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

1Pay attention to this if you’re rich. Cry and moan about the misery that is coming to you. 2Your riches have decayed, and your clothes have been eaten by moths. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be used as evidence against you. Like fire, it will destroy your body. You have stored up riches in these last days. 4The wages you refused to pay the people who harvested your fields shout ⌞to God⌟ against you. The Lord of Armies has heard the cries of those who gather the crops. 5You have lived in luxury and pleasure here on earth. You have fattened yourselves for the 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 what they say will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are like that.
• Genesis 31:48Laban said, “This pile of stones stands as a witness between you and me today.” This is why it was named Galeed
• Joshua 24:27Joshua told all the people, “This stone will stand as a witness for us. It has heard all the words which the Lord spoke to us. It will stand as a witness for you. You cannot deceive your God.”
• Job 16:8You have shriveled me up, which itself is a witness ⌞against me⌟. My frail body rises up and testifies against me.
• Jeremiah 19:9I will make the people eat the flesh of their sons and daughters. They will eat each other’s flesh during blockades and hardships that their enemies impose on them when they want to kill them.”
• Micah 3:3You eat my people’s flesh. You strip off their skin. You break their bones to pieces. You chop them up like meat for a pot, like stew meat for a kettle.
• Revelation 17:16The ten horns and the beast you saw will hate the prostitute. They will leave her abandoned and naked. They will eat her flesh and burn her up in a fire.
• Revelation 20:15Those whose names were not found in the Book of Life were thrown into the fiery lake.
• Revelation 21:8But cowardly, unfaithful, and detestable people, murderers, sexual sinners, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars will find themselves in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
• Deuteronomy 32:33Their wine is snake venom, the deadly poison of cobras.
• Job 14:16Though now you count my steps, you will not keep ⌞a record of⌟ my sins.
• Romans 2:5Since you are stubborn and don’t want to change the way you think and act, you are adding to the anger that God will have against you on that day when God vents his anger. At that time God will reveal that his decisions are fair.
• Genesis 49:1Jacob called for his sons and said, “Come here, and let me tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.
• Isaiah 2:2In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s house will be established as the highest of the mountains and raised above the hills. All the nations will stream to it.
• Micah 4:1In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s house will be established as the highest of the mountains and raised above the hills. People will stream to it.
• Acts 2:17‘In the last days, God says, I will pour my Spirit on everyone. Your sons and daughters will speak what God has revealed. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will 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