Matthew 6 · Verse 24

Matthew 6:24

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Matthew 6:24, King James Version

Matthew 6:24 in other translations

BSB	No one can serve two masters: 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 both God and money.
WEB	“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.
ASV	No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
YLT	‘None is able to serve two lords, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one, and despise the other; ye are not able to serve God and Mammon.
DARBY	No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and will love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
BBE	No man is able to be a servant to two masters: for he will have hate for the one and love for the other, or he will keep to one and have no respect for the other. You may not be servants of God and of wealth.
Webster	No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

What does Matthew 6:24 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

24. No man can serve--The word means to "belong wholly and be entirely under command to." two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other--Even if the two masters be of one character and have but one object, the servant must take law from one or the other: though he may do what is agreeable to both, he cannot, in the nature of the thing, be servant to more than one. Much less if, as in the present case, their interests are quite different, and even conflicting. In this case, if our affections be in the service of the one--if we "love the one"--we must of necessity "hate the other"; if we determine resolutely to "hold to the one," we must at the same time disregard, and (if he insist on his claims upon us) even "despise the other." Ye cannot serve God and mammon--The word "mamon"--better written with one m--is a foreign one, whose precise derivation cannot certainly be determined, though the most probable one gives it the sense of "what one trusts in." Here, there can be no doubt it is used for riches, considered as an idol master, or god of the heart. The service of this god and the true God together is here, with a kind of indignant curtness, pronounced impossible. But since the teaching of the preceding verses might seem to endanger our falling short of what is requisite for the present life, and so being left destitute, our Lord now comes to speak to that point.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes

Verse 24. No man can serve two masters, etc. Christ proceeds to illustrate the necessity of laying up treasures in heaven from a well- known fact, that a servant cannot serve two masters at the same time. His affections and obedience would be divided, and he would fail altogether in his duty to one or the other. One he would love, and the other hate. To the interests of one he would adhere, the other he would neglect. This is a law of human nature. The supreme affections can be fixed on only one object. So, says Jesus, the servant of God cannot at the same time obey him and be avaricious, or seek treasures supremely on earth. One interferes with the other, and one will be, and must be surrendered.

Mammon. Mammon is a Syriac word, a name given to an idol worshipped as the god of riches. It has the same meaning as Plutus among the Greeks. It is not known that the Jews ever formally worshipped this idol, but they used the word to denote wealth. The meaning is, ye cannot serve the true God, and at the same time be supremely engaged in obtaining the riches of this world. One must interfere with the other. See Lk 16:9-11.

(i) "two masters" Lk 16:13 (k) "cannot serve God and mammon" Gal 1:10, 2Ti 4:10, Jas 4:4

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 24 No man can serve two masters - The master of our heart may be fitly termed the love that reigns in it. We serve that only which we love supremely. A man cannot be in perfect indifference betwixt two objects which are incompatible: he is inclined to despise and hate whatever he does not love supremely, when the necessity of a choice presents itself. He will hate the one and love the other - The word hate has the same sense here as it has in many places of Scripture; it merely signifies to love less - so Jacob loved Rachel, but hated Leah; i.e. he loved Leah much less than he loved Rachel. God himself uses it precisely in the same sense: Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated; i.e. I have loved the posterity of Esau less than I have loved the posterity of Jacob: which means no more than that God, in the course of his providence, gave to the Jews greater earthly privileges than he gave to the Edomites, and chose to make them the progenitors of the Messiah, though they ultimately, through their own obstinacy, derived no more benefit from this privilege than the Edomites did. How strange is it, that with such evidence before their eyes, men will apply this loving and hating to degrees of inclusion and exclusion, in which neither the justice nor mercy of God are honored! Ye cannot serve God and mammon - ממון mamon is used for money in the Targum of Onkelos, Exo 18:21; and in that of Jonathan, Jdg 5:19; 1Sam 8:3. The Syriac word ממונא mamona is used in the same sense, Exo 21:30. Dr. Castel deduces these words from the Hebrew אמן aman, to trust, confide; because men are apt to trust in riches. Mammon may therefore be considered any thing a man confides in. Augustine observes, "that mammon, in the Punic or Carthaginian language, signified gain." Lucrum Punic mammon dicitur. The word plainly denotes riches, Luk 16:9, Luk 16:11, in which latter verse mention is made not only of the deceitful mammon, (τω αδικω), but also of the true (το αληθινον). St. Luke's phrase, μαμωνα αδικιας, very exactly answers to the Chaldee ממון דשקר mamon dishekar, which is often used in the Targums. See more in Wetstein and Parkhurst. Some suppose there was an idol of this name, and Kircher mentions such a one in his Oedip. Egyptiacus. See Castel. Our blessed Lord shows here the utter impossibility of loving the world and loving God at the same time; or, in other words, that a man of the world cannot be a truly religious character. He who gives his heart to the world robs God of it, and, in snatching at the shadow of earthly good, loses substantial and eternal blessedness. How dangerous is it to set our hearts upon riches, seeing it is so easy to make them our God!

