Greed is an excessive desire for more than what one needs or deserves. The Bible has a lot to say about greed and its dangers. Here are some key Bible verses about greed:
Proverbs 15:27 – “Whoever is greedy for unjust gain troubles his own household, but he who hates bribes will live.” This verse warns that greed can destroy relationships and bring trouble to one’s family.
Luke 12:15 – “And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”” Jesus cautions against greed and finding meaning in material wealth.
1 Timothy 6:9-10 – “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” Paul warns Timothy that greed can lead people away from faith in God.
Matthew 6:24 – “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” You cannot be devoted to God while also greedy for wealth.
Ecclesiastes 5:10 – “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.” Material possessions and wealth will never fully satisfy.
Hebrews 13:5 – “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”” We should find contentment with what God has given us.
James 5:1-6 – This passage strongly condemns the rich who hoard wealth and exploit workers. It ends with “You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.”
Proverbs 28:25 – “A greedy man stirs up strife, but the one who trusts in the Lord will be enriched.” Greed leads to conflict with others.
Proverbs 11:24 – “One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.” Generosity leads to prosperity, while greed leads to poverty.
Mark 7:21-23 – In this passage, Jesus teaches that greed comes from within a person’s heart, and defiles them before God.
Proverbs 21:25-26 – “The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor. All day long he craves and craves, but the righteous gives and does not hold back.” Greed and laziness often go together.
Luke 16:13-15 – “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” Jesus makes clear God knows our hearts, and greed is detestable to Him.
Colossians 3:5 – “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Greed amounts to idolatry.
1 John 2:15-17 – “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” We cannot love both God and material things.
Proverbs 1:19 – “Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors.” Greed can spiritually destroy us.
Proverbs 15:16 – “Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it.” It is better to have godliness with little than wealth with no faith.
Proverbs 23:4-5 – “Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.” Don’t wear yourself out chasing riches that disappear.
Psalm 10:3 – “For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord.” Greed leads people to renounce God.
Matthew 19:23-24 – “And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”” Wealth makes it hard to focus on God.
Luke 6:24-25 – “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.” Jesus warns those who are rich in this life because they already have their comfort.
Mark 4:19 – “but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.” Riches and greed choke out God’s word in our lives.
Matthew 13:22 – “As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.” Riches deceive us and keep God’s word from bearing fruit.
1 Timothy 3:2-3 – “Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.” Church leaders must not be lovers of money.
Titus 1:7 – “For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain.” Again greed disqualifies one from church leadership.
1 Peter 5:2 – “Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly.” Church leaders should serve eagerly, not for greed.
2 Peter 2:1-3 – “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” Greed motivates false teachers to exploit believers.
2 Peter 2:14 – “They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!” False teachers are dominated by greed.
Jude 1:11 – “Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion.” Greed caused evil men to rebel and perish.
Jeremiah 6:13 – “For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.” Greed had infected all levels of leadership in Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 8:10 – “Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to conquerors, because from the least to the greatest everyone is greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.” Greed again throughout society.
Ezekiel 16:26-29 – “You also played the whore with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, multiplying your whoring, to provoke me to anger. Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you and diminished your allotted portion and delivered you to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. You played the whore also with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes, you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied. You multiplied your whoring also with the trading land of Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.” Through the prophet Ezekiel, God accused Judah of political alliances dominated by greed.
Micah 2:2 – “They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.” The rulers of Israel were seizing property out of greed.
Micah 3:11 – “Its heads give judgment for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money; yet they lean on the Lord and say, “Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us.” The leaders of Jerusalem were falsely assuring peace, motivated by greed.
Habakkuk 2:6-11 – This passage pronounces 5 woes on the greedy nation of Babylon that exploited many peoples. Their greed would bring ruin.
Isaiah 56:11 – “The dogs have a mighty appetite; they never have enough. But they are shepherds who have no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, each to his own gain, one and all.” Israel’s watchmen only sought their own gain.
Jeremiah 22:17 – “But you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence.” King Jehoiakim only cared for gain through injustice.
Ezekiel 22:12-13 – “In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take interest and profit and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but me you have forgotten, declares the Lord God. “Behold, I strike my hand at the dishonest gain that you have made, and at the blood that has been in your midst.” The people of Jerusalem gained riches through dishonesty and violence.
Ezekiel 33:31 – “And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain.” They listened to Ezekiel for entertainment, not obedience.
Hosea 12:7-8 – “A merchant, in whose hands are false balances, he loves to oppress. Ephraim has said, ‘Ah, but I am rich; I have found wealth for myself; in all my labors they cannot find in me iniquity or sin.’” Ephraim’s wealth came through dishonest business practices.
Amos 8:4-7 – “Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end, saying, “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances, that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and sell the chaff of the wheat?” The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: “Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.” The merchants of Israel couldn’t wait for holy days to end so they could get back to cheating customers and the poor.
Zechariah 7:9-10 – “Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.” Israel’s leaders oppressed the vulnerable rather than dealing justly.
Malachi 3:5 – “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.” God will judge those who exploit workers and the vulnerable.
Matthew 23:25 – “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.” Though appearing righteous, the religious leaders were dominated by greed.
Mark 7:22 – “coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” Jesus lists greed, or coveting, as an evil that defiles us.
Luke 11:39 – “And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.” Again, greed defiled the Pharisees’ hearts.
Romans 1:29 – “They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips.” Greed is a sin that leads to many other sins.
1 Corinthians 5:10-11 – “not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.” Greed is a sin that can get someone expelled from the church.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 – “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” The greedy will not inherit God’s kingdom.
Ephesians 4:19 – “They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” Greed and sensuality are closely linked.
Ephesians 5:3-5 – “But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” Again greed is tied to sensuality and called idolatry.
Colossians 3:5 – “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” See Ephesians 5:3-5 above.
1 Thessalonians 2:5 – “For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness.” Paul did not preach out of greed.
James 4:1-3 – “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” Greed causes quarrels and conflicts.
2 Peter 2:3 – “And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” As stated earlier, the greedy will exploit believers with lies.
So in summary, the Bible contains many warnings against greed and its detrimental spiritual effects. Greed leads to injustice, oppression of others, strife, ignoring God, self-destruction, all kinds of evil, exploitation, and ultimately eternal judgment. The greedy will not inherit God’s kingdom. Jesus severely condemned greed among the religious leaders of his day. His followers must not be lovers of money. The Bible calls us to find contentment and seek first God’s kingdom, not earthly riches. We cannot serve both God and money.