Bible Reference / Bible Topics / Money, Work, and Stewardship
In Short
A tithe is a tenth. In the Bible, tithing begins with Abraham giving a tenth to Melchizedek (Genesis 14:20), becomes part of Israel's law to support the Levites, the festivals, and the poor (Numbers 18; Deuteronomy 14), and is famously defended in Malachi 3:10. Jesus affirmed tithing but warned that it means nothing without "justice and mercy and faith" (Matthew 23:23).
The New Testament never sets a percentage for Christians. Instead, it calls for giving that is regular, proportional, generous, and cheerful (1 Corinthians 16:2; 2 Corinthians 9:7). Christians disagree about whether the tithe still binds believers, but nearly all agree on this: the tithe was never meant to be the most a faithful person gives. The idea is that it is a floor and not a ceiling on generosity.
Tithes in the Bible at a Glance
Let me call out a few things in the table below. Notice that the tithing supported the work of those who were responsible for the worship practices of the people (The Levites were those who served in the Tabernacle/Temple). I love that there is a festival tithe, that God wants the people to celebrate. Notice the “third-year tithe,” which was given to support the Levites, immigrants, orphans, and widows.
| Tithe | Scripture | Who gave it | What it was for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abraham's tithe | Genesis 14:18–20 | Abraham, voluntarily | Gratitude to God Most High after victory |
| Jacob's vow | Genesis 28:20–22 | Jacob, as a vow | Trust that God would provide and protect |
| The Levites' tithe | Numbers 18:21–24 | All Israel, yearly | Support for the Levites, who had no land |
| The festival tithe | Deuteronomy 14:22–27 | Each household | A celebration meal eaten before God |
| The third-year tithe | Deuteronomy 14:28–29 | Each town, every third year | Food for Levites, immigrants, orphans, and widows |
| Malachi's challenge | Malachi 3:8–10 | Post-exilic Judah | Restoring the storehouse and covenant faithfulness |
What Is a Tithe?
The Hebrew word for tithe, ma'aser, simply means "a tenth." The Greek verb in the New Testament, apodekatoo, means "to give a tenth." The idea is concrete: one tenth of what you receive is returned to God.
But a tithe in Scripture is never just math. "All tithes from the land... are the LORD's; they are holy to the LORD" (Leviticus 27:30). The tenth is a confession that the other nine-tenths also come from God. As King David prayed when Israel gave for the temple, "For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you" (1 Chronicles 29:14).
It is also worth knowing that Israel's tithe was not one payment but a system. There were tithes to support worship, tithes to feast on in God's presence, and tithes stored up for the poor. Biblical tithing was designed for worship, joy, and justice together, not institutional accumulation. See What Is Stewardship in the Bible?
Tithing Bible Verses: The Whole Story
These are the key Bible verses about tithing in the order Scripture tells them. Quotations are from the NRSV.
Before the Law: Abraham and Jacob
Genesis 14:19–20: "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!" And Abram gave him one tenth of everything.
This is the first tithe in the Bible, centuries before the law of Moses. After rescuing his nephew Lot, Abraham meets Melchizedek, the priest-king of Salem, and gives him a tenth of the spoils. No one commands it. It is the spontaneous response of a man who knows where the victory came from: El Elyon, God Most High. The letter to the Hebrews later makes much of this moment: "See how great he is! Even Abraham the patriarch gave him a tenth of the spoils" (Hebrews 7:4). See Who Was Abraham in the Bible?
Genesis 28:22: "And of all that you give me I will surely give one tenth to you."
Jacob makes this vow at Bethel after his dream of the ladder to heaven. He is not calculating what he can afford. He is responding to God's promise to be with him and provide for him. The tithe begins as a response to grace before it ever becomes a requirement of law. See Who Was Jacob in the Bible? and The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Under the Law of Moses
Leviticus 27:30: "All tithes from the land, whether the seed from the ground or the fruit from the tree, are the LORD's; they are holy to the LORD."
The tithe is grounded in God's ownership, not human generosity. You cannot give God what is already his. You can only acknowledge it.
