Berean Standard Bible
Matthew 6:24
24No 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.
Matthew 6:24 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
- New International Version (NIV)“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
- English Standard Version (ESV)"No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and money.
- New King James Version (NKJV)“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Context of Matthew 6:24
22The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 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. 25Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Read all of Matthew 6Matthew 6:24 word by word
Οὐδεὶς δύναται δυσὶ κυρίοις δουλεύειν· ἢ γὰρ τὸν ἕνα μισήσει καὶ τὸν ἕτερον ἀγαπήσει ἢ ἑνὸς ἀνθέξεται καὶ τοῦ ἑτέρου καταφρονήσει. οὐ δύνασθε θεῷ δουλεύειν καὶ μαμωνᾷ.¶Read the interlinear
- No oneοὐδείςoudeis · noneG3762
- canδύναμαιdunamai · be ableG1410
- serveδουλεύωdouleuō · be a slaveG1398
- twoδύοduo · twoG1417
- mastersκύριοςkurios · lord: masterG2962
- ·γάρgar · forG1063
- Eitherἤē · orG2228
- he will hateμισέωmiseō · to hateG3404
- theὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
- oneεἷςheis · oneG1520
- andκαίkai · andG2532
- loveἀγαπάωagapaō · to loveG25
- otherἕτεροςheteros · otherG2087
- he will be devoted toἀντέχωantechomai · to cling toG472
- despiseκαταφρονέωkataphroneō · to despiseG2706
- You cannotοὐou · noG3756
- Godθεόςtheos · GodG2316
- moneyμαμμωνᾶςmammōnas · wealthG3126
Cross-references for Matthew 6:24
- Matthew 4:10“Away from Me, Satan!” Jesus told him. “For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”
- Joshua 24:15But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!”
- 1 Samuel 7:3Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and Ashtoreths among you, prepare your hearts for the LORD, and serve Him only. And He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.”
- 1 Kings 18:21Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him. But if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people did not answer a word.
- 2 Kings 17:33They worshiped the LORD, but they also served their own gods according to the customs of the nations from which they had been carried away.
- Ezekiel 20:39And as for you, O house of Israel, this is what the Lord GOD says: Go and serve your idols, every one of you. But afterward, you will surely listen to Me, and you will no longer defile My holy name with your gifts and idols.
- Zephaniah 1:5those who bow on the rooftops to worship the host of heaven, those who bow down and swear by the LORD but also swear by Milcom,
- Luke 16:13No servant 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.”
- Romans 6:16Do you not know that when you offer yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey, whether you are slaves to sin leading to death, or to obedience leading to righteousness?
- Galatians 1:10Am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
- 2 Timothy 4:10because Demas, in his love of this world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.
- James 4:4You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.
- 1 John 2:15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- Luke 16:9I tell you, use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves so that when it is gone, they will welcome you into eternal dwellings.
- 1 Timothy 6:9Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
Commentaries on Matthew 6:24
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 24No man can serve two masters - The master of our heart may be fitly termed the love that reigns in it. We serve that only which we love supremely. A man cannot be in perfect indifference betwixt two objects which are incompatible: he is inclined to despise and hate whatever he does not love supremely, when the necessity of a choice presents itself. He will hate the one and love the other - The word hate has the same sense here as it has in many places of…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 24No man can serve two masters - Christ proceeds to illustrate the necessity of laying up treasures in heaven from a well-known fact, that a servant cannot serve two masters at the same time. His affections and obedience would be divided, and he would fail altogether in his duty to one or the other. One he would love, the other he would hate. To the interests of the one he would adhere, the interests of the other he would neglect. This is a law of human…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 19-24Verses 19-24 Worldly-mindedness is a common and fatal symptom of hypocrisy, for by no sin can Satan have a surer and faster hold of the soul, under the cloak of a profession of religion. Something the soul will have, which it looks upon as the best thing; in which it has pleasure and confidence above other things. Christ counsels to make our best things the joys and glories of the other world, those things not seen which are eternal, and to place our…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 24The word translated "money" is traditionally translated mammon. This is an Aramaic term for profits or material possessions. God does not tolerate rivals, so Jesus often warns about the danger of gathering wealth (Matthew 13:22; 19:16–30; 26:14–16; 27:3–10; 28:11–15). This can become an idol (see Ephesians 5:5; Colossians 3:5). We must trust God to provide our needs (Matthew 4:3–4; 6:8, 11, 25–34; 7:7–11; 10:9–14; 14:15–21; 15:32–38). The community of…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2424. No man can serve--The word means to "belong wholly and be entirely under command to." two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other--Even if the two masters be of one character and have but one object, the servant must take law from one or the other: though he may do what is agreeable to both, he cannot, in the nature of the thing, be servant to more than one. Much less if, as…Read the comment
Topics related to Matthew 6:24
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Matthew 6
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Catena Aurea
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- John Lightfoot Commentary
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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