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You know the moment. The money lands, and before you have worked out what the week is going to cost, a small calculation starts running in the back of your mind. Ten percent. Off the top. Before tax or after? Before the rent or after?
Underneath the arithmetic sits a quieter question that has nothing to do with maths: am I okay with God this month?
So let’s ask it plainly. What does the Bible say about tithing?
The honest answer is stranger than the rule most of us were handed. The Bible has a great deal to say about the tithe. It just never says it the way we repeat it.
What does the Bible say about tithing in the Old Testament?
The tithe begins in the law given to Israel. It was not a percentage of a salary, because almost nobody had one. It was a share of a harvest — grain, wine, oil, herds, flocks. Things that grow.
The clearest instruction goes to the tribe of Levi, the one tribe given no farmland of its own:
“And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.” — Numbers 18:21, KJV
That is the tithe most of us picture. A tenth of what the land produced, handed over to support the people who ran the worship of the nation. Clean and simple.
Then you keep reading, and it stops being simple.
The tithe God told you to spend on yourself
Deuteronomy describes a tithe with a completely different destination. Not a storehouse. Your own table.
“And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always.” — Deuteronomy 14:23, KJV
You brought it, and then you ate it. In God’s presence.
And the law goes further. If you lived too far away to carry a year’s worth of grain and livestock across the country, you were told to sell it, walk with the money, and buy again when you arrived:
“And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household,” — Deuteronomy 14:26, KJV
Read that slowly, because it is the part nobody mentions.
A portion of the biblical tithe was money God instructed a family to spend on a celebration. Buy what your soul desires. Eat it in God’s presence. Rejoice — you and your household, and the Levite in your town who had nowhere else to go.
Whatever else the tithe was, it was not only a transfer away from your life. Part of it was designed to pull your life toward God, with a full table in the middle of it.
Then there is a third instruction, on a three-year cycle:
“And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied” — Deuteronomy 14:29, KJV
Not the temple. The people in your town with no one to provide for them.
So how many tithes were there?
This is where honesty matters more than a tidy answer.
The law describes tithes going to at least three different places: the Levites, your own celebration, and the poor of your town every third year. The first-century Jewish historian Josephus wrote about these as three separate tithes — two paid every year and a third added in the third year for widows and orphans.
Scholars and rabbis have never fully agreed on this. Some read three distinct tithes stacked on top of each other. Others read the third-year instruction as what the second tithe became in that year, rather than a new one. The text does not settle it, and anyone who tells you it plainly does is going further than the evidence goes.
But notice what is not in dispute. Under the law, the tithe was never one flat ten percent invoice paid to one place. It had different destinations, different years, and different purposes — and part of it came back to your own household on purpose.
The simple rule we inherited is a simplification of the Old Testament, not just a leftover from it.
What about Malachi 3:10?
You cannot ask what the Bible says about tithing without someone quoting Malachi — the storehouse, the windows of heaven, the invitation to “prove me now herewith.”
It is real scripture and it is worth reading. It is also the single most misused verse in this whole conversation. Malachi was spoken to a nation under a specific covenant, about provision that had genuinely been withheld from the temple, at a moment when the priests themselves were bringing damaged animals to the altar. It is God answering a specific accusation in a specific crisis.
It is not a formula where money goes in and money comes out. Giving is not a way of buying God’s cooperation, and any teaching that turns it into one has stopped describing the God of the Bible.
We have looked at that passage closely — including what God says a few verses earlier — in Tithing While in Debt: What the Bible Actually Says, which is the right place to start if fear about money is the reason you are reading this at all.
What does the New Testament say about tithing?
Here is the fact that surprises most people: almost nothing, and never as a command to the church.
Jesus mentions tithing once in a rebuke, telling religious leaders they measured out their garden herbs while neglecting judgment, mercy and faith. He does not lower the bar — He raises it, which is a much harder reading than the one usually taken from it. We unpacked that in What Did Jesus Actually Say About Tithing?
The letter to the Hebrews discusses tithes at length — but historically, working through Abraham and Melchizedek and the Levites to make a point about priesthood, not about your monthly giving.
And Paul, who wrote most of the practical instructions the early church lived by, had every opportunity to restate the number. He was literally organising a collection. Here is what he said instead:
“Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.” — 1 Corinthians 16:2, KJV
Regular. Planned. Proportionate to how you have actually done. No percentage.
And then, writing to the same church about the same collection:
“Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” — 2 Corinthians 9:7, KJV
No letter in the New Testament tells the church to give ten percent. Not one.
Why no number is harder than a number
The first time that lands, it feels like relief. No rule. No invoice. Off the hook.
Sit with it a little longer and the relief turns into something else.
A percentage is a wonderful place to hide. Pay the ten, and the rest is yours, and the account is settled — you never have to ask the harder question underneath. That is exactly what the religious leaders Jesus rebuked had done. They had the number handled. The number was not the problem.
“As he purposeth in his heart” leaves you nowhere to hide. It means sitting down and deciding, on purpose, with nobody watching, what you actually believe about who provides for you. And whatever you decide, you cannot blame it on a rule.
Remove the number, and giving stops being a bill and starts being a mirror.
That is not a loophole. It is a promotion. God is not asking for a slice of your income the way a landlord asks for rent. God is after the part of you that decides — and the reason the number was removed is that the number could never reach it.
