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)

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.

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)

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)

²⁴ Jesus looked at him^[a] and said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!^(A)

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)

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)

³ Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”^[a](A)