# Does the Big Book say "trust God, clean house, help others"?

**In short:**
- Not as a three-part saying. "Trust God, clean house, help others" isn't anywhere in our sources. The first two parts are one sentence in Chapter 7: "The only condition is that he trust in God and clean house." ([p. 98](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-98/)).
- That sentence is about the newcomer, in the Twelfth Step chapter. Its point is that he can get well "regardless of anyone" ([p. 98](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-98/)), because recovery rests on depending on God and not on other people's money, shelter or family.
- "Help others" isn't part of that sentence, but the same chapter puts it just as strongly: "Helping others is the foundation stone of your recovery." ([p. 97](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-97/)). So the saying joins two things the chapter does say, a page apart, into one line the book doesn't have.
- The book's last page of program text ends with four short instructions of its own, not three ([p. 164](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-164/)).

## What the search found

All our sources were searched for "trust God, clean house," "trust God clean house," "clean house," "cleaning house," "trust in God," "trust God," "help others" and "helping others," with page breaks joined. The three-part saying isn't there in any form. "Trust in God and clean house" appears once, on [p. 98](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-98/). "Trust God" alone appears only in later service literature, in a different sense (trust as the basis of A.A.'s service structure), in the Concepts pamphlet (P-8) and the Service Manual.

## The sentence on [p. 98](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-98/), in its passage

Chapter 7, "Working With Others," is the book's chapter on Step Twelve. Pages 96–98 are about practical help for the newcomer: a job, a little money, a few days in your home. The book says to give it with care, because "The minute we put our work on a service plane, the alcoholic commences to rely upon our assistance rather than upon God" ([p. 98](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-98/)). Then: "we simply do not stop drinking so long as we place dependence upon other people ahead of dependence on God" ([p. 98](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-98/)).

The condition comes straight after that. The helper is to "Burn the idea into the consciousness of every man that he can get well regardless of anyone." ([p. 98](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-98/)), and "The only condition is that he trust in God and clean house." ([p. 98](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-98/)). The next paragraphs turn to the newcomer's family ([pp. 98–100](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-98/)), with the same point: his recovery isn't dependent on people ([pp. 99–100](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-99/)): "It is dependent upon his relationship with God." ([p. 100](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-100/)).

So "trust in God and clean house" is set against relying on people, money or a wife's return. It is not a general three-step summary of the program.

## What "clean house" means in the book

The book uses "housecleaning" for the inventory and what follows it:
- After the Third Step decision comes "a course of vigorous action, the first step of which is a personal housecleaning" ([p. 63](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-63/)), and that is the inventory, Step Four ([p. 64](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-64/)).
- Of newcomers who kept certain facts to themselves and drank: "they never completed their housecleaning" ([p. 73](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-73/)). That is the Fifth Step.
- On amends at home: "So we clean house with the family" ([p. 83](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-83/)).
- A newcomer "may rebel at the thought of a drastic housecleaning which requires discussion with other people" ([p. 94](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-94/)).

## Where "help others" comes in

It is all through Chapter 7 and Bill's story, but not tied to "trust God and clean house":
- "Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics." ([p. 89](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-89/)).
- The helper is described to the prospect as one of a fellowship "who, as part of their own recovery, try to help others" ([p. 90](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-90/)).
- "Helping others is the foundation stone of your recovery." ([p. 97](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-97/)).
- Bill: "Particularly was it imperative to work with others as he had worked with me." ([p. 14](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-14/)), and if an alcoholic did not work, "he would surely drink again" ([p. 15](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-15/)).

See: *What does Step 12 really say?*

## The book's own short summary

The last page of the program text closes with four short instructions in its own words: "Abandon yourself to God as you understand God." ([p. 164](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-164/)), "Admit your faults to Him and to your fellows." ([p. 164](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-164/)), "Clear away the wreckage of your past." ([p. 164](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-164/)), "Give freely of what you find and join us." ([p. 164](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-164/)). That is four parts, and the book doesn't call them a summary or number them. The saying's three parts can be lined up against them, but the book's version includes admitting faults to others as its own part.

A later, dated source gives yet another boiled-down version: Dr. Bob in his last talk (1950) said the Twelve Steps "when simmered down to the last, resolve themselves into the words 'love' and 'service'" (*Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers*, 1980). That's his summary, not the Big Book's.

## What this means

"Trust God, clean house, help others" is a later saying. Its first two parts are a real Big Book sentence ([p. 98](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-98/)), and its third part is real Big Book teaching ([pp. 89](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-89/), 97). Put together they make a fair shorthand for much of the program. But the [p. 98](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-98/) sentence, read in place, is about something narrower: the newcomer can recover without anyone's material help, depending on God and cleaning house. Where the saying is quoted as "the Big Book says," the accurate version is "trust in God and clean house" ([p. 98](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-98/)), with helping others called "the foundation stone" a page earlier ([p. 97](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-97/)). See also: *Is "keep your side of the street clean" in the Big Book?*

## Read it yourself
- Chapter 7, "Working With Others" ([pp. 89–103](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-89/)): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt7.pdf
- Chapter 5, "How It Works" ([pp. 63–64](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-63/)): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt5.pdf
- Chapter 6, "Into Action" ([pp. 73](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-73/), 83): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt6.pdf
- Chapter 1, "Bill's Story" ([pp. 14–15](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-14/)): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt1.pdf
- Chapter 11, "A Vision for You" ([p. 164](https://recoverystarts.com/big-book/page-164/)): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt11.pdf
- The full Big Book and *Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers*: https://onlineliterature.aa.org

## Sources
| Source | Pages | Date |
|---|---|---|
| All our sources (searched): Big Book, pamphlets, history, stories, service | — | various |
| *Alcoholics Anonymous*, Chapters 1, 5, 6, 7, 11 | 14–15, 63–64, 73, 83, 89–100, 164 | 1939 |
| *Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers* (Dr. Bob's last talk, 1950) | — | 1980 |

*Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book is © A.A. World Services, Inc.*