Numbers 18:21: The LORD gives "every tithe in Israel" to the Levites "in return for the service that they perform, the service in the tent of meeting."
The Levites received no land of their own. The tithe supported the people whose whole vocation was the community's worship. The principle that those who serve should be supported by those they serve runs straight into the New Testament (1 Corinthians 9:14).
Deuteronomy 14:22–23: "Set apart a tithe of all the yield of your seed that is brought in yearly from the field. In the presence of the LORD your God... you shall eat the tithe of your grain, your wine, and your oil... so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always."
This tithe was eaten in a joyful feast before God. Its purpose was formation: "so that you may learn." Tithing was meant to teach Israel, again and again, who the true Lord of the harvest was.
Deuteronomy 14:28–29: "Every third year you shall bring out the full tithe of your produce for that year, and store it within your towns; the Levites... as well as the resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, may come and eat their fill."
The third-year tithe was a food bank. Biblical tithing cannot be separated from care for the vulnerable. See Bible Verses About Caring for the Poor.
Revival and the Storehouse
2 Chronicles 31:5: "The people of Israel gave in abundance the first fruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything."
When King Hezekiah renewed Israel's worship, giving overflowed. The same pattern shows up after the exile: "Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses" (Nehemiah 13:12). In Scripture, renewed giving tends to follow renewed faith.
Malachi 3:8: "Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, 'How are we robbing you?' In your tithes and offerings!"
Malachi 3:10: "Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing."
These are the most quoted tithing verses in the Bible, and the most misused. Malachi is speaking to a whole nation whose worship has gone cold, whose priests have cut corners, and whose storehouse stood empty while Levites and the poor went hungry. The "test" is an invitation to trust God more than our own calculations. It is not a formula that guarantees a financial return. See Who Wrote Malachi?
Jesus on Tithing
Matthew 23:23: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others."
This is Jesus' clearest word on tithing, and it cuts two ways. He does not abolish the tithe. But he refuses to let careful tithing stand in for justice, mercy, and faithfulness. A tithe that leaves those undone has missed the point.
Luke 18:12: "I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income."
This is the boast of the Pharisee in Jesus' parable. He tithes faithfully and goes home unjustified. The tax collector, who brings nothing but a plea for mercy, goes home justified. The parable does not condemn tithing. It condemns trusting in it.
Paul and the Early Church
1 Corinthians 16:2: "On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn." Giving is to be regular, planned, and proportional to what one receives.
2 Corinthians 8:3: "They voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means." The poor churches of Macedonia gave beyond any percentage. See Who Wrote 2 Corinthians?
2 Corinthians 9:7: "Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."
Acts 4:34–35: "There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need."
The first church went far beyond the tithe. One of the givers was Barnabas, "a Levite" who "sold a field that belonged to him" (Acts 4:36–37). A member of the tribe once supported by tithes now gives his own land so no one goes hungry. The very next story warns, through Ananias and Sapphira, that what God hates is not small giving but pretending (Acts 5:1–11). See The Believers Share Their Possessions, Ananias and Sapphira, Who Was Barnabas in the Bible?, and Wealth and Poverty in the Book of Acts.
Do Christians Have to Tithe?
This is the question most people bring to the subject, and faithful Christians answer it differently. Here are the two main views, fairly stated.
View 1: The tithe still stands as a baseline. Tithing appears before the law of Moses (Abraham and Jacob), so it is not merely an Old Testament legal requirement. Jesus affirmed it ("without neglecting the others," Matthew 23:23). On this view, a tenth is the floor of Christian giving, not the ceiling, and the New Testament's call to generosity builds on it.
View 2: The New Testament replaces the percentage with a posture. The tithe belonged to Israel's covenant system, including the Levitical priesthood that Christ has fulfilled (Hebrews 7). No New Testament letter commands a tenth. Instead, Paul asks for giving that is regular, proportional, voluntary, and cheerful (1 Corinthians 16:2; 2 Corinthians 8–9). On this view, some will give less than a tenth and many should give far more.
Where both views agree:
Everything belongs to God, not only the tenth (Psalm 24:1).
Giving should be planned and regular, not left to impulse.
