‘Come now, you rich, weep and howl,
For your miseries that are coming on you.'
James enjoins the rich to weep and howl at what is coming on them. People weeping and howling in this way is a regular Old Testament picture. The Moabites wept and howled at what was coming on them in Isaiah 15:2-3. The drunkards were to weep and howl in the coming time of judgment when the supplies of wine would dry up (Joel 1:5). Now the rich also were to weep and howl because of the miseries that were coming on them. It is a sign of total misery (in total contrast with those who rejoice because they suffer for Christ's sake - James 1:2). Compare also Isaiah 13:6; Isaiah 14:31; Isaiah 16:7; Isaiah 23:1; Isaiah 23:14; Isaiah 65:14; Amos 8:3).
‘For your miseries that are coming on you.' This is amplified later as, ‘Their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh as fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days.'