For the sun arises with the scorching wind and withers the grass, and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So the rich man will also fade away in his pursuits.
Parallel Translations
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For the sun arises with the scorching wind and withers the grass, and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So the rich man will also fade away in his pursuits.
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The sonne ryseth with heate and the grasse wydereth and his flower falleth awaye and the beautie of the fassion of it perissheth: even so shall the ryche man perisshe with his aboundance.
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For as when the sunne riseth with heate, then the grasse withereth, and his flower falleth away, and the goodly shape of it perisheth: euen so shall the rich man wither away in all his waies.
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to James 1:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 40:7-8 The grass withers, the flower fades, because Yahweh’s breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”
- Psalms 37:35-36 I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil. But he passed away, and behold, he was not. Yes, I sought him, but he could not be found.
- Luke 16:19-25 “Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day. A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was taken to his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried. In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom. He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.’ “But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But here he is now comforted, and you are in anguish.
- Mark 4:6 When the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
- Psalms 49:6-14 Those who trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches— none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him. For the redemption of their life is costly, no payment is ever enough, that he should live on forever, that he should not see corruption. For he sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others. Their inward thought is that their houses will endure forever, and their dwelling places to all generations. They name their lands after themselves. But man, despite his riches, doesn’t endure. He is like the animals that perish. This is the destiny of those who are foolish, and of those who approve their sayings. They are appointed as a flock for Sheol. Death shall be their shepherd. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. Their beauty shall decay in Sheol, far from their mansion.
- James 5:1-7 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies. You have lived in luxury on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn’t resist you. Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain.
- Matthew 13:6 When the sun had risen, they were scorched. Because they had no root, they withered away.
- Luke 12:16-21 He spoke a parable to them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man produced abundantly. He reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What will I do, because I don’t have room to store my crops?’ He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ “But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
- Job 21:24-30 His pails are full of milk. The marrow of his bones is moistened. Another dies in bitterness of soul, and never tastes of good. They lie down alike in the dust. The worm covers them. “Behold, I know your thoughts, the plans with which you would wrong me. For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’ Haven’t you asked wayfaring men? Don’t you know their evidences, that the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity, That they are led out to the day of wrath?
- Psalms 73:18-20 Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction. How they are suddenly destroyed! They are completely swept away with terrors. As a dream when one wakes up, so, Lord, when you awake, you will despise their fantasies.
- Psalms 102:4 My heart is blighted like grass, and withered, for I forget to eat my bread.
- Ecclesiastes 5:15 As he came out of his mother’s womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand.
- 1 Corinthians 7:31 and those who use the world, as not using it to the fullest. For the mode of this world passes away.
- 1 Peter 1:4 to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you,
- 1 Peter 5:4 When the chief Shepherd is revealed, you will receive the crown of glory that doesn’t fade away.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Though the received reading is ἐν ταῖς πορείαις, yet…
Though the received reading is ἐν ταῖς πορείαις, yet I agree with Erasmus, and read the last word, πορίαις, without the diphthong “in his riches,” or, with his riches; and the latter I prefer.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Whatsoever he either purposeth in his mind, or doeth.
Whatsoever he either purposeth in his mind, or doeth.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 11 For the sun is no sooner risen with…
11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
Ver. 11. Shall the rich man fade] Perish eternally, if he trust in uncertain riches, and not in the living God. See Jas 5:1. Thus that sapless fellow Nabal faded, when his heart died within him, nor could his riches any more relieve him than they did that rich and wretched cardinal, Henry Beaufort, Chancellor of England in the reign of Henry VI, who murmured at death, that his riches could not reprieve him till a further time. Fie (quoth he), will not death be hired? Will money do nothing? No; money here bears no mastery. (Acts and Mon.)
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain With a burning heat; or, the scorching east wind,…
With a burning heat; or, the scorching east wind, which in those countries was wont to rise with the sun, Jon 4:8.
So also shall the rich man fade away; either shall is here put for may, the future tense for the potential mood; and then the apostle doth not so much declare what always certainly stall be, as what easily may be, and frequently is, the prosperity of rich men not being always of so short continuance. Or, shall may be taken properly, as we read it; and then his is a general proposition, showing the mutable nature and short continuance of rich men and their riches, whose longest life is but short, and death, when it comes, strips them of their enjoyments: and though this frailty be common to all, yet he speaks of the rich especially, because they are so apt to hear themselves high upon their wealth, and put confidence in it, 1Ti 6:17.
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In his ways; either in his journeyings and travels for his riches, or rather in his counsels, purposes, actions, Psa 146:4.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For the sun is no sooner risen with a…
For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat,.... As it is about the middle of the day, when it shines in its full strength, and its heat is very great and scorching, especially in the summer season, and in hot climates:
but it withereth the grass; strikes it with heat, causes it to shrivel, and dries it up;
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and the flower thereof falleth; drops off from it to the ground:
and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth; its form and colour, its glory and beauty, which were pleasant to the eye, are lost, and no more to be recovered. This shows, that earthly riches, like the flower of the field, have an outward show and glory in them, which attract the mind, and fix an attention to them for a while; they are gay and glittering, and look lovely, are pleasant to behold, and desirable to enjoy; but when the sun of persecution, or any other outward calamity arises, they are quickly destroyed, and are no more.
