77 Bible Verses about Materialism, As An Aspect Of Sin

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and a delight to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and gave it to her husband.

Seeming to be wise, they were in fact foolish, And by them the glory of the eternal God was changed and made into the image of man who is not eternal, and of birds and beasts and things which go on the earth.

Why may the nations say, Where is now their God? But our God is in heaven: he has done whatever was pleasing to him. Their images are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.read more.
They have mouths, but no voice; they have eyes, but they see not; They have ears, but no hearing; they have noses, but no sense of smell; They have hands without feeling, and feet without power of walking; and no sound comes from their throat. Those who make them are like them; and so is everyone who puts his faith in them.

Those who make a pictured image are all of them as nothing, and the things of their desire will be of no profit to them: and their servants see not, and have no knowledge; so they will be put to shame. Whoever makes a god, makes nothing but a metal image in which there is no profit. Truly, all those who make use of secret arts will be put to shame, and their words of power are only words of men: let them all come forward together; they will all be in fear and be put to shame.

Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, sixty cubits high and six cubits wide: he put it up in the valley of Dura, in the land of Babylon.

What profit is the pictured image to its maker? and as for the metal image, the false teacher, why does its maker put his faith in it, making false gods without a voice?

Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was troubled, for he saw all the town full of images of the gods.

For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, uplifted in pride, given to bitter words, going against the authority of their fathers, never giving praise, having no religion,

You are not to make an image or picture of anything in heaven or on the earth or in the waters under the earth: You may not go down on your faces before them or give them worship: for I, the Lord your God, am a God who will not give his honour to another; and I will send punishment on the children for the wrongdoing of their fathers, to the third and fourth generation of my haters;

And he took the gold from them and, hammering it with an instrument, he made it into the metal image of a young ox: and they said, This is your god, O Israel, who took you out of the land of Egypt.

Do not make images of false gods, or put up an image cut in stone or a pillar or any pictured stone in your land, to give worship to it; for I am the Lord your God.

So keep watch on yourselves with care; for you saw no form of any sort on the day when the voice of the Lord came to you in Horeb out of the heart of the fire: So that you may not be turned to evil ways and make for yourselves an image in the form of any living thing, male or female, Or any beast of the earth, or winged bird of the air,read more.
Or of anything which goes flat on the earth, or any fish in the water under the earth. And when your eyes are lifted up to heaven, and you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the army of heaven, do not let yourselves be moved to give them worship, or become the servants of what the Lord has given equally to all peoples under heaven.

The images of their gods are to be burned with fire: have no desire for the gold and silver on them, and do not take it for yourselves, for it will be a danger to you: it is a thing disgusting to the Lord your God:

Now a number of strange women were loved by Solomon, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites: The nations of which the Lord had said to the children of Israel, You are not to take wives from them and they are not to take wives from you; or they will certainly make you go after their gods: to these Solomon was united in love. He had seven hundred wives, daughters of kings, and three hundred other wives; and through his wives his heart was turned away.read more.
For it came about that when Solomon was old, his heart was turned away to other gods by his wives; and his heart was no longer true to the Lord his God as the heart of his father David had been. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and Milcom, the disgusting god of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not walking in the Lord's ways with all his heart as David his father did.

They made a young ox in Horeb, and gave worship to an image of gold. And their glory was changed into the image of an ox, whose food is grass.

I am the Lord; that is my name: I will not give my glory to another, or my praise to pictured images.

Has any nation ever made a change in their gods, though they are no gods? but my people have given up their glory in exchange for what is of no profit. Be full of wonder, O heavens, at this; be overcome with fear, be completely waste, says the Lord. For my people have done two evils; they have given up me, the fountain of living waters, and have made for themselves water-holes, cut out from the rock, broken water-holes, of no use for storing water.

For this cause, my dear brothers, give no worship to false gods.

Wealth and honour come from you, and you are ruler over all, and in your hand is power and strength; it is in your power to make great, and to give strength to all.

Now Abram had great wealth of cattle and silver and gold.

Now Isaac, planting seed in that land, got in the same year fruit a hundred times as much, for the blessing of the Lord was on him. And his wealth became very great, increasing more and more;

But keep in mind the Lord your God: for it is he who gives you the power to get wealth, so that he may give effect to the agreement which he made by his oath with your fathers, as at this day.

And he made towns for himself, and got together much property in flocks and herds: for God had given him great wealth.

Let the Lord be praised. Happy is the man who gives honour to the Lord, and has great delight in his laws. His seed will be strong on the earth; blessings will be on the generation of the upright. A store of wealth will be in his house, and his righteousness will be for ever.

The blessing of the Lord gives wealth: hard work makes it no greater.

For she had no knowledge that it was I who gave her the grain and the wine and the oil, increasing her silver and gold which they gave to the Baal.