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Matthew 6:19-24

Worldly-mindedness is a common and fatal symptom of hypocrisy, for by no sin can Satan have a surer and faster hold of the soul, under the cloak of a profession of religion. Something the soul will have, which it looks upon as the best thing; in which it has pleasure and confidence above other things. Christ counsels to make our best things the joys and glories of the other world, those things not seen which are…

Read the full comment on Matthew 6:19-24 →

Matthew 6:24 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

ΟὐδεὶςOudeisNo [one]G3762

δύναταιdunataiis ableG1410

δυσὶdusitwoG1417

κυρίοιςkurioismastersG2962

δουλεύειν·douleueinto serve;G1398

ἢēeitherG2228

γὰρgarforG1063

τὸνtontheG3588

ἕναhenaoneG1520

μισήσειmisēseihe will hateG3404

καὶkaiandG2532

τὸνtontheG3588

ἕτερονheteronotherG2087

ἀγαπήσειagapēseihe will loveG25

ἢēorG2228

ἑνὸςhenosto [the] oneG1520

ἀνθέξεταιanthexetaihe will be devotedG472

καὶkaiandG2532

τοῦtoutheG3588

ἑτέρουheterouotherG2087

καταφρονήσει.kataphronēseihe will despise.G2706

οὐouNotG3756

δύνασθεdunastheyou are ableG1410

θεῷtheōGodG2316

δουλεύεινdouleueinto serveG1398

καὶkaiandG2532

μαμωνᾷ.¶mamōnamoney.G3126

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Matthew 6:24

1 John 2:15-16
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
Luke 16:13
No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
James 4:4
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
1 Timothy 6:9-10
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Joshua 24:15
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Galatians 1:10
For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
Matthew 4:10
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Romans 6:16-22
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. …
Luke 16:11
If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
1 Kings 18:21
And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
Joshua 24:19-20
And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the Lord: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.
2 Kings 17:33-34
They feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence. Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the Lord, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

serve.
4:10; Jos 24:15,19,20; 1Sa 7:3; 1Ki 18:21; 2Ki 17:33,34,41
Eze 20:39; Zep 1:5; Lu 16:13; Ro 6:16-22; Ga 1:10; 2Ti 4:10; Jas 4:4
1Jo 2:15,16
mammon.
Lu 16:9,11,13; 1Ti 6:9,10,17

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Matthew 6:23
But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
Matthew 6:24
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Matthew 6:25
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

Read all of Matthew 6

Matthew 6:24 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Ninguno puede servir á dos señores; porque ó aborrecerá al uno y amará al otro, ó se llegará al uno y menospreciará al otro: no podéis servir á Dios y á Mammón.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Nul ne peut servir deux maîtres; car, ou il haïra l’un et aimera l’autre, ou il s’attachera à l’un et méprisera l’autre: vous ne pouvez servir Dieu et Mammon.
German Elberfelder 1871	Niemand kann zwei Herren dienen; denn entweder wird er den einen hassen und den anderen lieben, oder er wird einem anhangen und den anderen verachten. Ihr könnet nicht Gott dienen und dem Mammon.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Nemo potest duobus dominis servire: aut enim unum odio habebit, et alterum diliget: aut unum sustinebit, et alterum contemnet. Non potestis Deo servire et mammonæ.