences; for example:
• You have fraudulently stolen the wages of the laborers who harvested your farms. Listen! They are crying out with complaints. The outcries of the harvesters have reached the ears of God the Lord Almighty.
It may be desirable in some languages to break down the first sentence into two: “The laborers harvested your farms. You have cheated them by stealing their daily wages.” The last sentence may be also rendered “God who is all powerful has heard the outcries of those who harvest your crops [or, grain].”
Quoted with permission from Loh, I-Jin and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Letter from James. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
5:4a–b
In this verse, James condemned another sin of rich men. They cheated their workers by refusing to pay them what they had agreed to pay.
Look: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible literally translates as Look calls attention to something surprising or shocking. It does not necessarily refer to something that can be seen with the eyes. Since the main event in this verse is “crying out,” it may be better to start with “Listen!” rather than with “look!” For example:
Listen! (New Revised Standard Version)
Some other ways to translate this word are:
Pay attention to
-or-
Notice
-or-
Listen to me
Many English versions do not translate this word. Use a natural way in your language to call attention to what James said immediately following this word.
the wages you withheld from the workmen: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as withheld also means “cheated,” “defrauded,” or “refused to pay.”
Some other ways to translate this clause are:
You refused to pay the people who worked (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay (New Living Translation (2004 Revision))
-or-
the pay you have held back from the workers (NET Bible)
who mowed your fields: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as mowed here refers to cutting the stalks of grain. This is the first process in harvesting grain.
Some other ways to translate this phrase are:
who harvested your fields (God’s Word)
-or-
who worked in your fields (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
who cut your grain
are crying out against you: This is a figure of speech called personification. In this personification, James speaks of the unpaid wages as if they were people who cry out. The wages were crying out that they should be paid to the workmen.
The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as crying out implies that the wages were:
(a) complaining to the rich men who cheated. For example:
Listen to their complaints! (Good News Translation)
(b) asking God for help. For example:
shout to God against you (God’s Word)
There are at least two ways to translate this figure of speech:
• Keep the personification. For example:
The pay you did not give the workers…cries out against you. (New Century Version)
• Translate the meaning. For example:
Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. (New Living Translation (2004 Revision))
General Comment on 5:4a–b
There is a lot of new information in these verse parts. In many languages, it may be helpful to divide the long sentence into two or more separate clauses or sentences. For example:
4a–bYou refused to pay the people who worked in your fields, and now their unpaid wages are shouting out against you. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
4a–bYou failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields. Look! Their wages are crying out against you!
5:4c
The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts: The harvesters are the same men as the “workmen” in 5:4a. James said that their cries had reached God’s ears. This means that God had heard the workers’ complaints. James implied that God would soon punish the rich men for their sin.
Some other ways to translate this sentence are:
the cries of the workers have been heard by the Lord All-Powerful. (New Century Version)
-or-
The Lord of Armies has heard the cries of those who gather the crops. (God’s Word)
the harvesters: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the harvesters refers to workers who cut the grain and gather it together to remove it from the field. Some other ways to translate this phrase are:
the reapers (NET Bible)
-or-
workers who harvested your crops (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
the workers (New Century Version)
the Lord of Hosts: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the Lord of Hosts is taken from the Old Testament. It is a title for God that is literally “Lord of armies.” Even in the Old Testament, this title had come to mean “the supreme God” or “the Almighty God.” This means that God is the ruler of every power in the spiritual world.
Some other ways to translate this phrase are:
the Lord of Heaven’s Armies (New Living Translation (2004 Revision))
-or-
God, the Lord Almighty (Good News Translation)
-or-
the Supreme Chief/Ruler of all heavenly beings
-or-
the Lord All-Powerful (Contemporary English Version)
This title also occurs in Romans 9:29; Psalm 89:8; and Isaiah 6:3.
© 2012 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
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.
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