What Does 1 Timothy 6:17 Mean?
Charge those who are rich in this age, that they not be lifted high in mind, nor set their hope on uncertain riches, but upon the living God, who holds out to us richly all things to feast on.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;THE KEY
The verse echoes “rich” with “richly,” shifting the weight of abundance from what people possess to the living God who gives.
THE MEANING
Your resources can be large and still uncertain; possession does not make them a secure foundation. The living God is the giver, and what is given can be received for enjoyment without becoming the object that carries your trust. The verse holds abundance and dependence together now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that enough wealth can make life secure. The verse names riches as uncertain and locates the reliable ground in the living giver.
THE ROOT
ἠλπικέναι
elpikénai
GROWS FROM
ἐλπ- (Greek stem of ἐλπίζω)
To hope, expect, or place expectation.
“set their hope on” in this verse is elpikénai. The word translated “trust” carries the sense of where expectation is placed. The verse sets expectation on uncertain wealth or on the living God, making trust a question of what you count on to hold your future.
ALSO GROWS
elpis: Hope, expectation
ἐλπίς
The noun names the expectation that trust places somewhere.
elpizō: To hope or expect
ἐλπίζω
This verb appears again in 1 Timothy 4:10, where expectation rests on the living God.
ζῶντι
zōnti
GROWS FROM
ζα-/ζω- (the Greek verb stem of ζάω)
To live, to be alive.
“Living” describes God as alive, while the riches set beside God are marked as uncertain. The contrast places trust in a living source who gives, rather than in possessions whose abundance cannot make them dependable.
ALSO GROWS
zōē: Life
ζωή
This noun from the same word family shows the life gathered into the description “living God.”
zōon: A living being or creature
ζῷον
The word names a creature by its being alive, echoing the active life conveyed by “living.”
πλουσίως
plousiōs
GROWS FROM
πλουσι-/πλουτ- (Greek wealth-word family)
Richness, abundance, wealth.
The Greek repeats the same wealth-word family in “rich” people and in God’s giving “richly.” The echo shifts abundance from a status someone possesses to a generosity received from the giver.
ALSO GROWS
plousios: Rich, wealthy
πλούσιος
This is the word family used for the people addressed at the start of the verse.
ploutos: Wealth, riches
πλοῦτος
This branch names the wealth the verse calls uncertain when it becomes the object of trust.
THE PATTERN
Material abundance can be enjoyed as a gift, while trust rests in God rather than in wealth that can fail.
Do not lean your full weight on what presses, and do not become vapor through snatching. If wealth blooms, do not set your heart upon it.The one who leans his weight upon his riches falls, but the aligned bloom like a leaf.For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.THE THREAD
For this we toil and endure insults, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the deliverer of all humankind, especially of those who trust.The Greek uses the same hope-and-expectation verb for trusting riches here and for trusting the living God there. Read together, the verses make the contrast explicit: expectation rests either on uncertain wealth or on the living God.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us