DID YOU KNOW?
The answer
Modern translations read "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6:10); the King James has "the root of all evil," which is where the familiar wording comes from. Either way, the popular version drops "the love of" — and that's the part that changes the meaning. The subject is love of money, not money itself.
Why it’s interesting
The popular saying is half genuine misquote and half faithful quotation of an older translation. Dropping "the love of" turns a line about greed into a blanket verdict on wealth; whether it's "a root" or "the root" depends on which English Bible you grew up with.
Scholarly consensus
You can know the Bible.
Not just the stories, but the history, authorship, and scholarship behind it.