EkaYakobi 5:2

Izhibhalo Ezingcwele

2 Ubutyebi benu bubolile, neengubo zenu zidliwe ngamanundu.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Your riches: Jeremiah 17:11, Matthew 6:19, Matthew 6:20, Luke 12:33, 1 Peter 1:4

your garments: James 2:2, Job 13:28, Psalms 39:11, Isaiah 50:9, Isaiah 51:8, Hosea 5:12

Reciprocal: Exodus 16:20 - bred worms Judges 14:12 - change 2 Kings 5:5 - ten changes Job 27:16 - prepare raiment Proverbs 23:5 - riches Ecclesiastes 5:8 - regardeth Jeremiah 25:34 - Howl Jeremiah 48:36 - the riches Zechariah 5:4 - and it shall remain James 4:9 - afflicted 1 Peter 1:7 - that

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Your riches are corrupted,.... Either through disuse of them; and so the phrase is expressive of their tenaciousness, withholding that from themselves and others which is meet, and which is keeping riches for the owners thereof, to their hurt; or these are corrupted, and are corruptible things, fading and perishing, and will stand in no stead in the day of wrath, and therefore it is great weakness to put any trust and confidence in them:

and your garments are moth eaten; being neither wore by themselves, nor put upon the backs of others, as they should, but laid up in wardrobes, or in chests and coffers, and so became the repast of moths, and now good for nothing.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Your riches are corrupted - The word here rendered “corrupted” (σήπω sēpō) 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 Luke 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. See the notes at Matthew 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 theater, 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.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse James 5:2. 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.