This is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.”
Parallel translations
- WEB So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
- KJV So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
- ESV So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
- NKJV “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
- NASB Such is the one who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich in relation to God.”
- NLT “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
So it is with anyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God. The parable warns against living for self while neglecting God.
Overview
Jesus draws the lesson plainly: a life devoted to accumulating earthly wealth while remaining spiritually bankrupt before God ends in loss. Being 'rich toward God' means treasuring Him, trusting Him, and using one's resources for His purposes. True and lasting riches are found in a right relationship with God through Christ, not in earthly possessions.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Matt 6:19–20Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
- Luke 12:33Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide yourselves with purses that will not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
- Jas 2:5Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?
- Jas 5:1–3Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you.
- 1 Tim 6:18–19Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, and to be generous and ready to share,
- Rev 2:9I know your affliction and your poverty—though you are rich! And I am aware of the slander of those who falsely claim to be Jews, but are in fact a synagogue of Satan.
- Hab 2:9Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, to place his nest on high and escape the hand of disaster!
- Hos 10:1Israel was a luxuriant vine, yielding fruit for himself. The more his fruit increased, the more he increased the altars. The better his land produced, the better he made the sacred pillars.
- Luke 6:24But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.
- Rom 2:5But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
- Luke 16:11So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will entrust you with true riches?
- 2 Cor 6:10sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 12:21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.