And when your herds and your flocks are increased, and your stores of silver and gold, and you have wealth of every sort; Take care that your hearts are not lifted up in pride, giving no thought to the Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the prison-house;

But those who have a desire for wealth are falling into danger, and are taken as in a net by a number of foolish and damaging desires, through which men are overtaken by death and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all evil: and some whose hearts were fixed on it have been turned away from the faith, and been wounded with unnumbered sorrows.

If I made gold my hope, or if I ever said to the best gold, I have put my faith in you; If I was glad because my wealth was great, and because my hand had got together a great store; If, when I saw the sun shining, and the moon moving on its bright way,read more.
A secret feeling of worship came into my heart, and my hand gave kisses from my mouth; That would have been another sin to be rewarded with punishment by the judges; for I would have been false to God on high.

By your great wisdom and by your trade your power is increased, and your heart is lifted up because of your power:

Jesus said to him, If you have a desire to be complete, go, get money for your property, and give it to the poor, and you will have wealth in heaven: and come after me. But hearing these words the young man went away sorrowing: for he had much property.

And Jesus, hearing it, said to him, One thing you still have need of; get money for your goods, and give it away to the poor, and you will have wealth in heaven; and come after me. But at these words he became very sad, for he had great wealth.

Then one of the twelve, who was named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, What will you give me, if I give him up to you? And the price was fixed at thirty bits of silver. And from that time he was watching for a chance to give him into their hands.

But if a man has this world's goods, and sees that his brother is in need, and keeps his heart shut against his brother, how is it possible for the love of God to be in him?

And Jesus said to his disciples, Truly I say to you, It is hard for a man with much money to go into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, It is simpler for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a man with much money to go into the kingdom of God.

And the disciples were full of wonder at his words. But Jesus said to them again, Children, how hard it is for those who put faith in wealth to come into the kingdom of God! It is simpler for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a man of wealth to come into the kingdom of God.

And Jesus, looking at him, said, How hard it is for those who have wealth to get into the kingdom of God! It is simpler for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a man who has much money to come into the kingdom of God.

And that which was dropped among the thorns, this is he who has the word; and the cares of this life, and the deceits of wealth, put a stop to the growth of the word and it gives no fruit.

And others are those planted among the thorns; these are they who have given ear to the word, And the cares of this life, and the deceits of wealth, and the desire for other things coming in, put a stop to the growth of the word, and it gives no fruit.

And those which went among thorns are those who have given hearing, and go on their way, but they are overcome by cares and wealth and the pleasures of life, and they give no fruit.

Give orders to those who have money and goods in this life, not to be lifted up in their minds, or to put their hope in the uncertain chances of wealth, but in God who gives us in full measure all things for our use; And to do good, having wealth in good works, being quick to give, taking part with one another; Making ready for themselves a safe place for the time to come, so that the true life may be theirs.

For if a man comes into your Synagogue in fair clothing and with a gold ring, and a poor man comes in with dirty clothing, And you do honour to the man in fair clothing and say, Come here and take this good place; and you say to the poor man, Take up your position there, or be seated at my feet; Is there not a division in your minds? have you not become judges with evil thoughts?read more.
Give ear, my dear brothers; are not those who are poor in the things of this world marked out by God to have faith as their wealth, and for their heritage the kingdom which he has said he will give to those who have love for him?

Come now, you men of wealth, give yourselves to weeping and crying because of the bitter troubles which are coming to you. Your wealth is unclean and insects have made holes in your clothing. Your gold and your silver are wasted and their waste will be a witness against you, burning into your flesh. You have put by your store in the last days.read more.
See, the money which you falsely kept back from the workers cutting the grass in your field, is crying out against you; and the cries of those who took in your grain have come to the ears of the Lord of armies. You have been living delicately on earth and have taken your pleasure; you have made your hearts fat for a day of destruction. You have given your decision against the upright man and have put him to death. He puts up no fight against you.

For wealth is not for ever, and money does not go on for all generations.

Saying, Truly, their substance is cut off, and their wealth is food for the fire.

For he sees that wise men come to their end, and foolish persons of low behaviour come to destruction together, letting their wealth go to others.

A good name is more to be desired than great wealth, and to be respected is better than silver and gold. The man of wealth and the poor man come face to face: the Lord is the maker of them all.

Are your eyes lifted up to it? it is gone: for wealth takes to itself wings, like an eagle in flight up to heaven.

Like the partridge, getting eggs together but not producing young, is a man who gets wealth but not by right; before half his days are ended, it will go from him, and at his end he will be foolish.

But God said to him, You foolish one, tonight I will take your soul from you, and who then will be the owner of all the things which you have got together? So that is what comes to the man who gets wealth for himself, and has not wealth in the eyes of God.

For we came into the world with nothing, and we are not able to take anything out;

For this cause the Lord of armies has said, Give thought to your ways. Much has been planted, but little got in; you take food, but have not enough; you take drink, but are not full; you are clothed, but no one is warm; and he who gets payment for his work, gets it to put it into a bag full of holes.

Make no store of wealth for yourselves on earth, where it may be turned to dust by worms and weather, and where thieves may come in by force and take it away.

