Bible verses about money: 20 passages for when the numbers keep you up

Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

The things Jesus names are food, drink and clothing: needs, not luxuries. He does not say they are unimportant. He says your Father already knows you need them.

And my God will supply all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Paul wrote this as a thank-you note to a church that had sent him money in prison. The promise was first spoken to people who had given generously out of little.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”

The cure offered for the love of money is not a bigger balance but a presence. The quoted promise goes back to what God told Joshua before he entered an unknown land.

I am not saying this out of need, for I have learned to be content regardless of my circumstances. I know how to live humbly, and I know how to abound. I am accustomed to any and every situation—to being filled and being hungry, to having plenty and having need. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

The famous line about doing all things through Christ sits here, in a passage about living with plenty and with little. Paul says he learned contentment, which means it can be learned.

And He said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Jesus said this to a man who wanted help getting his share of an inheritance. He then told the parable of the rich fool, who planned bigger barns on the night his life ended.

He who loves money is never satisfied by money, and he who loves wealth is never satisfied by income. This too is futile.

Written by the Teacher, traditionally Solomon, a man who had more than anyone around him. The finish line keeps moving when money is the goal.

Of course, godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, so we cannot carry anything out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.

Paul was answering people who treated godliness as a way to get rich. He flips it: the real gain is godliness plus contentment.

For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

Often misquoted as money is the root of all evil. The text says the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and the damage it describes is self-inflicted.

Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread that is my portion. Otherwise, I may have too much and deny You, saying, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, profaning the name of my God.

Agur asks for neither poverty nor riches, because each has its own temptation. It is one of the most honest money prayers ever written.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Notice the direction. Your heart follows your treasure, so where you put your money slowly shapes what you love.

No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

The King James says mammon, an Aramaic word for wealth. Jesus speaks of it as a master that wants loyalty, not as a neutral tool.

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each one should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not out of regret or compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver.

Paul was raising money for poor believers in Jerusalem. The Greek word for cheerful is hilaros, the root of our word hilarious.

In everything, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus Himself: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

These words of Jesus are not recorded in any of the four Gospels. Paul quotes them from memory to the church leaders of Ephesus.

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure.

Spoken to a nation that had stopped bringing its tithes, which fed the Levites and the poor. It is one of the rare places where God invites people to test him.

The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.

A proverb is an observation about how life works. This one notices how debt quietly moves power from the borrower to the lender.

Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

Paul has just said to pay what you owe, taxes included. The one debt that never gets paid off, and should not be, is love.

The plans of the diligent bring plenty, as surely as haste leads to poverty.

Planning is not a lack of faith. Scripture sets the diligent plan against the hasty grab.

Which of you, wishing to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost to see if he has the resources to complete it?

Jesus uses a building budget to picture the cost of following him. He takes it for granted that a wise person sits down and counts.

Dishonest wealth will dwindle, but what is earned through hard work will be multiplied.

Quick money tends to leave as quickly as it came. What grows slowly, through steady work, tends to last.

Whoever is faithful with very little will also be faithful with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will entrust you with true riches?

Faithfulness with a small paycheck is practice for everything else God entrusts to you. Small amounts are not a waiting room; they are the training ground.