If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
Parallel translations
- WEB If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
- BSB So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will entrust you with true riches?
- NKJV Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
- NASB Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true wealth to you?
- NLT And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?
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
If we are unfaithful with worldly wealth, we cannot be trusted with true spiritual riches.
Overview
Money is a test; the 'true riches' are the spiritual treasures of the kingdom. Mishandling the lesser disqualifies one from the greater. Jesus presses that faithful stewardship of material things prepares the heart for the weightier trusts of God's grace.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Luke 12:33Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.
- Prov 8:18–19Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness.
- Jas 2:5Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
- Luke 16:9And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
- Luke 18:22Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
- Eph 3:8Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
- Rev 3:18I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 16:11 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.