1 Timothy 6:10 - Contentment in Godliness (2024)

New International Version
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.New Living Translation
For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.English Standard Version
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.Berean Standard Bible
For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.Berean Literal Bible
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils, which some, stretching after, have been seduced away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many sorrows.King James Bible
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.New King James Version
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.New American Standard Bible
For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.NASB 1995
For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.NASB 1977
For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang.Legacy Standard Bible
For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evils, and some by aspiring to it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.Amplified Bible
For the love of money [that is, the greedy desire for it and the willingness to gain it unethically] is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves [through and through] with many sorrows.Christian Standard Bible
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.Holman Christian Standard Bible
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. American Standard Version
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.Aramaic Bible in Plain English
But the root of all these evils is the love of money, and there are some who have desired it and have erred from the faith and have brought themselves many miseries.Contemporary English Version
The love of money causes all kinds of trouble. Some people want money so much they have given up their faith and caused themselves a lot of pain. Douay-Rheims Bible
For the desire of money is the root of all evils; which some coveting have erred from the faith, and have entangled themselves in many sorrows. English Revised Version
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.GOD'S WORD® Translation
Certainly, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people who have set their hearts on getting rich have wandered away from the Christian faith and have caused themselves a lot of grief.Good News Translation
For the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil. Some have been so eager to have it that they have wandered away from the faith and have broken their hearts with many sorrows. International Standard Version
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, in their eagerness to get rich, have wandered away from the faith and caused themselves a lot of pain.Literal Standard Version
for the love of money is a root of all the evils, which certain [ones] longing for went astray from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows;Majority Standard Bible
For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.New American Bible
For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains. NET Bible
For the love of money is the root of all evils. Some people in reaching for it have strayed from the faith and stabbed themselves with many pains. New Revised Standard Version
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.New Heart English Bible
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.Webster's Bible Translation
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some have coveted, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.Weymouth New Testament
For from love of money all sorts of evils arise; and some have so hankered after money as to be led astray from the faith and be pierced through with countless sorrows.World English Bible
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. Young's Literal Translation
for a root of all the evils is the love of money, which certain longing for did go astray from the faith, and themselves did pierce through with many sorrows;Additional Translations ...

(10) For the love of money is the root of all evil.--Some would water down this strong expression by translating the Greek words by "a root of all evil," instead of "the root," making this alteration on the ground of the article not being prefixed to the Greek word rendered "root." This change, however, grammatically is unnecessary, as the article disappears before the predicate, in accordance with the well-known rule respecting subject and predicate.

St. Paul had just written (1Timothy 6:9) of men being plunged into destruction and perdition--the awful consequence of yielding to those lusts into which the fatal love of riches had guided them; he now sums up the teaching contained in these words by pithily remarking. "Yes, for the love of money is the root of all evil," meaning thereby, not that every evil necessarily must come from "love of money," but that there is no conceivable evil which can happen to the sons and daughters of men which may not spring from covetousness--a love of gold and wealth.

Which while some coveted after.--There is a slight irregularity in the image here, but the sense of the expression is perfectly clear. It is, of course, not the "love of money," strictly speaking, which "some have coveted after," but the money itself. The thought in the writer's mind probably was--The man coveting gold longs for opportunities in which his covetousness (love of money) may find a field for exercise. Such inaccuracies in language are not uncommon in St. Paul's writings, as, for instance, Romans 8:24, where he writes of "hope that is seen."

They have erred from the faith.--Better rendered, they have wandered away from the faith. This vivid picture of some who had, for sake of a little gold, given up their first love--their faith--was evidently drawn by St. Paul from life. There were some in that well-known congregation at Ephesus, once faithful, now wanderers from the flock, over whom St. Paul mourned.

And pierced themselves through with many sorrows.--The language and the thoughts of Psalm 16:4 were in St. Paul's mind when he wrote these words--"Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another (god)." The "many sorrows" here are, no doubt, the "gnawings of conscience," which must ever and anon harass and perplex the man or woman who, for covetousness' sake, has deserted the old paths, and has wandered away from the old loved communion of Christ.

The imagery used in this tenth verse seems to be that of a man who wanders from the straight, direct path of life, to gather some poisonous, fair-seeming root growing at a distance from the right road on which he was travelling. He wanders away and plucks it; and now that he has it in his hands he finds himself pierced and wounded with its unsuspected thorns. . . .

