Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal;
- KJV Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
- NKJV “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;
- NASB “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
- NLT “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.
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
Don't store up earthly treasures, which decay and can be stolen. Earthly wealth is fragile and cannot last.
Overview
Jesus shifts to the heart's investments, warning against making fleeting earthly possessions one's true treasure. Moth, rust, and thieves picture the vulnerability and impermanence of all material wealth. This is not a blanket condemnation of possessions but a warning against setting the heart's hope on them, preparing for the call to invest in eternity.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Heb 13:5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
- 1 Jn 2:15–16Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- Luke 12:21This is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.”
- Prov 23:4–5Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself.
- Prov 11:4Riches are worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness brings deliverance from death.
- Prov 16:16How much better to acquire wisdom than gold! To gain understanding is more desirable than silver.
- Jas 5:1–3Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you.
- 1 Tim 6:17Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy.
- 1 Tim 6:8–10But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.
- Luke 18:22On hearing this, Jesus told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell everything you own and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”
- 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.
- Zeph 1:18Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the Day of the LORD’s wrath. The whole earth will be consumed by the fire of His jealousy.” For indeed, He will make a sudden end of all who dwell on the earth.
- Eccl 5:10–14He who loves money is never satisfied by money, and he who loves wealth is never satisfied by income. This too is futile.
- Luke 18:24Seeing the man’s sadness, Jesus said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!
- Ps 62:10Place no trust in extortion, or false hope in stolen goods. If your riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.
- Ps 39:6Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.
- Matt 19:21Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”
- Eccl 2:26To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He assigns the task of gathering and accumulating that which he will hand over to one who pleases God. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
- Job 31:24If I have put my trust in gold or called pure gold my security,
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 6:19 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
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