James 2:2

2:2 For if someone ¹  comes into your assembly ²  wearing a gold ring and fine clothing, and a poor person enters in filthy clothes,

Job 13:28

13:28 So I ³  waste away like something rotten, ⁴ 

like a garment eaten by moths.

Psalms 39:11

39:11 You severely discipline people for their sins; ⁵ 

like a moth you slowly devour their strength. ⁶ 

Surely all people are a mere vapor. (Selah)

Isaiah 50:9

50:9 Look, the sovereign Lord helps me.

Who dares to condemn me?

Look, all of them will wear out like clothes;

a moth will eat away at them.

Isaiah 51:8

51:8 For a moth will eat away at them like clothes;

a clothes moth will devour them like wool.

But the vindication I provide ⁷  will be permanent;

the deliverance I give will last.”

Hosea 5:12

The Curse of the Incurable Wound

5:12 I will be like a moth to Ephraim,

like wood rot ⁸  to the house of Judah.

[2:2]  ¹ tn The word for “man” or “individual” here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But as BDAG 79 s.v. 2 says, “equivalent to τὶς someone.”

[2:2]  ² tn Grk “synagogue.” Usually συναγωγή refers to Jewish places of worship (e.g., Matt 4:23, Mark 1:21, Luke 4:15, John 6:59). The word can be used generally to refer to a place of assembly, and here it refers specifically to a Christian assembly (BDAG 963 s.v. 2.b.).

[13:28]  ³ tn Heb “and he.” Some of the commentators move the verse and put it after Job 14:2, 3 or 6.

[13:28]  ⁴ tn The word רָקָב (raqav) is used elsewhere in the Bible of dry rot in a house, or rotting bones in a grave. It is used in parallelism with “moth” both here and in Hos 5:12. The LXX has “like a wineskin.” This would be from רֹקֶב (roqev, “wineskin”). This word does not occur in the Hebrew Bible, but is attested in Sir 43:20 and in Aramaic. The change is not necessary.

[39:11]  ⁵ tn “with punishments on account of sin you discipline a man.”

[39:11]  ⁶ tc Heb “you cause to dissolve, like a moth, his desired [thing].” The translation assumes an emendation of חֲמוּדוֹ (khamudo, “his desirable [thing]”) to חֶמְדוֹ (khemdo, “his loveliness” [or “beauty”]), a reading that is supported by a few medieval Hebrew mss.

[51:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “my vindication”; many English versions “my righteousness”; NRSV, TEV “my deliverance”; CEV “my victory.”

[5:12]  ⁸ tn The noun רָקָב (raqav, “rottenness, decay”) refers to wood rot caused by the ravages of worms (BDB 955 s.v. רָקָב); cf. NLT “dry rot.” The related noun רִקָּבוֹן (riqqavon) refers to “rotten wood” (Job 41:27).