Verse 10. - A root for the root, A.V.; all kinds of for all, A.V.; some reaching after for while some coveted after, A.V.; have been led astray for they have erred, A.V.; have pierced for pierced, A.V. Love of money (φιλαργυρία); only here in the New Testament, but found in the LXX. and in classical Greek. The substantive φιλάργυρος is found in Luke 16:14 and 2 Timothy 3:2. A root. The root is better English. Moreover, the following πάντων τῶν κακῶν (not πόλλων κακῶν) necessitates the giving a definite sense to ῤίζα, though it has not the article; and Alford shows dearly that a word like ῤίζα, especially when placed as here in an emphatic position, does not require it (comp. 1 Corinthians 11:3, where in the second and third clause κεφαλή, being in the emphatic place, has not the article). Alford also quotes a striking passage from Diog. Laert., in which he mentions a saying of the philosopher Diogenes that "the love of money (ἡ φιλαργυρία) is the metropolis, or home, πάντων τῶν κακῶν." Reaching after (ὀρεγόμενοι). It has been justly remarked that the phrase is slightly inaccurate. What some reach after is not "the love of money," but the money itself. To avoid this, Hofmann (quoted by Luther) makes ῤίζα the antecedent to η΅ς, and the metaphor to be of a person turning out of his path to grasp a plant which turns out to he not desirable, but a root of bitterness. This is ingenious, but hardly to be accepted as the true interpretation. Pierced themselves through (περιέπειραν); only here in the New Testament, and rare in classical Greek. But the simple verb πείρω, to "pierce through," "transfix," applied 'especially to "spitting" meat, is very common in Homer, who also applies it metaphorically exactly as St. Paul does here, to grief or pain. Ὀδύνησι πεπαρμένος, "pierced with pain" ('Il.,' 5:399). Parallel Commentaries ...

Greek

For
γὰρ (gar)
Conjunction
Strong's 1063: For. A primary particle; properly, assigning a reason.

the
ἡ (hē)
Article - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

love of money
φιλαργυρία (philargyria)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 5365: Love of money, avarice, covetousness. From philarguros; avarice.

is
ἐστιν (estin)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

[the] root
ῥίζα (rhiza)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 4491: A root, shoot, source; that which comes from the root, a descendent. Apparently a primary word; a 'root'.

of all kinds
πάντων (pantōn)
Adjective - Genitive Neuter Plural
Strong's 3956: All, the whole, every kind of. Including all the forms of declension; apparently a primary word; all, any, every, the whole.

of evil.
κακῶν (kakōn)
Adjective - Genitive Neuter Plural
Strong's 2556: Bad, evil, in the widest sense. Apparently a primary word; worthless, i.e. depraved, or injurious.

By craving
ὀρεγόμενοι (oregomenoi)
Verb - Present Participle Middle - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3713: To stretch forth, mid: To hanker after, long for, be eager for, aspire to.

[it],
ἧς (hēs)
Personal / Relative Pronoun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 3739: Who, which, what, that.

some
τινες (tines)
Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 5100: Any one, some one, a certain one or thing. An encl*tic indefinite pronoun; some or any person or object.

have wandered
ἀπεπλανήθησαν (apeplanēthēsan)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 635: To cause to go astray; pass: To be led astray. From apo and planao; to lead astray; passively, to stray.

away from
ἀπὸ (apo)
Preposition
Strong's 575: From, away from. A primary particle; 'off, ' i.e. Away, in various senses.

the
τῆς (tēs)
Article - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

faith
πίστεως (pisteōs)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 4102: Faith, belief, trust, confidence; fidelity, faithfulness.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

pierced
περιέπειραν (periepeiran)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 4044: To put on a spit; met: I pierce, wound deeply. From peri and the base of peran; to penetrate entirely, i.e. Transfix.

themselves
ἑαυτοὺς (heautous)
Reflexive Pronoun - Accusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 1438: Himself, herself, itself.

with many
πολλαῖς (pollais)
Adjective - Dative Feminine Plural
Strong's 4183: Much, many; often.

sorrows.
ὀδύναις (odynais)
Noun - Dative Feminine Plural
Strong's 3601: Pain, sorrow, distress, of body or mind. From duno; grief.

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