What Does the Bible Say About Being Stingy?
Here are 11 Bible verses about being stingy, ordered by how relevant readers found them, with the King James Version and the modern Berean Standard Bible side by side.
- #1Luke 6:38
Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
BSBGive, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”
- #2Proverbs 11:24
There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.
BSBOne gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds what is right, only to become poor.
- #3Proverbs 28:22
He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.
BSBA stingy man hastens after wealth and does not know that poverty awaits him.
- #4Hebrews 13:5
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
BSBKeep 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.”
- #51 John 3:16-18
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
BSBBy this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth.
- #6Ruth 1:1-22
Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Beth–lehem–judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Beth–lehem–judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years. And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread. …
BSBIn the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man from Bethlehem in Judah, with his wife and two sons, went to reside in the land of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah, and they entered the land of Moab and settled there. Then Naomi’s husband Elimelech died, and she was left with her two sons, who took Moabite women as their wives, one named Orpah and the other named Ruth. And after they had lived in Moab about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and without her husband. When Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had attended to His people by providing them with food, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to leave the land of Moab. …
- #7Acts 20:35
I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
BSBIn everything, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus Himself: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
- #8James 4:3
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
BSBAnd when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.
- #9Proverbs 11:26
He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.
BSBThe people will curse the hoarder of grain, but blessing will crown the one who sells it.
- #10Philippians 2:3
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
BSBDo nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves.
- #11James 1:5-7
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
BSBNow if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
Verse rankings: OpenBible.info Topical Bible (CC BY). Scripture: KJV & BSB (public domain).