Rich – Old Testament Texts That Discourage Seeking Wealth

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Old Testament texts that discourage seeking wealth, “getting rich,” trusting in riches, unjust gain, bribe-taking, luxury built on oppression, or covetous desire. Scope: Protestant canon (39 OT books), ESV as base text. I privilege explicit discouragements (e.g., “do not toil to acquire wealth,” “hastens to be rich,” “do not covet,” “unjust gain,” “trust in riches,” “bribe,” “false weights,” “oppress for profit”). Neutral statements about wealth as God’s providence are excluded unless the desire/pursuit or trust itself is warned against.

Exegesis (original-language snapshot)

  • ḥāmad (חָמַד “covet/desire”): Exod 20:17; Deut 5:21; Mic 2:2. Desire that reaches to wrongful acquisition.

  • bōṭēaḥ be‘ōshrô (בּוֹטֵחַ בְּעָשְׁרוֹ “trusts in his riches”): Prov 11:28; cf. Ps 49; Ps 52:7; Ps 62:10; Ezek 7:19; Zeph 1:18.

  • betsa‘ / botze‘a‘ (בֶּצַע / בֹּצֵעַ “unjust gain, greedy for gain”): Prov 1:19; 15:27; Isa 33:15; Jer 6:13; 8:10; Ezek 22:12; Hab 2:9, etc.

  • lāha‘ăšîr / ḥāš lĕha‘ăšîr (לְהַעֲשִׁיר; חוּשׁ לְהַעֲשִׁיר “to become rich / hasten to be rich”): Prov 23:4–5; 28:20, 22.

  • mōznê mirmah / ’evven wā’evven (“false balances/weights”): Lev 19:35–36; Prov 11:1; 20:10; Deut 25:13–16—profit via deceit.

  • Idioms: “set not your heart” on riches (Ps 62:10); “better a little” with righteousness (Prov 15:16; 16:8; 17:1); “woe” oracles against wealth-driven oppression (Isa 5:8; Amos 6:1–7; Hab 2:6–12).

Bible quotations are from the English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2016).

Catalogue by book

Exodus — 20:17 [covet]; 23:8 [bribe/unjust gain].
Leviticus — 19:11–13 [defraud for gain]; 19:35–36 [false measures]; 25:14, 17 [oppressive trading]; 25:36–37 [profit by interest from a brother].
Deuteronomy — 5:21 [covet]; 7:25 [covet silver/gold on idols]; 8:11–18 [heart pride in wealth]; 16:19 [bribe]; 17:17 [king not multiply silver/gold]; 23:19–20 [interest from a brother]; 25:13–16 [false weights].
Joshua — 7:21 [“I coveted … silver and gold”]; (Achan episode condemns acquisitive desire).
1 Samuel — 8:3 [took bribes]; 12:3–4 [bribe rejected as unrighteous norm].
1 Kings — 21:2–3, 7, 19 [Ahab covets Naboth’s vineyard; judgment].
2 Kings — 5:20–27 [Gehazi’s silver-seeking condemned].
2 Chronicles — 19:7 [no bribe/partiality in justice].
Nehemiah — 5:7, 10–13 [usury and gain from the poor condemned; restitution].
Job — 27:16–17 [heaping silver is futile]; 31:24–28 [“if I made gold my trust …” = sin].
Psalms — 10:3 [greedy for gain renounces the Lord]; 37:16 [little with righteousness > much]; 39:6 [heaping up wealth is vain]; 49:6–20 [trust in riches cannot redeem/save]; 52:7 [trusted in abundant riches]; 62:10 [“if riches increase, set not your heart”]; 119:36 [“not to selfish gain”].
Proverbs — 1:10–19 esp. v.19 [greedy for unjust gain ends in death]; 10:2 [treasures by wickedness don’t profit]; 11:1 [false balance an abomination]; 11:4 [riches useless in wrath]; 11:28 [trust in riches → fall]; 13:7 [pretending to be rich]; 13:11 [wealth gained hastily dwindles]; 15:16–17 [little with fear of the LORD > great treasure]; 15:27 [greedy for unjust gain troubles house]; 16:8 [little with righteousness > great revenue]; 16:16 [wisdom > gold]; 17:23 [wicked takes a bribe]; 19:22 [better poor than a liar]; 20:10 [unequal weights]; 20:14 [buyer’s deceit]; 20:17 [bread gained by deceit ≈ gravel]; 20:21 [hasty inheritance not blessed]; 21:6–7 [treasures by lying tongue = vapor/snares]; 21:17 [love of pleasure/wine → poverty]; 21:26 [craving contrasted with the righteous who gives]; 22:1 [good name > great riches]; 22:16 [oppress to increase wealth → poverty]; 22:22–23 [do not rob the poor]; 23:4–5 [“Do not toil to acquire wealth …”]; 28:6 [poor with integrity > rich crooked]; 28:8 [wealth by interest/profit will be transferred]; 28:16 [hates unjust gain prolongs days]; 28:20 [hastens to be rich → not unpunished]; 28:22 [stingy man hastens after wealth → poverty]; 28:25 [greedy stirs up strife]; 28:27 [generosity averts want]; 29:4 [bribes tear down a land]; 29:7 [righteous cares for the poor]; 30:8–9 [“give me neither poverty nor riches”—rejects desire for riches].
Ecclesiastes — 2:11 [toil/wealth ultimately vanity]; 4:8 [no end to toil, not satisfied with riches]; 5:10–17 [loves money not satisfied; wealth brings vexation]; 6:1–2 [riches without power to enjoy = grievous evil]; 7:7 [bribe corrupts heart].
Isaiah — 2:7–8 [land filled with silver/gold → idolatry]; 3:14–15 [grinding the poor]; 5:8 [woe: house-to-house accumulation]; 10:1–2 [unjust decrees to rob poor]; 33:15 [reject bribe/unjust gain]; 56:11 [insatiable greed]; 57:17 [iniquity of unjust gain]; 58:3–10 [religion + oppression for profit rebuked].
Jeremiah — 5:26–28 [grow fat through evil gain]; 6:13 [from least to greatest, greedy for unjust gain]; 8:10 [same charge]; 9:23 [rich not to boast in riches]; 17:11 [riches unjustly gained = folly]; 22:13–17 [build wealth by injustice; eyes set on dishonest gain]; 45:5 [“do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not”].
Ezekiel — 7:19 [silver/gold cannot deliver]; 16:49 [Sodom’s prosperous ease + iniquity]; 22:12–13, 27 [bribes, interest, extortion for gain]; 28:4–5 [Tyre’s pride in wealth]; 33:31 [heart goes after gain]; 34:2–3 [leaders enrich themselves off the flock].
Daniel — 5:17 [Daniel refuses king’s gifts/rewards].
Hosea — 12:7–8 [merchant loves to oppress; boasts “I am rich”]; 13:6 [satiation → pride/forgetting God].
Amos — 2:6–7 [sell the righteous for silver]; 3:10 [store up violence and robbery]; 4:1 [opulent oppression]; 5:11–12 [tax/exactions; houses/vineyards you won’t enjoy]; 6:1–7 [woe to luxury at ease]; 8:4–6 [impatient for profit; false balances; buying the poor].
Micah — 2:1–2 [covet fields and seize]; 3:11 [leaders judge for a bribe]; 6:10–12 [wicked scales; rich full of violence]; 7:3 [hands skilled at evil; bribe].
Nahum — 3:16 [merchants multiplied; wealth-pride before collapse].
Habakkuk — 2:5–9 [greedy as Sheol; woe to evil gain for one’s house]; 2:12–13 [build town with blood/iniquity for gain].
Zephaniah — 1:11 [merchant class cut down]; 1:18 [silver/gold cannot deliver in day of LORD].
Haggai — 1:6, 9 [pursuit of “much” while neglecting God proves futile].
Zechariah — 7:9–10 [justice/mercy enjoined; implied rebuke of profit-oppression].
Malachi — 3:5 [oppress hired worker; warning of judgment].

