What Does the Bible Say About Helping Others But Not Helping Yourself?

1 John 3:17 ESV / 11 helpful votes

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?

Philippians 2:4 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Galatians 6:1 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

Galatians 6:2 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Matthew 25:35-40 ESV / 6 helpful votes

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ ...

Proverbs 22:9 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.

James 1:27 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Matthew 5:13-16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Proverbs 29:7 ESV / 5 helpful votes

A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; a wicked man does not understand such knowledge.

Psalm 23:1-6 ESV / 5 helpful votes

A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ...

Hebrews 13:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Luke 6:38 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

1 Timothy 6:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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.

Ephesians 4:28 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

Galatians 5:14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Romans 13:1-7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. ...

John 15:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Luke 10:27 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

Luke 8:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.

Matthew 7:21-23 ESV / 3 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 7:12 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 6:24 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and money.

Isaiah 41:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

Hebrews 6:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.

Ephesians 5:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.

Galatians 2:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

1 Corinthians 4:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

Romans 12:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Acts 20:35 ESV / 2 helpful votes

In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Acts 4:32-35 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

John 3:16-17 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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Luke 12:33 ESV / 2 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.

Luke 7:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.

Matthew 22:37-39 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Matthew 6:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 5:1-48 ESV / 2 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 3:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“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.

Zechariah 7:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

Ezekiel 22:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice.

Ezekiel 16:49 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.

Jeremiah 22:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

Jeremiah 5:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes

They have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of evil; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.

Isaiah 58:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.

Isaiah 58:6-7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Isaiah 25:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,

Proverbs 21:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.

Proverbs 14:31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.

Psalm 140:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy.

Psalm 12:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord; “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”

Deuteronomy 15:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

Leviticus 19:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.

51 Bible Verses about Helping Others But Not Helping Yourself

1 John 3:17 ESV / 11 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Philippians 2:4 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Galatians 6:2 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 25:35-40 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 22:9 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 1:27 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 5:13-16 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 29:7 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 23:1-6 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 13:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 6:38 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Timothy 6:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 4:28 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 5:14 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 13:1-7 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 15:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 10:27 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 8:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 7:21-23 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Matthew 6:24 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 41:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 6:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 5:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 2:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 4:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 12:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 20:35 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 4:32-35 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 3:16-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 12:33 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 7:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 22:37-39 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 5:1-48 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Malachi 3:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Zechariah 7:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ezekiel 22:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ezekiel 16:49 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Jeremiah 22:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Jeremiah 5:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 58:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 58:6-7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 25:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 21:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 14:31 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 140:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 12:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Deuteronomy 15:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Leviticus 19:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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