What Does the Bible Say About Giving Alms?

Matthew 6:1 ESV / 7 helpful votes

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 6:1-4 ESV / 6 helpful votes

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Acts 10:4 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.

Luke 12:33 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.

Matthew 23:23 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

Matthew 6:2-4 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Leviticus 27:30 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord.

Genesis 14:20 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Genesis 1:1-31 ESV / 4 helpful votes

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. ...

1 Timothy 5:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

2 Corinthians 9:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Romans 3:28 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Acts 10:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

A devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.

Luke 12:34 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Luke 11:42 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

Matthew 7:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Matthew 6:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Matthew 6:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

Matthew 5:1-48 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. ...

Malachi 3:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.

Proverbs 19:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.

Jude 1:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”

1 Peter 1:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

James 2:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

Hebrews 11:35 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.

Hebrews 11:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

Hebrews 11:1-40 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. ...

Hebrews 9:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

Hebrews 7:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.

Titus 1:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

2 Timothy 3:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

Colossians 2:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,

2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

1 Corinthians 16:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.

Romans 3:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Romans 3:20-28 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ...

Acts 17:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

Acts 17:1-34 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. ...

Acts 9:36 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity.

John 3:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Luke 21:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Luke 18:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’

Matthew 23:5-7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.

Matthew 7:21-23 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Matthew 7:1-29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. ...

Matthew 5:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Malachi 3:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions.

Malachi 3:1-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. ...

Psalm 33:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.

2 Chronicles 31:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

As soon as the command was spread abroad, the people of Israel gave in abundance the firstfruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field. And they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything.

Deuteronomy 14:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year.

Numbers 18:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Moreover, you shall speak and say to the Levites, ‘When you take from the people of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present a contribution from it to the Lord, a tithe of the tithe.

Genesis 28:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

Genesis 28:20-22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

56 Bible Verses about Giving Alms

Matthew 6:1 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:1-4 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 10:4 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 12:33 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 23:23 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:2-4 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Leviticus 27:30 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 14:20 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 1:1-31 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Timothy 5:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 9:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 3:28 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 10:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 12:34 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 11:42 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 7:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 5:1-48 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Malachi 3:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 19:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Jude 1:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Peter 1:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 2:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 11:35 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 11:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 11:1-40 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 9:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 7:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Titus 1:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Timothy 3:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Colossians 2:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 16:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 3:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 3:20-28 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 17:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 17:1-34 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 9:36 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 3:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 21:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 18:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 23:5-7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 7:21-23 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 7:1-29 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 5:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Malachi 3:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Malachi 3:1-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 33:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Chronicles 31:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Deuteronomy 14:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Numbers 18:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 28:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 28:20-22 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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