Matthew 6:24 (ASV)

Passage

No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Nearby Context

Matthew 6:22 The lamp of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

Matthew 6:23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness!

Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Matthew 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment?

Matthew 6:26 Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value then they?

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "serve", "masters", "either", "hate", "love", "other", "else", and "hold". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "serve" and "masters", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 23's "But if thine eye be evil thy..." into verse 25's "Therefore I say unto you be not...", so "serve" and "masters" belong inside that flow. In Matthew context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "serve" and "masters" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.