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

1Come now, you rich people, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. 2Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have corroded, and their corrosion will serve as a testimony against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! 4Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of armies. 5You have lived for pleasure on the earth and lived luxuriously; 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

• Your goldχρυσόςchrusos · goldG5557
• and your silverἄργυροςarguros · silverG696
• have corrodedκατιόομαιkatioō · to corrodeG2728
• and their corrosionἰόςios · poison/rustG2447
• serveεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
• asεἰςeis · towardG1519
• a testimonyμαρτύριονmarturion · testimonyG3142
• against you and will consumeἐσθίωesthiō · to eatG2068
• your fleshσάρξsarx · fleshG4561
• likeὡςhōs · as/whenG5613
• fireπῦρpur · fireG4442
• in the lastἔσχατοςeschatos · last/leastG2078
• daysἡμέραhēmera · dayG2250
• that you have storedθησαυρίζωthēsaurizō · to store upG2343

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 this day.” Therefore it was named Galeed,
• Joshua 24:27Then Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, because it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke to us; so it shall be a witness against you, so that you do not deny your God.”
• Job 16:8And You have shriveled me up, It has become a witness; And my infirmity rises up against me, It testifies to my face.
• Jeremiah 19:9And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh during the siege and in the hardship with which their enemies and those who seek their life will torment them.”’
• Micah 3:3Who eat the flesh of my people, Strip off their skin from them, Smash their bones, And chop them up as for the pot, And as meat in a cauldron!”
• Revelation 17:16And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the prostitute and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will 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 for the cowardly, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and sexually immoral persons, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
• Deuteronomy 32:33Their wine is the venom of serpents, And the deadly poison of vipers.
• Job 14:16For now You number my steps, You do not observe my sin.
• Romans 2:5But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
• Genesis 49:1Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, “Assemble yourselves, so that I may tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.
• Isaiah 2:2Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the Lord Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it.
• Micah 4:1And it will come about in the last days That the mountain of the house of the Lord Will be established as the chief of the mountains. It will be raised above the hills, And the peoples will stream to it.
• Acts 2:17‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters will prophesy, And your young men will see visions, And your old men will have 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