James 5:2

Your wealth of various kinds is worthless [MET], as though it were rotted. Your fine clothes are worthless [MET], as though termites had ruined them.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

In Context

1Now I have something to say to the rich people who do not believe in Christ and who ◄ oppress you/cause you to suffer►. Listen to me, you rich people! You should weep and wail loudly [DOU] because you will experience terrible troubles [PRS]!

3Your gold and silver are worthless [MET], as though they were corroded. When God judges you, this worthless wealth [MTY] of yours will be evidence [PRS] that you are guilty of being greedy, and as rust and fire destroy [MET, SYN] things, God will severely punish you [SIM]. You have ◄ in vain/uselessly► ◄stored up/accumulated► wealth at a time when God is about to judge you [MTY].

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Cross References

Job 13:28As a result, my body is decaying like [SIM] rotten wood, like a piece of cloth that is eaten by larvae of moths.”

Isaiah 50:9The Lord our God defends me in court, so no one [RHQ] will be able to ◄condemn me/declare that I am guilty►. All those who accuse me will disappear like [SIM] old clothes that have been eaten by ◄ larvae of moths/cockroaches►.

Jeremiah 17:11I, Jeremiah, agree, because I know that people who become rich by doing things that are unjust are like birds that hatch eggs that they ◄did not lay/stole from another nest►. So, when those people have lived only half of the years that they expect to live, their wealth will disappear. Then other people will realize that those rich people have been foolish.

Matthew 6:19“Do not selfishly accumulate large quantities of money and material goods for yourselves on this earth, because the earth is where everything is destroyed. For example, on earth termites ruin things, and things rust, and thieves enter buildings and steal things.

James 2:2For example, suppose that a person who wears gold rings and fine clothes enters your meeting place. Then suppose that a poor person who wears shabby/ragged clothes also comes in.

Matthew Henry on James 5:2-12

Warnings to the Rich; Motives to Patience under Affliction. ( a. d. 61.) 1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. 3 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. 4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

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