James 5 · Verse 2

James 5:2

Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

James 5:2, King James Version

James 5:2 in other translations

BSB	Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes.
WEB	Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.
ASV	Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.
YLT	your riches have rotted, and your garments have become moth-eaten;
DARBY	Your wealth is become rotten, and your garments moth-eaten.
BBE	Your wealth is unclean and insects have made holes in your clothing.
Webster	Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.

What does James 5:2 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

2. corrupted--about to be destroyed through God's curse on your oppression, whereby your riches are accumulated (Jas 5:4). Calvin thinks the sense is, Your riches perish without being of any use either to others or even to yourselves, for instance, your garments which are moth-eaten in your chests. garments ... moth-eaten--referring to Mt 6:19, 20.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes

Verse 2. Your riches are corrupted. The word here rendered corrupted (σηπω) does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. It means, to cause to rot, to corrupt, to destroy. The reference here is to their hoarded treasures; and the idea is, that they had accumulated more than they needed for their own use; and that, instead of distributing them to do good to others, or employing them in any useful way, they kept them until they rotted or spoiled. It is to be remembered, that a considerable part of the treasures which a man in the East would lay up, consisted of perishable materials, as garments, grain, oil, etc. Such articles of property were often stored up, expecting that they would furnish a supply for many years, in case of the prevalence of famine or wars. Compare Lk 12:18-19. A suitable provision for the time to come cannot be forbidden; but the reference here is to cases in which great quantities had been laid up, perhaps while the poor were suffering, and which were kept until they became worthless.

Your garments are moth-eaten. The same idea substantially is expressed here in another form. As the fashions in the East did not change as they do with us, wealth consisted much in the garments that were laid up for show or for future use. Mt 6:19. Q. Curtius says that when Alexander the Great was going to take Persepolis, the riches of all Asia were gathered there together, which consisted not only of a great abundance of gold and silver, but also of garments, Lib. vi. c. 5. Horace tells us that when Lucullus the Roman was asked if he could lend a hundred garments for the theatre, he replied that he had five thousand in his house, of which they were welcome to take part or all. Of course, such property would be liable to be moth-eaten; and the idea here is, that they had amassed a great amount of this kind of property which was useless to them, and which they kept until it became destroyed.

(a) "Your riches are corrupted" Jer 17:11 (b) "your garments are moth-eaten" Job 13:28

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 2 Your riches are corrupted - Σεσηπε· Are putrefied. The term πλουτος, riches, is to be taken here, not for gold, silver, or precious stones, (for these could not putrefy), but for the produce of the fields and flocks, the different stores of grain, wine, and oil, which they had laid up in their granaries, and the various changes of raiment which they had amassed in their wardrobes.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on James 5:1-6

Public troubles are most grievous to those who live in pleasure, and are secure and sensual, though all ranks suffer deeply at such times. All idolized treasures will soon perish, except as they will rise up in judgment against their possessors. Take heed of defrauding and oppressing; and avoid the very appearance of it. God does not forbid us to use lawful pleasures; but to live in pleasure, especially sinful…

Read the full comment on James 5:1-6 →

James 5:2 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

ὁhoTheG3588

πλοῦτοςploutosrichesG4149

ὑμῶνhumōnof YouG4771

σέσηπενsesēpenhave rottedG4595

καὶkaiandG2532

τὰtatheG3588

ἱμάτιαhimatiagarmentsG2440

ὑμῶνhumōnof youG4771

σητόβρωταsētobrōtamoth-eatenG4598

γέγονεν·gegonenhave become;G1096

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for James 5:2

Matthew 6:19-20
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Job 13:28
And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.
Luke 12:33
Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.
Isaiah 50:9
Behold, the Lord God will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.
Isaiah 51:8
For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.
1 Peter 1:4
To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
Psalms 39:11
When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.
Jeremiah 17:11
As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.
Hosea 5:12
Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Your riches.
Jer 17:11; Mt 6:19,20; Lu 12:33; 1Pe 1:4
your garments.
2:2; Job 13:28; Ps 39:11; Isa 50:9; 51:8; Ho 5:12

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

James 5:1
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
James 5:2
Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
James 5:3
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.

Read all of James 5

James 5:2 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Vuestras riquezas están podridas: vuestras ropas están comidas de polilla.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Vos richesses sont pourries et vos vêtements sont rongés par les vers;
German Elberfelder 1871	Euer Reichtum ist verfault, und eure Kleider sind mottenfressig geworden.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Divitiæ vestræ putrefactæ sunt, et vestimenta vestra a tineis comesta sunt.