23 Bible Verses on Stealing

Stealing is born from discontentment, dishonesty, and covetousness. Instead of stealing, God’s people are to live holy lives, living peaceable with everyone by practicing contentment and working hard with his own hands—and instead of taking for yourself, one should work to provide for those in need (Eph. 4:28). God commands in both the Old and New Testament that His people should trust in Him to provide what they need and live peaceably with all and find their contentment in Him.

---

What Does the Bible Say About Stealing?

Old Testament

Exodus 20:15
“You shall not steal.”

Exodus 20:17
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Exodus 22:1
“If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.

Leviticus 19:11
“You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another.

Psalm 62:10
Put no trust in extortion;
set no vain hopes on robbery;
if riches increase, set not your heart on them.

Proverbs 10:2
Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit,
but righteousness delivers from death.

Proverbs 12:12
Whoever is wicked covets the spoil of evildoers,
but the root of the righteous bears fruit.

Proverbs 22:22–23
Do not rob the poor, because he is poor,
or crush the afflicted at the gate,
for the LORD will plead their cause
and rob of life those who rob them.

Proverbs 28:24
Whoever robs his father or his mother
and says, “That is no transgression,”
is a companion to a man who destroys.

Proverbs 30:8–9
Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is needful for me,
lest I be full and deny you
and say, “Who is the LORD?”
or lest I be poor and steal
and profane the name of my God.

Isaiah 10:1–2
Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees,
and the writers who keep writing oppression,
to turn aside the needy from justice
and to rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be their spoil,
and that they may make the fatherless their prey!

Jeremiah 7:9–10
Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations?

New Testament

Romans 13:9–10
For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

1 Corinthians 6:9–10
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Ephesians 4:28
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

James 4:2
You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.

1 Peter 4:15
But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.