How much should I tithe?
I came to faith during COVID, at an online church, where I was told to tithe before I knew what the word meant. So giving became the last line in my budget, whatever was left once everything else had taken its share. It was only as faith went deeper that I learned a tithe is a tenth, and that what I had been giving was nowhere near one.
Want the number first? Open the tithe calculator →
The short answer is a tenth
Tithe means a tenth. The historic answer to how much is ten percent of your income. Tithing is older than the law of Moses. Abram gave a tenth, and Jacob promised one.
“You must be sure to set aside a tenth of all the produce brought forth each year from your fields.”
Deuteronomy 14:22 (BSB)
Under Moses, that tenth filled the family's table at the feasts, supported the Levites, and every third year fed the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. For most of us, a tenth set aside first is the figure to aim at.
A tenth of what, and when?
Two smaller questions sit inside how much. Do you count the tenth on your gross pay or your take-home? Do you give it before the bills or after? Each has its own guide, Should you tithe on gross or net income? and Firstfruits vs. tithe. Either way, give first.
Where ten percent fits for a Christian
Israel brought offerings on top of the tithe, so for them the tenth was a floor to build on. Jesus affirmed tithing in Matthew 23:23, and Paul asks you to set aside a portion of your income and give in proportion to what you have, with a willing heart. The tenth is the place to start, because it has served God's people well.
“For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.”
2 Corinthians 8:12 (BSB)
Paul ties the gift to what you have. Some seasons you will give past a tenth. In a leaner one you may be climbing toward it, giving what you can, first and glad, growing as God grows you. He wants a willing heart headed the right way, not a figure wrung out of you.
If you are behind on bills and wondering whether to give or to pay what you owe, asking that question is not a failure of faith. It is a question worth taking to God in prayer, and the guides on what the Bible says about debt and tithing while in debt walk through it too.
Setting your number
In Kingdom Cents the tithe starts at ten percent, and you set it where your conviction leads. The app calculates it each time you get paid and shows you the number first, so you know your goal and can build the budget around it.
A tithe is not a coin you feed a machine to make God pay out. You give because it was all His to begin with.
Pick your number, give it first, and build the budget around it.
Try the free tithe trackerKeep reading: Should you tithe on gross or net income? and Firstfruits vs. tithe →