James 5:2, James 5:3 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - James 5:1-11

The apostle is here addressing first sinners and then saints. I. Let us consider the address to sinners; and here we find James seconding what his great Master had said: Woe unto you that are rich; for you have received your consolation, Luke 6:24. The rich people to whom this word of warning was sent were not such as professed the Christian religion, but the worldly and unbelieving Jews, such as are here said to condemn and kill the just, which the Christians had no power to do; and though... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 5:1-3

5:1-3 Come now, you rich, weep and wail at the miseries which are coming upon you. Your wealth is rotten and your garments are food for moths. Your gold and silver are corroded clean through with rust; and their rust is proof to you of how worthless they are. It is a rust which will eat into your very flesh like fire. It is a treasure indeed that you have amassed for yourselves in the last days! James 5:1-6 has two aims. First, to show the ultimate worthlessness of all earthly riches;... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 5:1-3

Not even the most cursory reader of the Bible can fail to be impressed with the social passion which blazes through its pages. No book condemns dishonest and selfish wealth with such searing passion as it does. The book of the prophet Amos was called by J. E. McFadyen "The Cry for Social Justice." Amos condemns those who store up violence and robbery in their palaces ( Amos 3:10 ). He condemns those who tread on the poor and themselves have houses of hewn stone and pleasant vineyards--which... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 5:2

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... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 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. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - James 5:2

Verse 2 2Your riches. The meaning may be twofold: — that he ridicules their foolish confidence, because the riches in which they placed their happiness, were wholly fading, yea, that they could be reduced to nothing by one blast from God — or that he condemns as their insatiable avarice, because they heaped together wealth only for this, that they might perish without any benefit. This latter meaning is the most suitable. It is, indeed, true that those rich men are insane who glory in things so... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - James 5:1-6

DENUNCIATION OF THE RICH FOR The whole section resembles nothing so much as an utterance of one of the old Jewish prophets. It might almost be a leaf torn out of the Old Testament. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - James 5:1-6

The judgment on selfishness. Selfishness lay at the root of the sinfulness of the rich men, whose conduct is so sternly denounced. The sin read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - James 5:1-6

The judgments coming upon the wicked rich. This apostrophe is so dreadful that we cannot imagine it to have been addressed to professing Christians. It would rather seem that the apostle here turns aside to glance at the godless rich Jews of his time, who were in the habit of persecuting the Church and defrauding the poor ( James 2:6 , James 2:7 ). His words regarding them are words of stern denunciation. Like one of the old Hebrew prophets, he curses them in the name of the Lord. Its... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - James 5:1-6

The doom of misused wealth. We have in these opening words an echo of James 4:9 ; but with a difference. There, a call to repentance; here, a denunciation. The very word "howl" recalls old prophecies of doom ( Isaiah 13:6 ; Isaiah 14:31 ; Isaiah 15:3 ). So here, the coming doom. The destruction of Jerusalem? Yes; but this only the "beginning of sorrows." The culminating judgments, and the second advent These rich, these delicate-living and pleasure-taking ones? Yes, let them weep... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - James 5:1-11

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 5:1-3

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 5:1-3

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - James 5:2

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - James 5:2

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - James 5:2

The Pulpit Commentary - James 5:1-6

The Pulpit Commentary - James 5:1-6

The Pulpit Commentary - James 5:1-6

The Pulpit Commentary - James 5:1-6

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