Matthew 6:24

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.
• 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.
• New Living Translation (NLT)“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

Context of Matthew 6:24

22"The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! "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. 25"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

Matthew 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

Words taken from the KJV.

• No manοὐδείςoudeis · noneG3762
• canδύναμαιdunamai · be ableG1410
• serveδουλεύωdouleuō · be a slaveG1398
• twoδύοduo · twoG1417
• mastersκύριοςkurios · lord: masterG2962
• forγάρgar · forG1063
• eitherἤē · orG2228
• he will hateμισέωmiseō · to hateG3404
• the oneὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• the oneεἷςheis · oneG1520
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• loveἀγαπάωagapaō · to loveG25
• the otherἕτεροςheteros · otherG2087
• he will hold toἀντέχωantechomai · to cling toG472
• despiseκαταφρονέωkataphroneō · to despiseG2706
• Ye cannotοὐou · noG3756
• Godθεόςtheos · GodG2316
• mammonμαμμωνᾶςmammōnas · wealthG3126

Cross-references for Matthew 6:24

• Matthew 4:10Then Jesus said to him, "Be gone, Satan! For it is written, "'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'"
• Joshua 24:15And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
• 1 Samuel 7:3And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, "If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines."
• 1 Kings 18:21And Elijah came near to all the people and said, "How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." And the people did not answer him a word.
• 2 Kings 17:33So they feared the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.
• Ezekiel 20:39"As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: Go serve every one of you his idols, now and hereafter, if you will not listen to me; but my holy name you shall no more profane with your gifts and your idols.
• Zephaniah 1:5those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens, those who bow down and swear to the Lord and yet swear by Milcom,
• Luke 16:13No servant 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."
• Romans 6:16Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
• Galatians 1:10For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
• 2 Timothy 4:10For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.
• James 4:4You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
• 1 John 2:15Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
• Luke 16:9And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.
• 1 Timothy 6:9But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people 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

• Commandments
• Consistency
• Covetousness
• Decision
• Hypocrisy
• Indecision
• Instability
• Mammon
• Obedience
• Religion

In the dictionaries

• God
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Add
• Appear
• Chaldee language
• Closet
• Consider
• Corrupt
• Countenance
• Despise

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