James 5:3

Your 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].

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

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.

In Context

2Your wealth of various kinds is worthless [MET], as though it were rotted. Your fine clothes are worthless [MET], as though termites had ruined them.

4Think about what you have done. You have not paid wages to the workmen who have harvested your fields for you, with the result that [PRS] those reapers are crying out to God for him to help them. And God, the all-powerful Lord, has heard their loud cries.

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Cross References

Genesis 31:48Laban said to Jacob, “This pile of rocks we have put here today will help us to remember our agreement.” That is why Jacob called it Galeed.

Genesis 49:1Jacob summoned all his sons, and said to them,

Joshua 24:27He said to all the people, “Look! It is as though this stone has heard everything that Yahweh said to you and that you promised Yahweh. It will serve as a witness against you if you rebel against your God!”

Job 16:8He has shriveled me up, and people think that shows that I am a sinner. And people see that I am only skin and bones, and they think that proves that I am guilty.

Jeremiah 19:9I will enable your enemies who want to kill you to surround the city for a long time. Then the food will be all gone, and you people will be extremely hungry, with the result that you people in the city will eat the flesh of your own children and your neighbors’ children.’

Micah 4:1Yahweh says that some day his temple will be on top of a mountain, and that mountain will be the most important [MET] one on the earth; it will be as though it is higher than all the hills, and huge groups of people from all over the world will come there to worship.

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

Study James 5:3