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, ye rich men, weep and wail for your miseries that shall come upon you . 2Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is rusted; and its rust shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped up treasure for the last days. 4Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped your fields, which is by you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them who have reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Hosts. 5Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as 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

• Yourὑμῶνhumōn · of youG5216
• goldχρυσόςchrusos · goldG5557
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• silverἄργυροςarguros · silverG696
• rustedκατιόομαιkatioō · to corrodeG2728
• itsαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
• rustἰόςios · poison/rustG2447
• beἔσομαιesomai · will beG2071
• witnessμαρτύριονmarturion · testimonyG3142
• againstεἰςeis · towardG1519
• youὑμῖνhumin · to youG5213
• eatφαγεῖνphagō · to eatG5315
• fleshσάρξsarx · fleshG4561
• wereὡςhōs · as/whenG5613
• fireπῦρpur · fireG4442
• treasureθησαυρίζωthēsaurizō · to store upG2343
• forἐνen · in/on/amongG1722
• lastἔσχατοςeschatos · last/leastG2078
• daysἡμέραhēmera · dayG2250

Cross-references for James 5:3

• 2 Timothy 2:17And their word will eat as doth a gangrene: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
• Genesis 31:48And Laban said, This heap is a witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed;
• Joshua 24:27And Joshua said to all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spoke to us: it shall be therefore a witness to you, lest ye deny your God.
• Job 16:8And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me : and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face.
• Jeremiah 19:9And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and distress, with which their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall distress them.
• Micah 3:3Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.
• Revelation 17:16And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
• Revelation 20:15And whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
• Revelation 21:8But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and immoral persons, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
• Deuteronomy 32:33Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.
• Job 14:16For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin?
• Romans 2:5But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up to thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
• Genesis 49:1And Jacob called to his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
• Isaiah 2:2And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mount of the LORD’S house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.
• Micah 4:1But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mount of the house of the LORD shall be established on the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow to it.
• Acts 2:17And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon 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