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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - James 5:2 - 5:2
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
2. σέσηπεν … γέγονεν … κατίωται. The tense implies that the case indicated by ταλαιπωρίαις is already present. The tarnishing of the gold and silver is an accomplished fact. The words bring out the thought that the wealth wrung from the poor by injustice and cruelty is of no service to the rich man himself: ‘putrescit in arca.’
ὁ πλοῦτος, corresponding in poetical parallelism to τὰ ἱμάτια, wealth in Oriental countries consisting largely of garments: comp. Act 20:33 ἀργυρίου ἢ χρυσίου ἢ ἱματισμοῦ οὐδενὸς ἐπεθύμησα.
σητοβρωτα here only in N.T. Comp. Job 13:28 ὥσπερ ἱμάτιον σητόβρωτον. The word is not elsewhere found. For the thought see Mat 6:19-20 μὴ θησαυρίζετε ὑμῖν θησαυροὺς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ὅπου σὴς καὶ βρῶσις ἀφανίζει, κ.τ.λ. and comp. Hor. Sat. II. 3. 119 cui stragula vestis │ blattarum ac tinearum epulae putrescat in arca. The word is formed like σκωληκόβρωτος, Act 12:23.