And notice that the freedom runs in both directions. Some people read this and realise they have been giving out of fear, calculating to stay safe. Some realise they have been giving nothing and calling it grace. The heart is exposed either way. That is the point.
The old law knew something about this too. It made room for a feast. It never treated giving as the opposite of joy.
What to do with this on Monday
Ancient truth is not much use at the till. So here is the bridge.
Stop asking “how much do I owe?” and start asking “what have I decided, and why?” Decide before the money arrives, not after it has already gone. A decision made in advance is a decision. A leftover is just what survived the month.
If you have very little, give something small on purpose and refuse to feel small about it — Jesus watched a widow give almost nothing and called it more than everyone else in the building. If you have more than you need, the question is not whether ten percent is enough. The question is whether ten percent has quietly become the ceiling you use to avoid asking anything harder.
If you want to keep pulling this thread, you can ask follow-up questions with our free Bible Answers assistant — it opens in ChatGPT and it will take you to the passages themselves rather than around them.
Actions to Take
- Look, don’t fix. Open your banking app or your last month of spending and find one thing you pay without ever thinking about it — a subscription, a habit, a top-up. Put that number beside what you gave. Just look at the two of them. Change nothing today.
- Decide one amount in advance. Before the next money comes in, choose an amount and write it where you will see it. Not a percentage — an amount you chose on purpose and could explain to God in a sentence.
- Give one portion where you can watch it land. This week, take a small part of what you set aside and put it directly into someone’s hands — a meal, a fare, a bag of rice for a neighbour. Deuteronomy 14 built exactly this into the tithe. Giving was never meant to be entirely invisible to the giver.
Journaling Prompts
- When you picture God looking at what you give, what expression do you imagine? Where did you first learn that expression?
- Write down what you are afraid would happen if you gave more than felt safe. Then write what you are afraid would happen if you gave nothing at all. Which fear is louder — and what does that tell you about what you believe God is like?
- What would have to change for giving to be something you looked forward to instead of something you settled?
A Prayer
God, I have been treating this like a bill, and I think I have been doing it for years. I am not sure whether I have been giving out of trust or out of fear, and I would rather know than keep guessing. Show me what I actually believe about who provides for me — even if it is uncomfortable to see. And teach me how to give the way You describe it: decided in my heart, without dread, with something like joy in it. Amen.
Your Turn
Do you think churches should still teach ten percent as the standard, even though the New Testament never repeats the number — or does naming a number actually help people give? Share your view in the comments; we read them.
Share This
- Just found out part of the Old Testament tithe was money God told you to spend on a feast for your own household. Somehow nobody ever mentioned that part.
- I always assumed the Bible commanded ten percent. The New Testament never repeats the number — it says give as you purposed in your heart. That is freer and a lot harder.
- Remove the number, and giving stops being a bill and starts being a mirror. Still thinking about that one.
Questions People Ask About Tithing
Does the Bible command Christians to give ten percent?
No New Testament passage instructs the church to give ten percent. The tithe appears in the New Testament three ways: in Jesus’s rebuke of religious leaders who tithed their herbs while neglecting judgment, mercy and faith; in the letter to the Hebrews, discussing Abraham, Melchizedek and the Levites historically; and in a Pharisee’s boast in one of Jesus’s parables. When Paul gives the church actual instructions about giving, he says to set something aside regularly, in proportion to how one has prospered (1 Corinthians 16:2), and to give as decided in the heart, not grudgingly or of necessity (2 Corinthians 9:7). No percentage is named.
How many tithes were there in the Old Testament law?
The law describes tithes with at least three different destinations: a tenth for the Levites, who had no land of their own (Numbers 18:21); a tithe brought to the place of worship and eaten there by the giver and their household (Deuteronomy 14:22-27); and a third-year tithe stored in the town for the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow (Deuteronomy 14:28-29). The first-century historian Josephus described these as three separate tithes. Scholars and rabbis have long disagreed over whether the third was truly separate or was what the second became in that year. What is not disputed is that the biblical tithe was not a single flat ten percent paid to one place.
Was any of the tithe meant to be enjoyed by the person giving it?
Yes. Deuteronomy 14 instructs the giver to bring a tithe to the place of worship and eat it there before God, rejoicing with their household. If the journey was too long to carry it, the giver was told to sell it, travel with the money, and buy again on arrival — “for whatsoever thy soul desireth” (Deuteronomy 14:26, KJV). Part of the biblical tithe was money set aside for a celebration in God’s presence, shared with the household and with the Levite living in the same town.
Is Malachi 3:10 a promise of wealth for people who tithe?
Malachi 3:10 is addressed to the nation of Israel under a specific covenant, at a moment when provision for the temple had genuinely been withheld and the priests were bringing damaged offerings to the altar. It is God’s answer to a specific accusation in a specific crisis, not a formula in which money given produces money received. Reading it as a wealth mechanism turns a relationship into a transaction, which is the opposite of what the passage is confronting.
What should someone give if they have almost nothing?
The New Testament standard is proportion and intention, not amount. Paul instructs believers to set aside something regularly as they have prospered, and to give what they have decided in their heart, without reluctance or pressure (2 Corinthians 9:7). Jesus watched a poor widow put two small coins into the temple treasury and said she had given more than the wealthy givers around her, because they gave out of abundance and she gave out of need. A small amount given on purpose is treated in scripture as significant, not as insufficient.
