1242 verses about Materialism

Riches and strength will lift up the heart; And the fear of the Lord is above both: There is nothing lacking in the fear of the Lord, And there is no need to seek help therein.

A man that looks to the table of another, His life is not to be counted for a life; He will pollute his soul with another man’s meats: But a man wise and well-instructed will beware thereof.

O death, how bitter is the remembrance of you to a man that is at peace in his possessions, To the man that has nothing to distract him, and has prosperity in all things, And that still has strength to receive meat!

Have regard to your name; For it continueth with you longer than a thousand great treasures of gold.

Of exactness of balance and weights; And of getting much or little;

With twisted scarlet, the work of the craftsman; With precious stones graven like a signet, in a setting of gold, the work of the jeweller, For a memorial engraved in writing, after the number of the tribes of Israel;

By the name of the Lord God, Which is called the God of Israel, You did gather gold as tin, And did multiply silver as lead.

In his days the cistern of waters was diminished, The brazen vessel in compass as the sea.

those who had their pastime with the fowls of the air, and those who hoarded up silver and gold, wherein men trust; and of whose getting there is no end?

For those who wrought in silver, and were so careful, and whose works are past finding out,

Give not your glory to another, nor the things that are profitable to you to a strange nation.

For their tongue is polished by the workman, and they themselves are overlaid with gold and with silver; yet are they but false, and can’t speak.

And taking gold, as it were for a virgin that loves to go gay, they make crowns for the heads of their gods:

and sometimes also the priests convey from their gods gold and silver, and bestow it upon themselves;

and will even give thereof to the common harlots: and they deck them as men with garments, even the gods of silver, and gods of gold, and of wood.

Yet can’t these gods save themselves from rust and moths, though they be covered with purple raiment.

For like as a vessel that a man uses is nothing worth when it is broken; even so it is with their gods: when they be set up in the temples their eyes be full of dust through the feet of those who come in.

They are as one of the beams of the temple; and men say their hearts are eaten out, when things creeping out of the earth devour both them and their raiment: they feel it not

Notwithstanding the gold wherewith they are beset to make them beautiful, except one wipe off the rust, they will not shine: for not even when they were molten did they feel it.

Things wherein there is no breath are bought at any cost.

Having no feet, they are borne upon shoulders, whereby they declare to men that they be nothing worth.

And the things that are sacrificed to them, their priests sell and spend; and in like manner their wives also lay up part thereof in salt; but to the poor and to the impotent will they give nothing thereof.

For how can they be called gods? because women set meat before the gods of silver, gold, and wood.

The priests also take off garments from them, and clothe their wives and children withal.

In like manner, they can neither give riches nor money: though a man make a vow to them, and keep it not, they will never exact it.

They are like the stones that be hewn out of the mountain, these gods of wood, and that are overlaid with gold and with silver: those who minister to them shall be confounded.

They are fashioned by carpenters and goldsmiths: they can be nothing else than the workmen will have them to be.

And they themselves that fashioned them can never continue long; how then should the things that are fashioned by them?

For seeing they be but of wood, and overlaid with gold and with silver, it shall be known hereafter that they are false:

Neither are those gods of wood, and overlaid with silver or with gold, able to escape either from thieves or robbers.

Whose gold, and silver, and garments wherewith they are clothed, they that are strong will take from them, and go away withal: neither shall they be able to help themselves.

Therefore it is better to be a king that shows his manhood, or else a vessel in a house profitable for that whereof the owner shall have need, than such false gods; or even a door in a house, to keep the things safe that be therein, than such false gods; or a pillar of wood in a palace, than such false gods.

For as a scarecrow in a garden of cucumbers that keeps nothing, so are their gods of wood, and overlaid with gold and with silver.

Likewise also their gods of wood, and overlaid with gold and with silver, are like to a white thorn in an orchard, that every bird sits upon; as also to a dead body, that is cast forth into the dark.

Then said the king to him, Thinkest you not that Bel is a living god? or see you not how much he eats and drinks every day?

And they little regarded it: for under the table they had made a privy entrance, whereby they entered in continually, and consumed those things.

And they got possession of the strong cities in the land of Egypt; and he took the spoils of Egypt.

and entered presumptuously into the sanctuary, and took the golden altar, and the candlestick of the light, and all that pertained thereto,

and the table of the show bread, and the cups to pour withal, and the bowls, and the golden censers, and the veil, and the crowns, and the adorning of gold which was on the face of the temple, and he scaled it all off.

And he took the silver and the gold and the precious vessels; and he took the hidden treasures which he found.

And they stored up arms and food, and gathering together the spoils of Jerusalem, they laid them up there, and they became a sore snare:

now therefore come you first and do the commandment of the king, as all the nations have done, and the men of Judah, and those who remain in Jerusalem: and you and your house shall be in the number of the king’s Friends, and you and your sons shall be honored with silver and gold and many gifts.

And Judas returned to plunder the camp, and they got much gold, and silver, and blue, and sea purple, and great riches.

And king Antiochus was journeying through the upper countries; and he heard say, that in Elymais in Persia there was a city renowned for riches, for silver and gold;

and that the temple which was in it was rich exceedingly, and that therein were golden shields, and breastplates, and arms, which Alexander, son of Philip, the Macedonian king, who reigned first among the Greeks, left behind there.

and what things they did in the land of Spain, that they might become masters of the mines of silver and gold which were there;

And I give every year fifteen thousand shekels of silver from the king’s revenues from the places that are convenient.

