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.
• 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

22“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then, if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light that is 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 one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. 25“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the sky, that they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather crops into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more important 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

• Noοὐδείςoudeis · noneG3762
• canδύναμαιdunamai · be ableG1410
• serveδουλεύωdouleuō · be a slaveG1398
• twoδύοduo · twoG1417
• mastersκύριοςkurios · lord: masterG2962
• for eitherἤē · orG2228
• he will hateμισέωmiseō · to hateG3404
• the oneεἷςheis · oneG1520
• and loveἀγαπάωagapaō · to loveG25
• the otherἕτεροςheteros · otherG2087
• he will be devotedἀντέχωantechomai · to cling toG472
• and despiseκαταφρονέωkataphroneō · to despiseG2706
• You cannotοὐou · noG3756
• Godθεόςtheos · GodG2316
• wealthμαμμωνᾶςmammōnas · wealthG3126

Cross-references for Matthew 6:24

• Matthew 4:10Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’”
• Joshua 24:15But if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served, which were beyond the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
• 1 Samuel 7:3Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your hearts to the Lord and serve Him alone; and He will save you from the hand of the Philistines.”
• 1 Kings 18:21Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long are you going to struggle with the two choices? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him so much as a word.
• 2 Kings 17:33They feared the Lord, yet they were serving their own gods in accordance with the custom of the nations from among whom they had been taken into exile.
• Ezekiel 20:39“As for you, house of Israel,” this is what the Lord God says: “Go, serve, everyone of you his idols; but later you will certainly listen to Me, and My holy name you will no longer defile with your gifts and your idols.
• Zephaniah 1:5And those who bow down on the housetops to the heavenly lights, And those who bow down and swear to the Lord, but also 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 one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
• Romans 6:16Do you not know that the one to whom you present yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of that same one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
• Galatians 1:10For am I now seeking the favor of people, or of God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.
• 2 Timothy 4:10for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.
• James 4:4You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
• 1 John 2:15Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
• Luke 16:9And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it is all gone, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.
• 1 Timothy 6:9But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires which 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
• Add
• Appear
• Chaldee language
• Closet
• Consider
• Corrupt
• Countenance
• Despise
• Fast

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