So also shall the rich man fade away in his ways; riches are uncertain things now, they often make themselves wings and flee away; they are things that are not, that are not solid and substantial they are a vain show; they sometimes fade away in a man's lifetime, before he dies; and he fades away, and comes to decay, amidst all the ways and means, designs and schemes, he forms and pursues, and all the actions and business he does; and if not, when he fades away, and dies amidst all his riches, his glory does not descend after him, but falls off from him, as the flower of the field before the heat of the sun.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain For the sun arose and withered the grass -…
For the sun arose and withered the grass - There is an unspeakable beauty and elegance, both in the comparison itself, and in the very manner of expressing it, intimating both the certainty and the suddenness of the event. So shall the rich fade away in his ways - In the midst of his various pleasures and employments.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 11. For the sun is no sooner risen]…
Verse 11. For the sun is no sooner risen] We need not pursue this metaphor, as St. James' meaning is sufficiently clear: All human things are transitory; rise and fall, or increase and decay, belong to all the productions of the earth, and to all its inhabitants. This is unavoidable, for in many cases the very cause of their growth becomes the cause of their decay and destruction. The sun by its genial heat nourishes and supports all plants and animals; but when it arises with a burning heat, the atmosphere not being tempered with a sufficiency of moist vapours, the juices are exhaled from the plants; the earth, for lack of moisture, cannot afford a sufficient supply; vegetation becomes checked; and the plants soon wither and die. Earthly possessions are subject to similar mutations. God gives and resumes them at his pleasure, and for reasons which he seldom explains to man. He shows them to be uncertain, that they may never become an object of confidence to his followers, and that they may put their whole trust in God. If for righteousness' sake any of those who were in affluence suffer loss, or spoiling of their goods, they should consider that, while they have gained that of infinite worth, they have lost what is but of little value, and which in the nature of things they must soon part with, though they should suffer nothing on account of religion.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For the sun is no sooner risen with a…
For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat - Isaiah Isa 40:7 employs the word “wind,” referring to a burning wind that dries up the flowers. It is probable that the apostle also refers not so much to the sun itself, as to the hot and fiery wind called the simoom, which often rises with the sun, and which consumes the green herbage of the fields. So Rosenmuller and Bloomfield interpret it.
It withereth the grass - Isa 40:7. It withereth the stalk, or that which, when dried, produces hay or fodder - the word here used being commonly employed in the latter sense. The meaning is, that the effect of the hot wind is to wither the stalk or spire which supports the flower, and when that is dried up, the flower itself falls. This idea will give increased beauty and appropriateness to the figure - that man himself is blasted and withered, and then that all the external splendor which encircled him falls to the ground, like a flower whose support is gone.
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And the grace of the fashion of it perisheth - Its beauty disappears.
So shall the rich man fade away in his ways - That is, his splendor, and all on which he prideth himself, shall vanish. The phrase “in his ways,” according to Rosenmuller, refers to his counsels, his plans, his purposes; and the meaning is, that the rich man, with all by which he is known, shall vanish. A man’s “ways,” that is, his mode of life, or those things by which he appears before the world, may have somewhat the same relation to him which the flower has to the stalk on which it grows, and by which it is sustained. The idea of James seems to be, that as it was indisputable that the rich man must soon disappear, with all that he had of pomp and splendor in the view of the world, it was well for him to be reminded of it by every change of condition; and that he should therefore rejoice in the providential dispensation by which his property would be taken away, and by which the reality of his religion would be tested. We should rejoice in anything by which it can be shown whether we are prepared for heaven or not.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Decor vultus ejus, Greek: euprepeia tou prosopou; the Hebrew…
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
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Decor vultus ejus, Greek: euprepeia tou prosopou; the Hebrew says, faciem, cœli, terræ, gladii, &c.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Taken from Isa 40:6-8.
Taken from Isa 40:6-8.
heat--rather, "the hot wind" from the (east or) south, which scorches vegetation (Luk 12:55). The "burning heat" of the sun is not at its rising, but rather at noon; whereas the scorching Kadim wind is often at sunrise (Jon 4:8) [MIDDLETON, The Doctrine of the Greek Article]. Mat 20:12 uses the Greek word for "heat." Isa 40:7, "bloweth upon it," seems to answer to "the hot wind" here.
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grace of the fashion--that is of the external appearance.
in his ways--referring to the burdensome extent of the rich man's devices [BENGEL]. Compare "his ways," that is, his course of life, Jam 1:8.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 11. Now and then the rich man found this…
11. Now and then the rich man found this glorious lowliness and became a Christian; but the rich of St. James’s day and locality was generally a persecutor, (Jas_2:5,) and an oppressor, (note on Jas_5:1-6.) Hence in this verse, with a vividness akin to the last quoted passage, St. James paints the evanescence of the proud and oppressive millionaire. The imagery is borrowed mostly from Isa_40:6-8, where the fading character of our earthly humanity is described. Is—The Greek has all the verbs in this verse in the past tense, so as to make the description in fact a pictorial narrative. The sun no sooner rose… withered… fell… perished.
