With this and the preceding verse contrast our Lord's words of treasure laid up in heaven, "where moth and rust do not corrupt" (Matthew 6:19). Cankered ( κατίωται); better, rusted. Only here in the New Testament; never in the LXX.
except Ecclesiasticus 12:11. The rust of them. ἰός: used here for "rust" as in the LXX. in Ezekiel's parable of the boiling pot (Ezekiel 24:6, etc)—a passage which (according to one interpretation) may have suggested the following clause, "and shall eat your flesh," etc.
(see verses 9-12). Shall he a witness against you ( εἰς μαρτύριον ὑμῖν). The rendering of the A.V. is quite defensible, but it is equally possible to take the words as the R.V. margin," for a testimony unto you."
"The rust of them," says Alford, "is a token of what shall happen to yourselves; in the consuming of your wealth you see depicted your own." Two interpretations of the latter part of the verse are possible, depending on the punctuation adopted.