Generosity should grow, not stop at a fixed number.
Giving can never substitute for justice and mercy (Matthew 23:23).
Giving is not a transaction that buys God's blessing.
A pastor's word: In thirty years of ministry, I have seen the tithe used both ways: as a healthy discipline that freed people from money's grip, and as a weapon that shamed. Scripture supports the first and never the second. If a tithe helps you practice trust, practice it. If you cannot give a tenth right now, give what you can, gladly, and let it grow. "If the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have" (2 Corinthians 8:12).
What I tell congregants is this: start with where you are. Can you give more or is your financial situation in a precarious place? Set an amount to give. If you can, increase by .5% or 1% the following year. Do so for multiple years. People underestimate what they can give 5 years from now. Doing these incremental increases helps us adjust our spending habits and allows us to prioritize generosity.
In each church I’ve pastored, I have been blown away by the generosity of Christians. If there is an appeal to help domestic violence victims, to alleviate hunger or another type of suffering, or to care for the building or launch a creative ministry initiative, generosity has always abounded. People want to give their resources to a well-defined project. Maybe God help us all grow in our gratitude and our generosity as we carry out God’s work of justice and mercy in this world.
What Is the Difference Between a Tithe and an Offering?
In the Old Testament, the tithe (ma'aser) was the set tenth. An offering (qorban, from a root meaning "to draw near") was anything brought to God in worship. Some offerings were required, like sacrifices for sin. Others were freewill offerings that went beyond the tithe, given "in proportion to the blessing that you have received" (Deuteronomy 16:10).
Malachi names both together: "In your tithes and offerings!" (Malachi 3:8). Christians today often use the words the same way. The tithe is the planned base of giving, and offerings are the gifts that rise above it. For more on offerings, freewill giving, and generosity, see Bible Verses About Giving.
A Simple Way to Pray
Lord, everything I have comes from you and belongs to you. Let what I give be an honest confession of that. Give me Abraham's gratitude, Jacob's trust, and the cheerful heart Paul says you love. Free me from the calculations that make giving feel like loss, and let my giving begin a generosity that keeps growing. Amen.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Bible say about tithing? A tithe is a tenth given to God. It appears first with Abraham (Genesis 14:20), becomes part of Israel's law (Leviticus 27:30; Numbers 18:21; Deuteronomy 14:22–29), is defended in Malachi 3:8–10, and is affirmed by Jesus alongside justice and mercy (Matthew 23:23).
Is tithing required for Christians? Christians disagree. Some see a tenth as the baseline because it predates the law. Others see the New Testament replacing a fixed percentage with proportional, cheerful giving. Both agree that generosity, not a number, is the goal.
Did Abraham tithe before the law? Yes. Abraham gave Melchizedek "one tenth of everything" (Genesis 14:20), centuries before Moses. Hebrews 7:1–10 uses this tithe to show the greatness of Christ's priesthood.
What is the storehouse in Malachi 3:10? The storerooms of the temple, where tithes were kept to feed the Levites and the poor. Many Christians apply it to the local church where they worship and are cared for.
Should I tithe on my gross or net income? Scripture does not address modern taxes. The principle of firstfruits points toward giving from the top, while the principle of proportional giving says the posture matters more than the formula.
Does God bless people financially for tithing? Scripture promises that God provides for the generous (2 Corinthians 9:8), but it warns against treating giving as a formula for wealth. The widow who gave everything (Luke 21:1–4) received no promise of riches, only Jesus' praise.
What if I cannot afford to tithe? Give what you can. "The gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have" (2 Corinthians 8:12).
Where does the word tithe appear in the New Testament? Only a handful of times: in Jesus' rebuke of the Pharisees (Matthew 23:23; Luke 11:42), in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:12), and in Hebrews 7, about Abraham and Melchizedek.
Keep Exploring
Works Consulted
Blomberg, Craig L. Neither Poverty nor Riches: A Biblical Theology of Possessions. InterVarsity Press.
Brueggemann, Walter. Money and Possessions. Interpretation. Westminster John Knox.
Wright, N. T. After You Believe. HarperOne.
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version.
