James 5:3

How should I read ὡς πῦρ in this passage – like this?

James 5:2-3 wrote:2 ὁ πλοῦτος ὑμῶν σέσηπεν, καὶ τὰ ἱμάτια ὑμῶν σητόβρωτα γέγονεν, 3 ὁ χρυσὸς ὑμῶν καὶ ὁ ἄργυρος κατίωται, καὶ ὁ ἰὸς αὐτῶν εἰς μαρτύριον ὑμῖν ἔσται καὶ φάγεται τὰς σάρκας ὑμῶν· ὡς πῦρ ἐθησαυρίσατε ἐν ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις.
or like this?
James 5:2-3 wrote:2 ὁ πλοῦτος ὑμῶν σέσηπεν, καὶ τὰ ἱμάτια ὑμῶν σητόβρωτα γέγονεν, 3 ὁ χρυσὸς ὑμῶν καὶ ὁ ἄργυρος κατίωται, καὶ ὁ ἰὸς αὐτῶν εἰς μαρτύριον ὑμῖν ἔσται καὶ φάγεται τὰς σάρκας ὑμῶν ὡς πῦρ. ἐθησαυρίσατε ἐν ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις.

I see GNTs punctuated both ways. In the first reading, in what sense is storing up things like fire?

ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;

I can’t make sense of the first reading.

Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D. (Duke)
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Faculty of Theology, Uppsala

Stephen Carlson wrote:I can’t make sense of the first reading.

See the Syriac Peshitto for the sense. They read the Greek ωσ πυρ with the following clause.

RandallButh wrote:

Stephen Carlson wrote:I can’t make sense of the first reading.

See the Syriac Peshitto for the sense. They read the Greek ωσ πυρ with the following clause.

Thanks. As far as I can tell, the Syriac does not translate ὡς or it’s taken as a sentence conjunction and omitted. πῦρ seems to be made the object of ἐθησαυρίσατε.

Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D. (Duke)
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Faculty of Theology, Uppsala

Yes, the syriac treats ως as the equivalent of ‘seeing that, since’

Stephen Carlson wrote:I can’t make sense of the first reading.

It’s the reading in the 1904 Patriarchal edition (with a period, actually):

ὁ χρυσὸς ὑμῶν καὶ ὁ ἄργυρος κατίωται, καὶ ὁ ἰὸς αὐτῶν εἰς μαρτύριον ὑμῖν ἔσται καὶ φάγεται τὰς σάρκας ὑμῶν. ὡς πῦρ ἐθησαυρίσατε ἐν ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις.

I couldn’t make sense of it either. Hence my post ;->

ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;