Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
Come now, ye rich (age nun oi plousioi). Exclamatory interjection as in James 4:13. Direct address to the rich as a class as in I Timothy 6:17. Apparently here James has in mind the rich as a class, whether believer, as in James 1:10 f., or unbeliever, as in James 2:1 f., James 2:6. The plea here is not directly for reform, but a warning of certain judgment (James 5:1-6) and for Christians "a certain grim comfort in the hardships of poverty" (Ropes) in James 5:7-11.
Weep and howl (klausate ololuzontev). "Burst into weeping (ingressive aorist active imperative of klaiw as in James 4:9), howling with grief" (present active participle of the old onomatopoetic verb ololuzw, here only in N.T., like Latin ululare, with which compare alalazw in Matthew 5:38.
For your miseries (epi taiv talaipwriaiv umwn). Old word from talaipwrov (Romans 7:24) and like talaipwrew in James 4:9 (from tlaw to endure and pwrov a callus).
That are coming upon you (taiv eperxomenaiv). Present middle participle of the old compound eperxomai to come upon, used here in futuristic prophetic sense.
Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing James 5:1:
Mark 5:38
Luke 6:24
John 11:33
James 4:6
James 4:9
James 4:13
James 5:1
James 5:7
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