OET interlinear YAC (JAM) 5:2

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: translate-versebridge

If it would be helpful to your readers, you could combine 5:2 and 5:3 into a verse bridge. You could put the last sentence of 5:3 first, followed by all of 5:2 and then the rest of 5:3. This would allow you to address several translation issues that are discussed in the notes to this verse and the next verse.

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / pastforfuture

ὁ πλοῦτος ὑμῶν σέσηπεν, καὶ τὰ ἱμάτια ὑμῶν σητόβρωτα γέγονεν

the riches ˱of˲_you_all /has/_rotted and the clothes ˱of˲_you_all moth-eaten /has/_become

James is using the past tense to refer to things that will happen in the future. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use the future tense in your translation. Alternate translation: “Your wealth is going to rot and your clothes are going to be eaten by moths”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / synecdoche

ὁ πλοῦτος ὑμῶν σέσηπεν, καὶ τὰ ἱμάτια ὑμῶν σητόβρωτα γέγονεν

the riches ˱of˲_you_all /has/_rotted and the clothes ˱of˲_you_all moth-eaten /has/_become

In these two clauses and in the first clause in the next verse (“your gold and silver have been tarnished”), James is using certain things that these rich people own to mean everything that they own. If you create a verse bridge, you could combine all of these clauses into a single sentence that expresses this meaning. (You would need to begin a new sentence right afterwards.) Alternate translation: “Everything of value that you own is going to be ruined”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ὁ πλοῦτος ὑμῶν σέσηπεν, καὶ τὰ ἱμάτια ὑμῶν σητόβρωτα γέγονεν

the riches ˱of˲_you_all /has/_rotted and the clothes ˱of˲_you_all moth-eaten /has/_become

Depending on the meaning of the statement “you have stored up in the last days” in the next verse (See: the note to that statement), James may be saying that the wealth and expensive clothing of the rich have become worthless. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could indicate that explicitly, as UST does.

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / simile

ὁ πλοῦτος ὑμῶν σέσηπεν, καὶ τὰ ἱμάτια ὑμῶν σητόβρωτα γέγονεν

the riches ˱of˲_you_all /has/_rotted and the clothes ˱of˲_you_all moth-eaten /has/_become

If you decide to indicate explicitly that James is saying that the wealth and expensive clothing of the rich have become worthless, you could do that by expressing his past-for-future statement as a simile, as UST does.