Matius 6:24-25

6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate ¹  the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise ²  the other. You cannot serve God and money. ³ 

Do Not Worry

6:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry ⁴  about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing?

Matius 13:22

13:22 The ⁵  seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word, but worldly cares and the seductiveness of wealth ⁶  choke the word, ⁷  so it produces nothing.

[6:24]  ¹ sn The contrast between hate and love here is rhetorical. The point is that one will choose the favorite if a choice has to be made.

[6:24]  ² tn Or “and treat [the other] with contempt.”

[6:24]  ³ tn Grk “God and mammon.”

[6:24]  sn The term money is used to translate mammon, the Aramaic term for wealth or possessions. The point is not that money is inherently evil, but that it is often misused so that it is a means of evil; see 1 Tim 6:6-10, 17-19. God must be first, not money or possessions.

[6:25]  ⁴ tn Or “do not be anxious,” and so throughout the rest of this paragraph.

[13:22]  ⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[13:22]  ⁶ tn Grk “the deceitfulness of riches.” Cf. BDAG 99 s.v. ἀπάτη 1, “the seduction which comes from wealth.”

[13:22]  ⁷ sn That is, their concern for spiritual things is crowded out by material things.