Theological analysis (concise)

  • Arminian/Provisionist & Dispensational synthesis: Human desire and trust are morally responsible faculties; Scripture repeatedly forbids ordering the heart toward riches (Ps 62:10; Prov 23:4–5; 28:20,22) and instrumentalizing others for gain (Amos; Micah). In a Dispensational reading, Israel’s land-law (weights, usury within the covenant family, jubilee logic) displays God’s moral order; while the church is not under Mosaic civil code, the ethical substance (no covetous pursuit, no unjust gain, no trust in wealth) abides.

  • Calvinist/Reformed contrast (for clarity): Reformed voices agree on the moral content (e.g., vanity of riches; justice for the poor), but may frame the heart’s bondage more in terms of concupiscence and providence; both streams converge on the prohibition of greed and trust in mammon.

Historical context (brief)

Ancient Near Eastern economies often normalized bribes, false scales, debt-slavery, and land agglomeration. Israel’s law and prophets cut against these norms: just weights, anti-usury within the covenant, Sabbath/Jubilee checks on accumulation, and prophetic “woes” on luxury built on exploitation (Lev 19; Deut 25; Isa 5; Amos 6; Mic 6).

Scholarly pointers (no quotations)

For detailed evangelical treatments see, e.g., Bruce K. Waltke, The Book of Proverbs (NICOT, 2004–2005); Derek Kidner, Proverbs (TOTC, 1964); Tremper Longman III, Proverbs (BCOTWP, 2006); J. Alec Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah (1993); Douglas Stuart, Hosea–Jonah (WBC, 1987); F. B. Huey, Jeremiah, Lamentations (NAC, 1993); Allen P. Ross, Psalms (3 vols., Kregel, 2011–2016). These conservative works expound the lexemes and ethics above.

Practical application (succinct)

  1. Refuse get-rich-quick schemes; 2) renounce unjust gain (bribes, predatory interest, deceitful metrics); 3) do not set your heart on wealth; 4) pursue integrity, generosity, and contentment (“better a little with righteousness”); 5) evaluate systems you lead for exploitative profit.

Notes on “exhaustive”

The verses above collate every clear, directly relevant OT text warning against desiring/ seeking / trusting in wealth or gaining it unjustly. If you want this as a TSV (Book | Ref | Tag | Short note) for your 121-doctrine workflows, say the word and I’ll generate a downloadable file immediately.

Categories: Word & Topic Studies