Guide

Is "Money Is the Root of All Evil" in the Bible?

Updated October 1, 2026 · By PeterJohn Fox, maker of Exegeo

Not quite. The saying comes from 1 Timothy 6:10, but the verse is about the love of money, and in most modern translations it calls that love a root of all kinds of evil. The familiar version drops a few words, and the claim changes with them.

What the verse says

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

That is 1 Timothy 6:10 in the World English Bible (WEB), the translation I quote throughout this guide. Set it beside the saying and three differences show up.

The first difference matters most. Money is a thing. Loving it is something a person does, so the verse is talking about people.

The other two keep the verse from claiming too much. Plenty of wrong in the world has nothing to do with money, since people can be proud or cruel without a cent changing hands. The verse says something narrower: wanting money can grow into almost any kind of wrong.

Where the familiar wording comes from

The King James Version of 1611 reads, "For the love of money is the root of all evil." English speakers learned the verse in those words for centuries, and the popular saying is that sentence with "the love of" left off.

Paul wrote the letter in Greek. His phrase for "love of money" is a single word, and his sentence has no "the" in front of "root." Greek has no word for "a," so translators have to choose. Most modern English translations choose the same way the WEB does: "a root of all kinds of evil." Whichever wording you read, the subject of the sentence is the love of money. The saying, with money itself as the root, is not how any of them translate this verse.

What 1 Timothy 6 is about

It helps to see where the verse sits. Paul had asked Timothy to stay in Ephesus and deal with people who were teaching a different doctrine (1 Timothy 1:3). In chapter 6 he names one of their motives. They "suppose that godliness is a means of gain" (6:5). They treated faith as a way to get paid.

Paul answers by turning their word around:

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly can't carry anything out. But having food and clothing, we will be content with that.

Those are verses 6 to 8. Verse 9 then describes the opposite of contentment: "those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare." Verse 10 begins with "For," which means it gives the reason for what came just before. The famous line is the last step in an argument about wanting to be rich.

The next verse tells Timothy what to do instead: "flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness" (6:11).

What the chapter says to people who have money

If the chapter stopped at verse 10, you might still wonder whether Paul thought wealth itself was the trouble. He comes back to the subject a few verses later, and this time he speaks to people who already have money.

Charge 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; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute, willing to share.

Those are verses 17 and 18. A few things stand out.

• Paul does not tell the rich to stop being rich. He tells them how to hold what they have.
• He names two dangers: pride, and putting your hope in something as uncertain as wealth.
• He says God "richly provides us with everything to enjoy." Nobody talks that way about something evil in itself.
• He gives them work to do: do good, be generous, and share.

What the difference changes

If money were the root of all evil, having little of it would make a person safe, and having a lot would make a person guilty. The chapter does not sort people that way. It asks what you love, what you are determined to get, and where your hope is set. Those questions reach people with full accounts and people with empty ones. Someone with very little can be consumed by wanting more, and someone with a great deal can hold it loosely and give freely.

The same concern shows up elsewhere in the New Testament.

• Jesus says, "You can't serve both God and Mammon" (Matthew 6:24). The issue is who you serve. That chapter is Day 3 of Seven Days in Context.
• Hebrews 13:5 says, "Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have." It uses the same pairing as 1 Timothy 6: love of money on one side, contentment on the other.
• Paul writes that he has "learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in need" (Philippians 4:12). Contentment, for him, did not depend on which of those he was living through. That chapter is Day 6.

Read it in context yourself

1 Timothy 6 has 21 verses and takes about five minutes to read. I would go through it like this.

1. Read the whole chapter once without stopping.
2. Go back to verse 5 and notice the motive Paul is answering.
3. Read verses 6 to 10 as one thought: contentment, then the desire to be rich, then the famous line.
4. Read verses 17 to 19 and list what Paul asks of people who have wealth.
5. Ask yourself one question: where could contentment or generosity change one decision this week?

Day 1 of Seven Days in Context walks through this chapter with the full text and a short note on its setting. If you want more on reading this way, see how to understand the Bible when it feels confusing.

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