Is "money is the root of all evil" really what the Bible says?

Q: Is "money is the root of all evil" really what the Bible says?

It is a slight misquote of a real verse, 1 Timothy 6:10. Paul, writing to Timothy, does not say money is the root of all evil; he says the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil (). Three small changes separate the saying from the verse: it is the love of money (greed), not money itself; it is a root, one source among others, not the single root; and it is a root of all kinds of evil, not literally all evil. The context makes the target plain: Paul is warning people who crave to get rich (), and he tells Timothy to flee that craving and pursue righteousness instead (). So the Bible does not condemn money or wealth as such, it warns against loving money and trusting it (; ; ). The popular form does echo the older King James wording, which renders it as the root of all evil, while most modern translations read a root of all kinds of evil, which is why the exact quote matters. Honest bottom line: yes, it is in the Bible, but the common form drops the love of, so quoting it as 'money is the root of all evil' changes what Paul actually said.

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Short answer

It is a slight misquote of a real verse, 1 Timothy 6:10. Paul, writing to Timothy, does not say money is the root of all evil; he says the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil (1 Timothy 6:10). Three small changes separate the saying from the verse: it is the love of money (greed), not money itself; it is a root, one source among others, not the single root; and it is a root of all kinds of evil, not literally all evil. The context makes the target plain: Paul is warning people who crave to get rich (1 Timothy 6:9), and he tells Timothy to flee that craving and pursue righteousness instead (1 Timothy 6:11). So the Bible does not condemn money or wealth as such, it warns against loving money and trusting it (Ecclesiastes 5:10; Hebrews 13:5; Matthew 6:24). The popular form does echo the older King James wording, which renders it as the root of all evil, while most modern translations read a root of all kinds of evil, which is why the exact quote matters. Honest bottom line: yes, it is in the Bible, but the common form drops the love of, so quoting it as 'money is the root of all evil' changes what Paul actually said.

Question

Is 'money is the root of all evil' what the Bible actually says?

Analysis

The saying vs the verse

The popular saying	What 1 Timothy 6:10 says
Money is the root of all evil.	The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

Three differences:

Money → the love of money. Paul targets the craving (Greek philargyria, a love of silver or money), not currency or wealth itself.
The root → a root. It is one source of evil among many, not the single source of every evil.
All evil → all kinds of evil. The warning is that the love of money leads to many sorts of wrong, not that every evil traces back to it.

The context Paul is writing in

The verse sits inside a warning about greed, not money as an object. 1 Timothy 6:9, those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many harmful desires. 1 Timothy 6:10, some, reaching for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 1 Timothy 6:11, Timothy is told to flee all this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. The whole passage is about the pull of money on the heart.

Why two wordings both exist

The familiar the root of all evil matches the King James Version's older rendering of 1 Timothy 6:10; most modern translations render the same Greek as a root of all kinds of evil, which is why careful writers quote it that way. Both are translating the same verse from the same text; the modern wording simply makes the a root / all kinds nuance explicit. Neither is the real verse over against the other, and Bubble notes the difference rather than picking a winner.

What the Bible says about money itself

Scripture does not treat wealth as sin. It warns against loving money and trusting it, and it calls for contentment and generosity: whoever loves money is never satisfied with money (Ecclesiastes 5:10); keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have (Hebrews 13:5); you cannot serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24). The consistent target is the heart's attachment to money, which is exactly what 1 Timothy 6:10 names.

Sources, trace every one

Every cited verse, in full. Tap any reference to open it in the reader.

1 Timothy 6:10bsb
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.
1 Timothy 6:9bsb
Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
1 Timothy 6:11bsb
But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.
Ecclesiastes 5:10bsb
He who loves money is never satisfied by money, and he who loves wealth is never satisfied by income. This too is futile.
Hebrews 13:5bsb
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
Matthew 6:24bsb
No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

On contested questions we show every major view, attributed and cited, and pick no winner. Answers are synthesized from primary sources, truth you can trace, not opinion.