What Does Matthew 6:24 Mean in the King James?
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Mammon is not merely something you own here; it is named as a master claiming the same service as God.
THE MEANING
Your service cannot be divided between God and wealth, because each claims the loyalty that belongs to a master. What you cling to, and what you treat with contempt, reveals which claim is directing you now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that wealth can remain a neutral possession while it governs your allegiance; here, mammon is a rival master.
THE ROOT
δουλεύειν
douleuein
GROWS FROM
δουλ-
servant-status; service under another’s authority
The verb δουλεύειν (douleuein, “to serve as a servant”) belongs to the same word family as δοῦλος (doulos, “servant”) and δουλεία (douleia, “servitude”). English can make service sound like a task, while this word carries the deeper sense of belonging under a master’s authority.
ALSO GROWS
doulos: servant
δοῦλος
The servant is the person whose belonging makes the master’s claim visible.
douleia: servitude
δουλεία
This branch names the condition behind the verb: service involves being under another’s authority.
κυρίοις
kyriois
GROWS FROM
κυρι-
lordship; authority over another
The Greek calls the two masters κύριοι (kyrioi, “lords”), a word of authority. By placing mammon beside God under the same title, the verse presents wealth as a rival claim to govern, not merely as property.
ALSO GROWS
kyrieuō: rule over, exercise lordship
κυριεύω
This branch makes explicit the governing force carried in the word for master.
kyriotēs: lordship, dominion
κυριότης
It names the authority a master holds, clarifying what is at stake in divided service.
THE PATTERN
Service makes allegiance visible because the one a person serves claims that person’s loyalty.
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.THE THREAD
And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.Mark uses δοῦλος (doulos, “servant”), from the same Greek word family as “serve” here, and turns rank upside down: the one who is chief becomes servant of all. That connection makes the nature of service concrete while Matthew exposes the divided allegiance no one can sustain.
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