MAMMONA. – A term (Μαμωνάς, Aramaic māmōnā', Neo-Hebrew māmōn, “money,” “gain”) which occurs four times in the New Testament on the lips of Jesus: “You cannot serve God and M.” (Mt. 6:24 = Lc. 16:13). In these cases M. is a rhetorical personification of material wealth, not a Canaanite idol, as certain exegetes believe.
In Lc. 16:9 Jesus says: “Make friends for yourselves with the m. of injustice.” Here the term m. is used as a common noun; the expression was already proverbial. A little further below (Lc. 16:11), in the phrase: “If you have not been faithful in the unjust m. ...,” the term is a common noun, joined to an adjective. It can be translated as “wealth” or “unjust gain.” The Targum renders with māmōn reśa' the expression bēṣa'ra' of Hab. 2:9.