James 5

James · Chapter 5

James 5:2

1Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.2Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.3Your 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.4Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.5Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.6Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.7Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.8Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.9Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.10Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.11Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.12But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.13Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.14Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:15And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.16Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.17Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.18And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.19Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;20Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

King James Version (1769)

Other translations

VerseKJVBSBASV
2Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes.Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.

In context

AI-assisted, sourced

James 5:1-6A warning to the rich

About James 5James warns the rich who kept back the hire of their labourers by fraud that their riches are corrupted and "the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth." He tells the brethren, "Be patient therefore... unto the coming of the Lord," like the husbandman waiting for rain, and points to the prophets and "the patience of Job." He closes with prayer: let the afflicted pray and the sick call the elders, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much," as Elias showed, and whoever turns a sinner back "shall save a soul from death." James 5:1James 5:2James 5:4James 5:7James 5:10James 5:11James 5:13James 5:14James 5:16James 5:17James 5:20James overview

Who, where and when in this chapter

Original Greek words

EnglishGreekSay itStrong'sMeaning
richesπλοῦτοςploutosG4149
riches

πλοῦτος (ploutos) πλοῦτος, -ου, ὁ and (in 2Co.8:2, Eph.1:17 2:7 3:8, 16, Php.4:19, Col.1:27 2:2; see WH, App., 158; M, Pr., 60) τό, [in LXX chiefly for עֹשֶׁר ;] riches, wealth: of external possessions, Mat.13:22, Mrk.4:19, Luk.8:14, 1Ti.6:17, Jas.5:2, Rev.18:16; of moral and spiritual conceptions, Rom.2:4 9:23 11:12, 33, 2Co.8:2, Eph.1:7, 18 2:7 3:8, 16 Php.4:19, Col.1:27 2:2, Heb.11:26, Rev.5:12.† (AS)

of YouὑμῶνhumōnG4771
you

σέ (se) αὐτός, -ή, -ό, determinative pron., in late Gk. much more frequently than in cl. (WM, 178f.; Jannaris, HGG, §1399). 1. Emphatic (so always in nom. exc. when preceded by the art., see infr., iii); (1) self (ipse), expressing opposition, distinction, exclusion, etc., αὐ. ἐκχυθήσεται, Luk.5:37; αὐ. ἐγινώσκεν, Jhn.2:25; αὐ.ὑμεῖς, Jhn.3:28; καὶ αὐ. ἐγώ, Rom.15:14; αὐ. Ἰησοῦς, Jhn.2:24; αὐ. καὶ οἱ μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ, Mrk.2:25; ὑμεῖς αὐ., Mrk.6:31; esp. (as freq in cl.) αὐ. ὁ, Mat.3:4, Mrk.6:17, Jhn.16:27, 1Th.3:11, al.; in late Gk., sometimes weakened, ἐν αὐτῇ τ. ὥρᾳ, in that hour, Luk.10:21 (M, Pr., 91; …

have rottedσέσηπενsesēpenG4595
to rot

σήπω (sēpō) σήπω [in LXX; Psa.38:5 (מָקַק ni.), Job.33:21 (כָּלָה) Job.40:7, Sir.14:19, al. ;] to make corrupt: 2 pf. act, with mid, sense (see M, Pr., 154), σέσηπεν, has perished, become corrupted, Jas.5:2.† (AS)

andκαὶkaiG2532
and

καί (kai) καί, conj., and I. Copulative. 1. Connecting single words; (a) in general: Mat.2:18, 16:1, Mrk.2:15, Luk.8:15, Heb.1:1, al. mult.; repeated before each of the terms in a series, Mat.23:23, Luk.14:21, Rom.7:12, 9:4, al. (b) connecting numerals (WM, §37, 4): Jhn.2:20, Act.13:20; (with) joining terms which are not mutually exclusive, as the part with the whole: Mat.8:33, 26:59, Mrk.16:17, Act.5:29, al. 2. Connecting clauses and sentences: Mat.3:12, Act.5:21, al. mult.; esp. …

garmentsἱμάτιαhimatiaG2440
clothing

ἱμάτιον (himation) ἱμάτιον, -ου, τό (dim, of εἷμα, a garment), [in LXX chiefly for בֶּגֶד also for שִׂמְלָה, שַׂלְמָה, etc. ;] a garment, but in usage always (exc. in p1., see infr.) of an outer garment, a mantle, cloak (thrown over the χιτών; see Rutherford, NPhr., 22; DCG, i, 499a): Mat.9:16, 20-21 Mrk.2:21 5:27-28, 30 Jhn.19:2, Act.12:8, al.; opposite to χιτών, Mat.5:40, Luk.6:29, Act.9:39; pl., garments, clothes (i.e. the cloak and the tunic), Mat.17:2 26:65 27:31, 35, Mrk.5:30 15:20, 24, Jhn.19:23-24, Jas.5:2, al (AS)

of youὑμῶνhumōnG4771
you

σέ (se) αὐτός, -ή, -ό, determinative pron., in late Gk. much more frequently than in cl. (WM, 178f.; Jannaris, HGG, §1399). 1. Emphatic (so always in nom. exc. when preceded by the art., see infr., iii); (1) self (ipse), expressing opposition, distinction, exclusion, etc., αὐ. ἐκχυθήσεται, Luk.5:37; αὐ. ἐγινώσκεν, Jhn.2:25; αὐ.ὑμεῖς, Jhn.3:28; καὶ αὐ. ἐγώ, Rom.15:14; αὐ. Ἰησοῦς, Jhn.2:24; αὐ. καὶ οἱ μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ, Mrk.2:25; ὑμεῖς αὐ., Mrk.6:31; esp. (as freq in cl.) αὐ. ὁ, Mat.3:4, Mrk.6:17, Jhn.16:27, 1Th.3:11, al.; in late Gk., sometimes weakened, ἐν αὐτῇ τ. ὥρᾳ, in that hour, Luk.10:21 (M, Pr., 91; …

moth-eatenσητόβρωταsētobrōtaG4598
moth-eaten

σητόβρωτος (sētobrōtos) σητό-βρωτος, -ον (οής, βιβρώσκω), [in LXX: Job.13:28 (אָכַל עָשׁ) * ;] moth-eaten: Jas.5:2.† (AS)

have become;γέγονεν·gegonenG1096
to be

γίνομαι (ginomai) γίνομαι, Ion. and κοινή for Att. γίγν- (M. Pr., 47; Bl., §6, 8 Mayser, 166 f.), [in LXX chiefly for היה ;] 1. of persons, things occurrences, to come into being, be born, arise, come on: Jhn.1:15 8:58, 1Co.15:37; a first appearance in public, Mrk.1:4, Jhn.1:6, al.; before ἐκ (of birth), Rom.1:3, Gal.4:4; διά, Jhn.1:3; βροντή, Jhn.12:29; σεισμός, Rev.6:12; γογγυσμός, Act.6:1; χαρά, Act.8:8, many other similar exx.; ἡμέρα, Luk.22:66, al.; ὀψέ, Mrk.11:19; πρωΐα, Mat.27:1; νύξ, Act.27:27. …

Words and meanings from STEPBible data (Tyndale House, Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). The capitalized syllable is the stressed one.