Matthew 19:23
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23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.(A)
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1 Timothy 6:9-10
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9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.(A) 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
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Matthew 13:22
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22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this[a] age and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.(A)
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- 13.22 Some ancient authorities read the
James 5:1-4
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Warning to Rich Oppressors
5 Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. 2 Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten.(A) 3 Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure[a] during the last days. 4 Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.(B)
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- 5.3 Or will eat your flesh, since you have stored up fire
Luke 18:24
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24 Jesus looked at him[a] and said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!(A)
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- 18.24 Other ancient authorities read saw that he had become sad
Mark 10:23
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23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”(A)
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1 Corinthians 1:26
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26 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards,[a] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.(A)
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- 1.26 Gk according to the flesh
John 3:3
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3 Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”[a](A)
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- 3.3 Or born anew
Proverbs 30:8-9
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8 Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that I need,(A)
9 lest I be full and deny you
and say, “Who is the Lord?”
or I be poor and steal
and profane the name of my God.(B)
Proverbs 11:28
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28 Those who trust in their riches will wither,[a]
but the righteous will flourish like green leaves.(A)
Footnotes
- 11.28 Cn: Heb fall
James 2:6
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6 But you have dishonored the poor person. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into the courts?(A)
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James 1:9-11
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Poverty and Riches
9 Let the brother or sister of humble means boast in having a high position 10 and the rich in having been humbled, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field.(A) 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the field; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. It is the same way with the rich; in the midst of a busy life, they will wither away.
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Acts 14:22
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22 There they strengthened the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue in the faith, saying, “It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God.”(A)
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John 3:5
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5 Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.(A)
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Luke 16:19-28
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The Rich Man and Lazarus
19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,(A) 21 who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham.[a] The rich man also died and was buried.(B) 23 In Hades, where he was being tormented, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side.[b](C) 24 He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.’(D) 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus in like manner evil things, but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony.(E) 26 Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ 27 He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’
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Luke 12:15-21
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15 And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”(A) 16 Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17 And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’(B) 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’(C) 21 So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”(D)
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Matthew 18:3
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3 and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.(A)
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Matthew 5:20
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20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
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Psalm 49:16-19
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16 Do not be afraid when some become rich,
when the wealth of their houses increases.(A)
17 For when they die they will carry nothing away;
their wealth will not go down after them.(B)
18 Though in their lifetime they count themselves happy
—for you are praised when you do well for yourself—(C)
19 they[a] will go to the company of their ancestors,
who will never again see the light.(D)
Footnotes
- 49.19 Cn: Heb you
Psalm 49:6-7
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6 those who trust in their wealth
and boast of the abundance of their riches?(A)
7 Truly, no ransom avails for one’s life;[a]
there is no price one can give to God for it.(B)
Footnotes
- 49.7 Or no one can ransom a brother
Job 31:24-25
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24 “If I have made gold my trust
or called fine gold my confidence,(A)
25 if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great
or because my hand had gotten much,(B)
Deuteronomy 8:10-18
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10 You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.(A)
11 “Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes that I am commanding you today. 12 When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them 13 and when your herds and flocks have multiplied and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,(B) 15 who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, an arid wasteland with poisonous[a] snakes and scorpions. He made water flow for you from flint rock.(C) 16 He fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know, to humble you and to test you and in the end to do you good.(D) 17 Do not say to yourself, ‘My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today.(E)
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- 8.15 Or fiery
Deuteronomy 6:10-12
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Caution against Disobedience
10 “When the Lord your God has brought you into the land that he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—a land with fine, large cities that you did not build,(A) 11 houses filled with all sorts of goods that you did not fill, hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you have eaten your fill,(B) 12 take care that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
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Luke 16:13-14
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13 No slave can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”[a](A)
The Law and the Kingdom of God
14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him.(B)
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- 16.13 Gk mammon
Matthew 21:31
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31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.(A)
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