“Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal;
Parallel translations
- KJV Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
- BSB Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in 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 13:5Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.”
- 1 Jn 2:15–16Don’t love the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in him.
- Luke 12:21So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
- Prov 23:4–5Don’t weary yourself to be rich. In your wisdom, show restraint.
- Prov 11:4Riches don’t profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.
- Prov 16:16How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! Yes, to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.
- Jas 5:1–3Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.
- 1 Tim 6:17Charge those who are rich in this present world that they not be haughty, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy;
- 1 Tim 6:8–10But having food and clothing, we will be content with that.
- Luke 18:22When Jesus heard these things, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have, and distribute it to the poor. You will have treasure in heaven. Come, follow me.”
- Luke 12:33Sell that which you have, and give gifts to the needy. Make for yourselves purses which don’t grow old, a treasure in the heavens that doesn’t fail, where no thief approaches, neither moth destroys.
- Zeph 1:18Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh’s wrath, but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he will make an end, yes, a terrible end, of all those who dwell in the land.
- Eccl 5:10–14He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase: this also is vanity.
- Luke 18:24Jesus, seeing that he became very sad, said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!
- Ps 62:10Don’t trust in oppression. Don’t become vain in robbery. If riches increase, don’t set your heart on them.
- Ps 39:6“Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.
- Matt 19:21Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
- Eccl 2:26For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.
- Job 31:24“If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence;’
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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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