And he sent to him golden vessels and furniture for the table, and gave him leave to drink in golden vessels, and to be clothed in purple, and to have a golden buckle.

And Simon built a monument upon the sepulchre of his father and his kindred, and raised it aloft to the sight, with polished stone behind and before.

moreover they brought a shield of gold of a thousand pound.

And Athenobius the king’s Friend came to Jerusalem; and he saw the glory of Simon, and the cupboard of gold and silver vessels, and his great attendance, and he was amazed; and he reported to him the king’s words.

And Ptolemy the son of Abubus had been appointed captain for the plain of Jericho, and he had much silver and gold;

and he brought him word how that the treasury in Jerusalem was full of untold sums of money, so that the multitude of the funds was innumerable, and that they did not pertain to the account of the sacrifices, but that it was possible that these should fall under the king’s power.

having promised to the king at an audience three hundred and threescore talents of silver, and out of another fund eighty talents;

And thus there was an extreme of Greek fashions, and an advance of an alien religion, by reason of the exceeding profaneness of Jason, that ungodly man and no high priest;

so that the priests had no more any zeal for the services of the altar: but despising the sanctuary, and neglecting the sacrifices, they hastened to enjoy that which was unlawfully provided in the palaestra, after the summons of the discus;

making of no account the honors of their fathers, and thinking the glories of the Greeks best of all.

Now when certain games that came every fifth year were kept at Tyre, and the king was present,

Menelaus had possession of the office: but of the money that had been promised to the king nothing was duly paid, and that though Sostratus the governor of the citadel demanded it

And Menelaus, supposing that he had gotten a favourable opportunity, presented to Andronicus certain vessels of gold belonging to the temple, which he had stolen: other vessels also he had already sold into Tyre and the cities round about.

Now when many sacrileges had been committed in the city by Lysimachus with the consent of Menelaus, and when the bruit thereof was spread abroad outside, the people gathered themselves together against Lysimachus, after many vessels of gold had been already dispersed.

And he set a tax upon the people of a hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold.

with gifts, with horses also and cattle, beside the other things which have been added by vow for the temple of the Lord which is in Jerusalem.

And this was the number of them: A thousand golden cups, a thousand cups of silver, censers of silver twenty nine, vials of gold thirty, and of silver two thousand four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand.

So all the vessels of gold and of silver were brought up, even five thousand four hundred threescore and nine,

as, to be clothed in purple, to drink in gold, and to sleep upon gold, and a chariot with bridles of gold, and a headtire of fine linen, and a chain about his neck:

and it makes every heart rich, so that a man remembers neither king nor satrap; and it makes to speak all things by talents:

Yes, and if men have gathered together gold and silver and any other goodly thing, and see a woman which is comely in favor and beauty,

they let all those things go, and gape after her, and even with open mouth fix their eyes fast on her; and have all more desire to her than to gold or silver, or any goodly thing whatever.

and looks upon a lion, and walks in the darkness; and when he has stolen, plundered, and robbed, he brings it to his love.

four hundred thirty and five camels, seven thousand thirty and six horses, two hundred forty and five mules, five thousand five hundred twenty and five beasts of burden.

And when I had weighed it, I delivered to them six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels of a hundred talents, and a hundred talents of gold,

and twenty golden vessels, and twelve vessels of brass, even of fine brass, glittering like gold.

By doing this, and by making donations to their temples, he inspired his subjects with confidence.

The king listened to this, and then turning aside to his potations, commanded the guests to sit down before him.

for I saw the desolation of Sion, and the wealth of those who lived at Babylon.

And yet their reward appears not, and their labor has no fruit: for I have gone hither and there through the nations, and I see that they abound in wealth, and think not upon your commandments.

If you has choice stones exceeding few, will you set for you near them according to their number things of lead and clay?

but silver is more abundant than gold, and brass than silver, and iron than brass, lead than iron, and clay than lead.

Judge you therefore which things are precious and to be desired, whatso is abundant or what is rare.

And I said, O Lord that bear rule, that which is plentiful is of less worth, for that which is more rare is more precious.

And he answered me, and said, Weigh within yourself the things that you have thought, for he that has what is hard to get rejoices over him that has what is plentiful.

understanding the things that are laid up in the latter days, but not attaining to them.

They shall carry your children away captive, and shall plunder your wealth, and mar the glory of your face.

Behold, food shall be so good cheap upon earth, that they shall think themselves to be in good case, and even then shall evils grow upon earth, sword, famine, and great confusion.

He that selleth, let him be as he that fleeth away: and he that buys, as one that will lose:

he that occupieth merchandise, as he that has no profit by it: and he that builds, as he that shall not dwell therein:

and those who traffick traffick to become a plunder: the more they deck their cities, their houses, their possessions, and their own persons,

For they shall waste and take away their goods, and cast them out of their houses.

In the soul it is arrogance, and love of money, and vaingloriousness, and contention, and faithlessness, and the evil eye.

For instance, the law says, You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.

A man, therefore, who regulates his course by the law, even if he be a lover of money, straightway puts force upon his own disposition; lending to the needy without interest, and cancelling the debt of the incoming Sabbath.

but the king, being very much thirsty, although he had numerous springs, could not by their means quench his thirst;

Having good will to the king’s affairs, I am come to inform you that infinite private wealth is laid up in the treasuries of Jerusalem which do not belong to the temple, but pertain to king Seleucus.

Why withdraw ourselves from a most sweet life, and deprive ourselves of this pleasant world?

Again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory.

He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me.”

If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also.

“Be careful that you don’t do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

“Moreover when you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.