1 Timothy 6:10 — what the verse says, and what the popular quotation lost
10For desire is the root of all evils. Some persons, hungering in this way, have strayed from the faith and have entangled themselves in many sorrows.
The most misquoted verse about money in English — and in this edition money is not named at all. What is named is desire, and the sorrows at the end are self-inflicted.
Short answer
Money is never named in this edition of 1 Timothy 6:10: what it identifies as the root is desire. The surrounding verses are about people set on getting rich, which is where the appetite is pointed. The line then traces a route — craving leads away from faith and into sorrows the person brings upon themselves.
- Written by
- Raphael Navarro Schmitt
- Reviewed by
- Maria Luisa Navarro Schmitt
- Published on
- Reading time
- 3 min read
The closing stretch of the letter deals with people determined to get rich, and Timothy was in Ephesus, one of the wealthier cities of the empire.
The previous verse describes them falling into a trap while chasing wealth; this one explains the mechanism. The immediate target was teachers who treated religion as a source of profit.
The famous English tag — money as the root of all evil — misses twice over here. This edition, translated from the Latin, does not put money in the sentence: it puts desire, the appetite the Latin calls cupiditas, which can attach itself to anything. Wealth is what the appetite is chasing in this passage, not the thing being condemned.
Reading it that way makes the verse harder rather than easier, because it removes the escape route of not being rich. The route described runs from appetite, to straying from faith, to sorrows the person becomes entangled in. Nobody applies those sorrows from outside; they are what the chase produces.
The useful question is not how much you have, but what you have already agreed to lose in order to get more. Time with the people who live in your house, sleep, honesty in a negotiation, a whole Sunday. The verse condemns neither saving nor prospering; it describes what happens when the appetite stops being a means and becomes the destination.
Where this verse appears
The closing stretch of the letter deals with people determined to get rich, and Timothy was in Ephesus, one of the wealthier cities of the empire.
The previous verse describes them falling into a trap while chasing wealth; this one explains the mechanism. The immediate target was teachers who treated religion as a source of profit.
What it says
The famous English tag — money as the root of all evil — misses twice over here. This edition, translated from the Latin, does not put money in the sentence: it puts desire, the appetite the Latin calls cupiditas, which can attach itself to anything. Wealth is what the appetite is chasing in this passage, not the thing being condemned.
Reading it that way makes the verse harder rather than easier, because it removes the escape route of not being rich. The route described runs from appetite, to straying from faith, to sorrows the person becomes entangled in. Nobody applies those sorrows from outside; they are what the chase produces.
What to do with it today
The useful question is not how much you have, but what you have already agreed to lose in order to get more. Time with the people who live in your house, sleep, honesty in a negotiation, a whole Sunday. The verse condemns neither saving nor prospering; it describes what happens when the appetite stops being a means and becomes the destination.
A prayer to carry with you
Lord, I need money and I will not pretend otherwise. But do not let it rule me. Show me where I am already paying too much, and give me the nerve to step back. Amen.