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.
• 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.
• New Living Translation (NLT)Your gold and silver are corroded. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This corroded treasure you have hoarded will testify against you on the day of judgment.

Context of James 5:3

1Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 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. 4Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

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 2:17and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,
• Genesis 31:48Laban said, "This heap is a witness between you and me today." Therefore he named it Galeed,
• Joshua 24:27And Joshua said to all the people, "Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God."
• Job 16:8And he has shriveled me up, which is a witness against me, and my leanness has risen up against me; it testifies to my face.
• Jeremiah 19:9And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.'
• Micah 3:3who eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones in pieces and chop them up like meat in a pot, like flesh in a cauldron.
• Revelation 17:16And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire,
• Revelation 20:15And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
• Revelation 21:8But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."
• Deuteronomy 32:33their wine is the poison of serpents and the cruel venom of asps.
• Job 14:16For then you would number my steps; you would not keep watch over my sin;
• Romans 2:5But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.
• Genesis 49:1Then Jacob called his sons and said, "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come.
• Isaiah 2:2It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,
• Micah 4:1It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it,
• Acts 2:17"'And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream 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