Matthew 6:24
What does Matthew 6:24 mean?
A plain-English look at Matthew 6:24 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Matthew 6:24 means
Jesus delivers an absolute declaration about ultimate allegiance: "No man can serve two masters." This is an impossibility because divided loyalty inevitably leads to conflicting priorities and ultimate rejection of one. He explains that one will either "hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other." He concludes powerfully and directly: "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." "Mammon" here represents wealth or material possessions, personified as a rival master. This demands an exclusive commitment to God.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
KJV
King James Version · 1611No 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.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949No man is able to be a servant to two masters: for he will have hate for the one and love for the other, or he will keep to one and have no respect for the other. You may not be servants of God and of wealth.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862`None is able to serve two lords, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one, and despise the other; ye are not able to serve God and Mammon.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and will love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serveGod and mammon.
Context
This verse delivers the powerful conclusion to the previous illustrations of treasures (verses 19-21) and the eye (verses 22-23). It unequivocally states the incompatibility of serving both God and material wealth as ultimate masters. This declaration immediately precedes Jesus' exhortation to avoid anxiety, showing that the single-minded devotion to God is the foundation for trusting Him with all of life's needs.
v.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 the darkness!
v.24This passage
v.25Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious 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 the food, and the body than the raiment?
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Galatians 1:10
For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? or am I striving to please men? if I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ.
- Luke 16:13
No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
- Zephaniah 1:5
and them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship, that swear to Jehovah and swear by Malcam;
- Matthew 4:10
Then 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.
- 1 Samuel 7:3
And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto Jehovah with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your hearts unto Jehovah, and serve him only; and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.
- Romans 6:16
Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
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