James 5:3

James 5:3 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
• New International Version (NIV)Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.

Context of James 5:3

1Now, listen to me, you rich people. Weep and cry aloud, because many troubles will soon happen to you. 2Your money no longer has any value. Insects have eaten your beautiful clothes and they have spoiled them. You have stored silver and gold coins to spend for yourselves. But dirt has spoiled those coins. That dirt will show that you are guilty. It will become like fire that is burning your bodies. In the last days of this world you have stored all this money for yourselves. 4But you have not paid the workers in your fields the money that you should have paid them. You have cheated them. Now they are shouting against you. The Lord of great power has heard them when they cry to him for help. 5During your life here on this earth, you have had all that you wanted. You have lived like kings. You have eaten as much food as you want. So now you are like fat animals that are ready for men to kill.

James 5:3 word by word

ὁ χρυσὸς ὑμῶν καὶ ὁ ἄργυρος κατίωται καὶ ὁ ἰὸς αὐτῶν εἰς μαρτύριον ὑμῖν ἔσται καὶ φάγεται τὰς σάρκας ὑμῶν ὡς πῦρ· ἐθησαυρίσατε ἐν ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Yourσύsu · youG4771
• goldὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• goldχρυσόςchrusos · goldG5557
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• silverἄργυροςarguros · silverG696
• is cankeredκατιόομαιkatioō · to corrodeG2728
• the rustἰόςios · poison/rustG2447
• of themαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
• shall beεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
• a witnessμαρτύριονmarturion · testimonyG3142
• againstεἰςeis · towardG1519
• shall eatφαγεῖνphagō · to eatG5315
• fleshσάρξsarx · fleshG4561
• as it wereὡςhōs · as/whenG5613
• fireπῦρpur · fireG4442
• Ye have heaped treasure togetherθησαυρίζωthēsaurizō · to store upG2343
• forἐνen · in/on/amongG1722
• the lastἔσχατοςeschatos · last/leastG2078
• daysἡμέραhēmera · dayG2250

Cross-references for James 5:3

• 2 Timothy 2:17It causes people to become sick in their spirits. More and more people become sick as a result. Hymenaeus and Philetus are two of the people who teach that kind of false message.
• Genesis 31:48Laban said, ‘These stones show that we have made an agreement today.’ That is why the place was called Galeed.
• Joshua 24:27Joshua said to all the people, ‘Look at this stone! It has heard everything that the Lord has said to us today! It will speak against you if you fail to obey your God!’
• Job 16:8You have taken hold of me. Because of my troubles, people think that I am guilty. Because my body is so thin, people think that I have done bad things.
• Jeremiah 19:9Enemies will make their camp all around the city, so that they can kill the people who live there. The people will not have any food to eat. They will be so hungry that they will eat their own children and they will eat each other.”
• Micah 3:3You look at my people and you are like butchers. They strip the skin off an animal and they break its bones. Then they cut the meat into pieces and they cook it in a pot. They are happy when they eat the meat.
• Revelation 17:16The wild animal and the ten horns that you saw will hate the prostitute. Those rulers will destroy her. They will remove all her clothes. They will eat the meat on her body. Then they will burn her with fire.
• Revelation 20:15If anyone's name was not written in the book of life, God threw that person into the lake of fire.
• Revelation 21:8But I will punish other people. They include: people who are afraid of trouble; people who do not believe in Jesus; people who do disgusting things; people who murder other people; people who have sex in a wrong way; people who use magic to hurt people; people who worship idols; people who tell lies. All these people will go into the lake of fire that burns with sulphur. That is the second death for people.’
• Deuteronomy 32:33The wine from their grapes kills people, like dangerous poison from snakes.
• Job 14:16You would watch me carefully, but you would not make a note of my sins.
• Romans 2:5But you refuse to change the way that you live. You are not sorry about the wrong things that you have done. As a result, you cause God to become even angrier with you. So he will punish you even more on the day when he will judge everyone. On that day, he will show how angry he is against people who do bad things. Everyone will know that he judges people in a right way.
• Genesis 49:1Then Jacob called for all his sons. He said, ‘Come here to me. Then I can tell you what will happen to you, in future years.
• Isaiah 2:2This is what will happen in the last days. The mountain where the Lord's temple is will continue to be there. It will be the most important mountain of all. It will be higher than all the hills around it. People from every nation will go there all the time.
• Micah 4:1In the last days, the mountain where the Lord's house is will be the highest mountain. It will be the most important of all the mountains. It will be higher than the hills, and people from many countries will go to it.
• Acts 2:17God says “This is what I will do in the last days. I will give my Spirit to all people. Your sons and daughters will speak my message to people. Your young men will see visions in their minds. And your old men will see things in their dreams.

Commentaries on James 5:3

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3Your gold and silver is cankered - Instead of helping the poor, and thus honoring God with your substance, ye have, through the principle of covetousness, kept all to yourselves. The rust of them shall be a witness against you - Your putrefied stores, your moth-eaten garments, and your tarnished coin, are so many proofs that it was not for want of property that you assisted not the poor, but through a principle of avarice; loving money, not for the sake…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3Your gold and silver is cankered - That is, that you have heaped together, by injustice and fraud, a large amount, and have kept it from those to whom it is due, James 5:4, until it has become corroded. The word rendered is “cankered” ( ́ katiōtaidoes not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. It properly means “to cause to rust; to rust out” (Passow); “to be corroded with rust” (Robinson); to be spotted with rust. It is true that gold and silver do not…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3Material wealth, like gold and silver, is worthless when facing God's judgment. It will actually speak against them because they obtained it unfairly and used it wickedly ( 5:4, 5–6).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. is cankered--"rusted through" [Alford]. rust ... witness against you--in the day of judgment; namely, that your riches were of no profit to any, lying unemployed and so contracting rust. shall eat your flesh--The rust which once ate your riches, shall then gnaw your conscience, accompanied with punishment which shall prey upon your bodies for ever. as ... fire--not with the slow process of rusting, but with the swiftness of consuming fire. for the last…Read the comment

Topics related to James 5:3

• Rich, the
• Riches
• Wicked (People)

In the dictionaries

• Last Days
• Canker
• Convert
• Grudge
• Howl
• Nourish
• Pitiful
• Tender
• Wanton
• Cankered

Commentaries on James 5

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings