What this page covers
What does the Bible say about work, money and giving, and where do they fit in a life lived before God?
Passages about daily work, diligence, honest dealing, wealth, contentment and generosity, read in their setting. Worry about daily needs has its own page under Anxiety and worry; this page is about how Scripture frames work and money themselves.
The Bible speaks about work and money often, and rarely in the abstract. Its first picture of human work comes before anything has gone wrong: the man is placed in the garden “to cultivate and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). Only after the fall does work become toil, eaten “by the sweat of your face” (Genesis 3:17-19). Scripture holds both truths together: work is part of what people are made for, and it is also often hard, frustrating and unfinished.
Work as service
Paul tells the Colossians to work “as for the Lord and not for men” (Colossians 3:23–24). He first said it to enslaved people, whose work was rarely valued by anyone; his point is that God sees it. Christian traditions have built on this in different ways. Catholic social teaching stresses the dignity of work and of workers — Pope John Paul II devoted a 1981 encyclical, Laborem Exercens, to human work. Many Protestant traditions, following Martin Luther, speak of ordinary work as a vocation, a calling as real as any religious one. Both refuse to treat everyday work as spiritually second-rate.
The wisdom books add balance. Proverbs commends diligence (Proverbs 6:6–8); Ecclesiastes is honest that labor can bring sleepless nights, and still calls the enjoyment of it a gift of God (Ecclesiastes 2:22–24). Sirach notices the opposite danger too: “There is one who toils, labors, and hurries, and is even more behind” (Sirach 11:11).
Money: something to use, not to serve
Jesus’ teaching is direct. Treasure stored on earth can be lost, and the heart follows it (Matthew 6:19–21); no one can serve both God and Mammon (Matthew 6:24). The well-known warning in 1 Timothy 6:6–10 is often misremembered as money is the root of all evil. What it actually names is “the love of money,” and its remedy is contentment. The parable of the rich farmer (Luke 12:15–21) makes the same point as a story.
Right after the saying about two masters, Jesus tells His listeners not to be anxious about food and clothing. That teaching is gathered on the anxiety and worry page.
Honest dealing and giving
Scripture treats honesty in business as a matter of faith: “A false balance is an abomination to the LORD” (Proverbs 11:1), and Ben Sira warns how easily sin slips “between buying and selling” (Sirach 27:1–2).
Giving, in the New Testament, is a response to grace. 2 Corinthians 9:6–8 is sometimes preached as a promise that money given to God comes back multiplied. Paul’s own explanation points elsewhere: the gift was relief for poor believers, and what he expects God to supply is “all sufficiency in everything,” so that the Corinthians can keep doing good. Christians differ on practices such as tithing, but the passage itself is about generosity, not gain.
A word of care
These passages are not financial advice, and they promise no particular income. If you are facing debt, job loss or a bill you cannot pay, practical help matters: a parish or congregation, a local charity or a qualified counselor may be able to help. The prayer in Proverbs 30:8–9 — “Give me neither poverty nor riches” — is an honest place to begin.
Passages, in context
“Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Nolite thesaurizare vobis thesauros in terra: ubi ærugo, et tinea demolitur: et ubi fures effodiunt, et furantur. Thesaurizate autem vobis thesauros in cælo, ubi neque ærugo, neque tinea demolitur, et ubi fures non effodiunt, nec furantur. Ubi enim est thesaurus tuus, ibi est et cor tuum.Matthæus 6:19–21 · Clementine Vulgate
Jesus asks where the heart is anchored. Possessions are not condemned, but they can be lost, and “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.
Nemo potest duobus dominis servire: aut enim unum odio habebit, et alterum diliget: aut unum sustinebit, et alterum contemnet. Non potestis Deo servire et mammonæ.Matthæus 6:24 · Clementine Vulgate
Money is pictured as a rival master, “Mammon.” Jesus does not call money evil; He says it cannot be served alongside God.
Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly can’t carry anything out. But having food and clothing, we will be content with that. But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation, a snare, and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Est autem quæstus magnus pietas cum sufficientia. Nihil enim intulimus in hunc mundum: haud dubium quod nec auferre quid possumus. Habentes autem alimenta, et quibus tegamur, his contenti simus. Nam qui volunt divites fieri, incidunt in tentationem, et in laqueum diaboli, et desideria multa inutilia, et nociva, quæ mergunt homines in interitum et perditionem. Radix enim omnium malorum est cupiditas: quam quidam appetentes erraverunt a fide, et inseruerunt se doloribus multis.1 ad Timotheum 6:6–10 · Clementine Vulgate
The warning is against “the love of money” and against being “determined to be rich,” not against money itself. The alternative offered is contentment: “godliness with contentment is great gain.”
Paul’s pastoral letter to Timothy, a church leader at Ephesus
The Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.