And Ahab said to Naboth, Give me your vine-garden so that I may have it for a garden of sweet plants, for it is near my house; and let me give you a better vine-garden in exchange, or, if it seems good to you, let me give you its value in money. But Naboth said to Ahab, By the Lord, far be it from me to give you the heritage of my fathers. So Ahab came into his house bitter and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him, I will not give you the heritage of my fathers. And stretching himself on the bed with his face turned away, he would take no food.

Let not your desire be turned to your neighbour's house, or his wife or his man-servant or his woman-servant or his ox or his ass or anything which is his.

Or let your desire be turned to your neighbour's wife, or his house or his field or his man-servant or his woman-servant or his ox or his ass or anything which is your neighbour's.

But the children of Israel did wrong about the cursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the family of Judah, took of the cursed thing, moving the Lord to wrath against the children of Israel.

And King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and in wisdom. And from all over the earth they came to see Solomon and to give ear to his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. And everyone took with him an offering, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and robes, and coats of metal, and spices, and horses, and beasts of transport, regularly year by year.read more.
And Solomon got together war-carriages and horsemen; he had one thousand, four hundred carriages and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he kept, some in the carriage-towns and some with the king at Jerusalem. And the king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem and cedars like the sycamore-trees of the lowlands in number.

For what profit has a man, if he gets all the world with the loss of his life? or what will a man give in exchange for his life?

What profit has a man if he gets all the world with the loss of his life? And what would a man give in exchange for his life?

For whoever has a desire to keep his life will have it taken from him, but whoever gives up his life because of me, will keep it. For what profit will a man have if he gets all the world, but undergoes loss or destruction himself?

And he said, You take care to seem right in the eyes of men, but God sees your hearts: and those things which are important in the opinion of men, are evil in the eyes of God.

But let the brother of low position be glad that he is lifted up; But the man of wealth, that he is made low; because like the flower of the grass he will come to his end. For when the sun comes up with its burning heat, the grass gets dry and the grace of its form is gone with the falling flower; so the man of wealth comes to nothing in his ways.

For you say, I have wealth, and have got together goods and land, and have need of nothing; and you are not conscious of your sad and unhappy condition, that you are poor and blind and without clothing.

And Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have a resting-place; but the Son of man has nowhere to put his head.

And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have resting-places, but the Son of man has nowhere to put his head.

Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, To whom, though himself in the form of God, it did not seem that to take for oneself was to be like God;

And he said to them, Take care to keep yourselves free from the desire for property; for a man's life is not made up of the number of things which he has.

This is the word of the Lord: Let not the wise man take pride in his wisdom, or the strong man in his strength, or the man of wealth in his wealth: But if any man has pride, let it be in this, that he has the wisdom to have knowledge of me, that I am the Lord, working mercy, giving true decisions, and doing righteousness in the earth: for in these things I have delight, says the Lord.

So I say to you, Take no thought for your life, about food or drink, or about clothing for your body. Is not life more than food, and the body more than its clothing? See the birds of heaven; they do not put seeds in the earth, they do not get in grain, or put it in store-houses; and your Father in heaven gives them food. Are you not of much more value than they? And which of you by taking thought is able to make himself a cubit taller?read more.
And why are you troubled about clothing? See the flowers of the field, how they come up; they do no work, they make no thread: But I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God gives such clothing to the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is put into the oven, will he not much more give you clothing, O you of little faith? Then do not be full of care, saying, What are we to have for food or drink? or, With what may we be clothed? Because the Gentiles go in search of all these things: for your Father in heaven has knowledge that you have need of all these things:

Be free from the love of money and pleased with the things which you have; for he himself has said, I will be with you at all times.

Have no love for the world or for the things which are in the world. If any man has love for the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Because everything in the world, the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but of the world. And the world and its desires is coming to an end: but he who does God's pleasure is living for ever.

Then Abram said to Lot, Let there be no argument between me and you, and between my herdmen and your herdmen, for we are brothers. Is not all the land before you? then let us go our separate ways: if you go to the left, I will go to the right; or if you take the right, I will go to the left.

That I will not take so much as a thread or the cord of a shoe of yours; so that you may not say, I have given wealth to Abram:

But Peter said, I have no silver or gold, but what I have, that I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up on your feet.

And all those who were of the faith were one in heart and soul: and not one of them said that any of the things which he had was his property only; but they had all things in common. And with great power the Apostles gave witness of the coming back of the Lord Jesus from the dead; and grace was on them all. And no one among them was in need; for everyone who had land or houses, exchanging them for money, took the price of them,read more.
And put it at the feet of the Apostles for distribution to everyone as he had need. And Joseph, who was given by the Apostles the name of Barnabas (the sense of which is, Son of comfort), a Levite and a man of Cyprus by birth, Having a field, got money for it and put the money at the feet of the Apostles.

But I will not say anything about my needs, for I am able, wherever I am, to be dependent on myself. It is the same to me if I am looked down on or honoured; everywhere and in all things I have the secret of how to be full and how to go without food; how to have wealth and how to be in need.