Forty Bible verses about giving, organized by what Scripture actually teaches: the heart-posture God requires, the amount, the recipient, the secrecy, and the joy.
From Abel's offering in Genesis 4 to the Macedonian churches in 2 Corinthians 8, this is the complete reference Christians need to give the way the Bible commands.
Free tool Plan your giving with the Giving-First Budget Calculator — allocate your tithe and offering before any other category.
Part 1: The motive — God looks at the heart, not the gift Every gift in Scripture is judged first by its motive.
The amount matters less than the affection behind it. 2 Corinthians 9:7 — "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." The Greek hilaros — root of "hilarious" — is joyful, irrepressible giving.
Mark 12:41-44 — The widow's two mites.
Jesus declared she gave more than the rich because she gave from poverty, not abundance.
Matthew 6:1-4 — "When you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you... your Father who sees in secret will reward you." 1 Corinthians 13:3 — "If I give away all I have... but have not love, I gain nothing." Even sacrificial giving without love profits nothing.
Genesis 4:3-5 — God accepted Abel's offering and rejected Cain's.
The difference was the heart, not the gift. 2 Corinthians 8:12 — "If the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have." Acts 5:1-11 — Ananias and Sapphira were judged not for the amount they gave but for the lie about it.
Proverbs 21:27 — "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination." Religious giving cannot cover an unrighteous heart.
Part 2: The amount — from the tithe to the all Genesis 14:20 — Abraham gave a tenth to Melchizedek, four hundred years before the Law.
Tithing predates Sinai.
Genesis 28:22 — "Of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you." Jacob's vow at Bethel.
Leviticus 27:30 — "Every tithe of the land... is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord." Deuteronomy 14:22 — "You shall tithe all the yield of your seed." Malachi 3:8-10 — "Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me.
But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In your tithes and contributions." Matthew 23:23 — Jesus affirms tithing while rebuking those who tithe and neglect justice and mercy: "These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others." Mark 10:21 — To the rich young ruler: "Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor." Sometimes the call exceeds the tithe entirely.
Luke 21:1-4 — The widow's all.
The biblical maximum: not a percentage but everything one has. 2 Corinthians 8:3 — The Macedonians gave "according to their means... and beyond their means, of their own accord." Calculate your tithe in seconds: Tithe Calculator → Part 3: The recipient — God names who must receive Galatians 6:10 — "Let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith." 1 Timothy 5:8 — "If anyone does not provide for his relatives... he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." Family first. 1 Timothy 5:17-18 — "Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor... 'The laborer deserves his wages.'" Pastors and teachers are to be financially supported.
Proverbs 19:17 — "Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed." Proverbs 28:27 — "Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse." Matthew 25:35-40 — "As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." James 1:27 — "Religion that is pure... is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction." Acts 11:29 — The Antioch church sent relief to the Judean believers in famine.
Hebrews 13:2 — "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers." Part 4: The secrecy — gifts seen by God, not by men Matthew 6:3-4 — "When you give... do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret." Matthew 6:1 — "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them." Proverbs 25:14 — "Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give." The opposite warning: do not advertise generosity that does not exist.
Part 5: The promise — God answers generosity Luke 6:38 — "Give, and it will be given to you.
Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap." Not a prosperity formula — a description of God's character toward the merciful.
Proverbs 11:24-25 — "One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.
Whoever brings blessing will be enriched." 2 Corinthians 9:6 — "Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." Philippians 4:17-19 — Paul tells the Philippians their gift to him will result in fruit credited to their account, and that "my God will supply every need of yours." Matthew 6:19-20 — "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." 1 Timothy 6:18-19 — "Be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future." Part 6: The model — Christ Himself 2 Corinthians 8:9 — "You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." John 3:16 — "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son." The eternal pattern of giving.
Romans 8:32 — "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all." Acts 20:35 — "It is more blessed to give than to receive." The only saying of Jesus quoted by Paul outside the Gospels.
Ephesians 5:1-2 — "Be imitators of God... walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering." A closing word The Bible never asks Christians to give in order to get.
It asks them to give because they have already received.
The cross is the foundation of every gift.
The Christian who has tasted the grace of God in Christ becomes generous as inevitably as a fed fountain overflows.
Where generosity is absent, the question is not technique.
It is whether the heart has yet been stunned by the gift of the Son.
All Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted.