Meet God in Scripture

Meet God in James 2:6

“But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?”

James 2:6 (KJV)

Six ways to encounter God here

A passage is not only to be understood; it is to be lived with. Choose how you want to meet God in James 2:6, and Living Bread opens it right there.

Read itSit with the words themselves in The Word.Study itContext, cross-references, and questions in Bible Study.Be still in itLet it quiet you in the Sanctuary.Pray itTurn it into a prayer of your own.Hide it in your heartMemorize it, word by word.Encounter it togetherGather a few people to walk through it.

The passage in its setting

Meeting God in a verse begins with hearing it where it lives, in the flow of James 2. Read it slowly, and let the focal verse settle into its own context.

4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?

7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

The web of Scripture around it

Where this passage echoes across the Bible, from the cross-reference graph, 14 connected Scriptures. Each one is a door to meet God there too.

  • Proverbs 17:5Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.
  • Proverbs 14:31He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor.
  • 1 Corinthians 11:22What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.
  • Psalms 14:6Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the LORD is his refuge.
  • James 5:4Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord …
  • Amos 8:4Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,
  • Acts 8:3As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.
  • Psalms 10:14Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.
  • Micah 6:11Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?
  • James 2:3And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:
  • Amos 2:6Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sho…
  • Ecclesiastes 5:8If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there …
  • Zechariah 7:10And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.
  • Amos 5:11Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vin…

More to meet God in James

James 1:5James 1:2James 4:7James 1:19James 5:16James 1:17James 3:17James 3:6James 2:5James 5:11James 3:13James 1:12James 4:8James 3:14

How it points to Christ

Every Scripture ultimately leads to Jesus. See how the whole Bible points to Him in Christ in all Scripture, then meet Him for yourself.