Habakkuk 2:9

For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?

forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing;

Cain said to Abel, his brother, “Let’s go into the field.” While they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him.

Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took some men.

that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers.

I will set no vile thing before my eyes. I hate the deeds of faithless men. They will not cling to me.

Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.”

But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to throw a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.

Cain knew his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Enoch. He built a city, and named the city after the name of his son, Enoch.

They washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood where the prostitutes washed themselves; according to Yahweh’s word which he spoke.

Then Jehu said to Bidkar his captain, “Pick him up, and throw him in the plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember how, when you and I rode together after Ahab his father, Yahweh laid this burden on him:

Know now that nothing will fall to the earth of Yahweh’s word, which Yahweh spoke concerning Ahab’s house. For Yahweh has done that which he spoke by his servant Elijah.”

if I have eaten its fruits without money, or have caused its owners to lose their life,

that you may crush them, dipping your foot in blood, that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from your enemies.”

They pour out arrogant words. All the evildoers boast.

He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house, but he who hates bribes will live.

We have heard its report. Our hands become feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us, and pains as of a woman in labor.

Though Babylon should mount up to the sky, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet destroyers will come to her from me,” says Yahweh.

They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don’t do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain.

“Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal;

What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

Woe to you lawyers! For you took away the key of knowledge. You didn’t enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in, you hindered.”

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be! However, I wouldn’t have known sin, except through the law. For I wouldn’t have known coveting, unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”

Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.

For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

unlike Cain, who was of the evil one, and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s righteous.

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate. Then she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too.

“You shall not misuse the name of Yahweh your God, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who misuses his name.

He sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the River, to the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, “Behold, there is a people who came out of Egypt. Behold, they cover the surface of the earth, and they are staying opposite me.

You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God.

He said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” When he had called her, she stood before him.

But he said, “As Yahweh lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none.” He urged him to take it; but he refused.

Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up, and makes his nest on high?

Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.

They plot injustice, saying, “We have made a perfect plan!” Surely man’s mind and heart are cunning.

Behold, these are the wicked. Being always at ease, they increase in riches.

I have set my heart to perform your statutes forever, even to the end.

Don’t incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who work iniquity. Don’t let me eat of their delicacies.

The rich man’s wealth is his strong city. The destruction of the poor is their poverty.

How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! Yes, to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase: this also is vanity.

There is no man who has power over the spirit to contain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death. There is no discharge in war; neither shall wickedness deliver those who practice it.

Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it.

For you have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and your knowledge has perverted you. You have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’

Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed. They couldn’t blush. Therefore they will fall among those who fall. In the time of their visitation they will be cast down, says Yahweh.

Ask now, and see whether a man travails with child. Why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned pale?

As for your terror, the pride of your heart has deceived you, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill, though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there,” says Yahweh.

by your great wisdom and by your trading you have increased your riches, and your heart is lifted up because of your riches—”

Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have rejected Yahweh’s law, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have led them astray, after which their fathers walked;

Though they dig into Sheol, there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down.

but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Sell that which you have, and give gifts to the needy. Make for yourselves purses which don’t grow old, a treasure in the heavens that doesn’t fail, where no thief approaches, neither moth destroys.

But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints;

Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had testimony given to him that he was righteous, God testifying with respect to his gifts; and through it he, being dead, still speaks.

So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest!

You said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which can’t be counted because there are so many.’ ”

Moreover you shall provide out of all the people able men which fear God: men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

For there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their heart is destruction. Their throat is an open tomb. They flatter with their tongue.

Those who trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches—

Turn my heart toward your statutes, not toward selfish gain.

Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. Revive me in your ways.

Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh, and whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us?” and “Who knows us?”

I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their good, and the good of their children after them.

Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it not be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which doesn’t alter.”

They covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they scoffed at him.

Charge those who are rich in this present world that they not be arrogant, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy;

Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when it is full grown, produces death.

In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber.

having eyes full of adultery, and who can’t cease from sin; enticing unsettled souls; having a heart trained in greed; children of cursing;

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. Neither shall you desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

When I saw among the plunder a beautiful Babylonian robe, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. Behold, they are hidden in the ground in the middle of my tent, with the silver under it.”

You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “Have you killed and also taken possession?” ’ You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs will lick your blood, even yours.” ’ ”

But Gehazi the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Behold, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought. As Yahweh lives, I will run after him, and take something from him.”

Then I said, ‘I will die in my own house, I will count my days as the sand.

For the wicked boasts of his heart’s cravings. He blesses the greedy and condemns Yahweh.

Their inward thought is that their houses will endure forever, and their dwelling places to all generations. They name their lands after themselves.

“Behold, this is the man who didn’t make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.”

So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It takes away the life of its owners.

Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees;

“Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and we are in agreement with Sheol. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it won’t come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood.’ ”

Inhabitant of Lebanon, who makes your nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied you will be when pangs come on you, the pain as of a woman in travail!

Though you mount on high as the eagle, and though your nest is set among the stars, I will bring you down from there,” says Yahweh.

The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answered again, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!

He said to them, “Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.”

So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Woe to them! For they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in Korah’s rebellion.