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

22The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 23But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! 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. 25Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better 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

• 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 saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
• Joshua 24:15And if it seem evil unto you to serve Yhwh, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Yhwh.
• 1 Samuel 7:3And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto Yhwh with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto Yhwh, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.
• 1 Kings 18:21And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if Yhwh be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
• 2 Kings 17:33They feared Yhwh, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.
• Ezekiel 20:39As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord Yhwh; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.
• Zephaniah 1:5And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by Yhwh, and that swear by Malcham;
• Luke 16:13No servant 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.
• Romans 6:16Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
• Galatians 1:10For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
• 2 Timothy 4:10For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
• James 4:4Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
• 1 John 2:15Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
• Luke 16:9And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
• 1 Timothy 6:9But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

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