Pay What You Owe

September 9th, 2026
by Lance Waldie

James 5:4 Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

In v. 4 James has wealthy landowners in mind, specifically those who failed to pay their employees. Wealthy landowners were known then (as now) for employing day laborers who hired themselves out to rich landlords. Jesus’ parable of the vineyard workers (Matt. 20:1-16) illustrates this. From Jesus’ parable, we note that the workers expected their pay at the end of the workday. In fact, God made provisions for this in the Mosaic Law, saying, “You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning” (Lev. 19:13). Likewise, “You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy… Give him his wages on his day before the sun sets, for he is poor and sets his heart on it; so that he will not cry against you to the Lord and it become sin in you” (Deut. 24:14-15; cf. Prov. 11:24). Also, in Malachi 3:5 God says, “I will be a swift witness…against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages.” God obviously is opposed to those who oppress the poor, specifically those who fail to pay their workers after completing a day’s worth of work.

The accusation James leveled at the rich in v. 4 was not only that they were hoarding their wealth (5:2-3) but that they were also cheating those they owed money to by refusing to pay them, specifically the “laborers who mowed your fields.” Since these kinds of laborers were the lowest rung on the economic ladder, and since there were no credit cards in those days, day-laborers would have relied on the money they received each day as their sustenance for the day. Prompt payment was therefore vital to their survival. If the landowners withheld payment at the end of each day, life itself could be jeopardized for these workers and their families. The abrupt “behold!” at the outset of v. 4 calls attention to this sinful practice which is nothing short of robbery and fraud (cf. Mark 10:19; 1 Cor. 6:7-8; 7:5; 1 Tim. 6:5).

Notice how James speaks of the laborers pay “crying out” to God, a cry that Deuteronomy 24:15 predicts will happen when pay is withheld from those to whom it is due. The pay crying out for justice reminds one of Abel’s blood that cried out from the earth for justice after Cain murdered him (Gen. 4:10) and of Israel’s cry for freedom from their bonds of slavery in Egypt (Exod. 2:23). Whether blood, people, or wages, it is clear that God hears the cries of injustice pleading for justice along with deliverance from danger and fear (cf. 1 Sam. 9:16; 2 Chron. 33:13). God is said to hear those cries from His people, and the warning is that He acts!

God’s actions against the rich can be viewed in two ways. For those crying out to Him for deliverance, His actions are a welcome relief from bondage. But for the rich who defraud, God is “Yahweh Sabaoth”—the Lord of armies; Lord of hosts. David stood before Goliath as the representative of God’s armies (1 Sam. 17:45), and Isaiah the prophet later saw God as Yahweh Sabaoth, standing to protect Israel after the good King Uzziah had died (Isa. 6:1-3). In this title God is depicted as a fearsome general—an expert of warfare, surrounded by His angelic host and as the ultimate nightmare of vengeance against those who oppress the needy. In James’ context, what the rich thought they did in secret, with no accountability, God will expose openly. Yet James, with God’s grace in mind, mercifully calls them to repentance before God’s wrath comes.

Food For Thought
Who do you owe? The bank, a neighbor, the IRS? What do you owe? Money, respect, love? It’s time to pay up, respect to whom respect is due and money to whom you owe. Give also to the needy out of your abundance. God hears their cries and is perhaps summoning your wealth.