Burning heat—The Greek word for burning heat, καυσων, (from καιω, to burn,) often in the Septuagint designates the east wind, which, sweeping over the burning sands, brings a heat terribly scorching to all vegetation. Here it designates simply the burning power of the tropical or semi-tropical sun.
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The grass—Pasturage, including all herbage, especially that supplying food for animals.
The flower—The bloom, the flourish.
Grace—Becomingness.
Fashion—Literally, face, aspect. Translate, the becomingness of its aspect.
Fade—Literally, wither; a word applicable to a flower, transferable to dying man.
Ways—Modes, plans, and purposes of life. It is to be noted that St. James here describes, not the vanishing of the riches from the man, but the vanishing of the man from his riches. Human wealth survives its possessor. Human things are often more permanent than human beings. Happy the rich man who passes from an earthly to a heavenly patrimony. He makes, perhaps, the best of both worlds. Such a man is described in the next verse.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 11. For the sun is no sooner risen ……
11. For the sun is no sooner risen … but it withereth] Better, for the sun arose and withered. The Greek has nothing that answers to “no sooner,” and the verbs are throughout in the past tense as in a narrative. It is as though St James were using the form not of a similitude, but of a parable, apparently not without a reminiscence of some features of the Parable of the Sower (Mat_13:6) and of the Sermon on the Mount (Mat_6:30).
with a burning heat] Better, with the scorching heat, probably the Simoom, or hot wind that blows from the desert in the early morning, as in Luk_12:55. The whole description comes, as above, from Isa_40:6. Comp. also Jon_4:8.
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falleth … perisheth] Better, as continuing the narrative, fell—perished.
fade away] Better, perhaps, as expressing the force of the Greek passive, be blighted. The Greek verb is not found elsewhere in the New Testament, but meets us in the Wisd. of Son_2:8, in a passage which may well have been present to the mind of the writer. An adjective derived from it is found in the “crown that fadeth not away,” literally, the amaranthine crown, of 1Pe_5:4. See also 1Pe_1:4. The idea of the “fading” of earthly riches, the “unfading” character of heavenly, was another thought common to the two writers.
the grace of the fashion of it] Better, the goodliness of its form, literally, of its face. The first substantive is not found elsewhere in the New Testament.
in his ways] Literally, in his goings or journeyings, as in Luk_13:22, perhaps with a special reference to the restlessness in trading which shewed itself in the money-making Jews of Palestine. “Going” and “getting” (poreuomai and emporeuomai) made up the sum total of their ideal of life. Comp. chap. Jas_4:13. A various reading gives “in his gettings” here, as a possible meaning, but the balance of evidence is in favour of “goings.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (11) For the sun is no sooner risen .…
(11) For the sun is no sooner risen . . .—Translate, the sun arose with the burning heat, and dried up the grass; and the flower thereof fell away, and the grace of its fashion perished. The grace, the loveliness, the delicacy of its form and feature—literally, of its face—withered and died away. Often must the Apostle have seen such an effect of the fiery-Eastern sun, scorching with its pitiless glare the rich verdure of the wilderness; and in his ear, perchance, was the cry of Isaiah (Isa_40:6-8):—
“All flesh is grass:
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And all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.
The grass withereth;
The flower fadeth;
Because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it:
—Surely the people is grass.
The grass withereth;
The flower fadeth;
But the Word of our God shall stand for ever.”
So also (or, thus) shall the rich man fade away (or, wither) in his ways.—Not the rich brother, observe, is to fade thus, though his wealth will so pass away. The warning is rather (as in Mar_10:24) “for them that trust in riches.” Even “the mammon of unrighteousness,” well used, will make for us “friends that may receive us into everlasting habitations” (Luk_16:9). And he who, out of the possessions wherewith God has blessed him, “deviseth liberal things, by liberal things shall stand” (Isa_32:8). There seems, moreover, looking closely at the text, a special fitness in its exact words: for they mean that the rich shall perish in their journeyings for the sake of gain; and to no people could the rebuke apply more sharply than to the Jews, the lenders unto “many nations” (Deu_15:6), the merchants and bankers of the world. Nor can “the sword of the Spirit,” unsheathed from this Word of God (Eph_6:17), be without an edge for those of us in these latter times who err in the former ways.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain jAneteile. ejxhrane ejxepese... ajpwleto. Observe the aorists here and…
jAneteile. ejxhrane ejxepese... ajpwleto. Observe the aorists here and in ver. 24. The illustration or case mentioned by way of example is taken as an actual fact, and the apostle falls into the tone of narration (see Wirier, "Grammar of New Testament Greek," 6. 1). Render, For the sun arose with the scorching wind, and withered the grass; and the flower thereof fell away, and the grace of the fashion of it perished. Kauswn may refer to
(1) the heat of the sun, or
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(2) more probably, the hot Samum wind, the of the Old Testament (Job_27:21; Eze_17:10, etc.)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 11. For the sun. When the fierce sun of…
11. For the sun. When the fierce sun of summer arises the grass in Palestine dies. Thus shall the glory of the rich man fade.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.