Tulit ergo Dominus Deus hominem, et posuit eum in paradiso voluptatis, ut operaretur, et custodiret illum:Genesis 2:15 · Clementine Vulgate
Before anything goes wrong in Genesis, the first human is given work: “to cultivate and keep” the garden. Work belongs to the goodness of creation; the sweat and thorns come later (3:17-19).
The second creation account, in the garden of Eden
And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
Quodcumque facitis, ex animo operamini sicut Domino, et non hominibus: scientes quod a Domino accipietis retributionem hæreditatis. Domino Christo servite.ad Colossenses 3:23–24 · Clementine Vulgate
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord”: ordinary work as service that Christ sees. The words were first addressed to enslaved people in Christian households (3:22), and the next lines tell masters to give what is “just and equal” (4:1). They value faithful work; they do not ask anyone to accept mistreatment.
Household instructions in Paul’s letter to the Colossians
He said to them, “Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.” He spoke a parable to them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man produced abundantly. He reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What will I do, because I don’t have room to store my crops?’ He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”’ “But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Dixitque ad illos: Videte, et cavete ab omni avaritia: quia non in abundantia cujusquam vita ejus est ex his quæ possidet. Dixit autem similitudinem ad illos, dicens: Hominis cujusdam divitis uberes fructus ager attulit: et cogitabat intra se dicens: Quid faciam, quia non habeo quo congregem fructus meos? Et dixit: Hoc faciam: destruam horrea mea, et majora faciam: et illuc congregabo omnia quæ nata sunt mihi, et bona mea, et dicam animæ meæ: Anima, habes multa bona posita in annos plurimos: requiesce, comede, bibe, epulare. Dixit autem illi Deus: Stulte, hac nocte animam tuam repetunt a te: quæ autem parasti, cujus erunt? Sic est qui sibi thesaurizat, et non est in Deum dives.Lucas 12:15–21 · Clementine Vulgate
“A man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.” The rich farmer plans carefully; his mistake is planning only for himself and not being “rich toward God.”
A parable Jesus told after being asked to settle an inheritance dispute
Remember this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work.
Hoc autem dico: qui parce seminat, parce et metet: et qui seminat in benedictionibus, de benedictionibus et metet. Unusquisque, prout destinavit in corde suo, non ex tristitia, aut ex necessitate: hilarem enim datorem diligit Deus. Potens est autem Deus omnem gratiam abundare facere in vobis: ut in omnibus semper omnem sufficientiam habentes, abundetis in omne opus bonum,2 ad Corinthios 9:6–8 · Clementine Vulgate
Giving that is free, “not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” The abundance Paul expects is grace, so that the giver “may abound to every good work” — enough to keep doing good, not a return on an investment.
Paul asking the Corinthians to contribute to a collection for poor believers
Go to the ant, you sluggard.
Consider her ways, and be wise;
which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,
provides her bread in the summer,
and gathers her food in the harvest.
Latin correspondence unavailable for this passage.
The ant works without an overseer and gathers in season. Proverbs prizes diligence and foresight; as wisdom sayings, these describe how life usually goes rather than guaranteeing results.
A father’s instruction to his son in the Book of Proverbs
For what does a man have of all his labor and of the striving of his heart, in which he labors under the sun? For all his days are sorrows, and his travail is grief; yes, even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity. There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.
Quid enim proderit homini de universo labore suo, et afflictione spiritus, qua sub sole cruciatus est? Cuncti dies ejus doloribus et ærumnis pleni sunt, nec per noctem mente requiescit. Et hoc nonne vanitas est? Nonne melius est comedere et bibere, et ostendere animæ suæ bona de laboribus suis? et hoc de manu Dei est.Ecclesiastes 2:22–24 · Clementine Vulgate
The Preacher admits that work can bring sorrow and sleepless nights — and still concludes that to “make his soul enjoy good in his labor” is from the hand of God.
The Preacher (Qoheleth) reflecting on the limits of human achievement
He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity.
Latin correspondence unavailable for this passage.
“He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver”: an observation from experience that wanting more does not stop at enough.
The Preacher on wealth and its limits
Many have sinned for profit.
He who seeks to multiply wealth will turn his eye away.
As a nail will stick fast between the joinings of stones,
so sin will thrust itself in between buying and selling.
Latin correspondence unavailable for this passage.
Ben Sira notes how easily wrongdoing slips into trade: “sin will thrust itself in between buying and selling.” Honest dealing takes attention, not only good intentions.
The Wisdom of Ben Sira, a deuterocanonical book included in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles
How this differs from related topics
This page gives no financial advice and does not teach that faith or giving produces wealth. Several of these passages are often quoted that way; the notes explain what they meant to their first readers. For the anxious side of money — fear about bills, food or the future — see Anxiety and worry, where Jesus’ “do not worry” teaching is gathered.