Matthew 6
6
How to Give
1“Be careful not to practice your righteousness # Other mss read charitable giving in front of people, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2So whenever you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward! # Mt 23:5; Lk 6:24 3But when you give to the poor, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. # Other mss read will Himself reward you openly # Jr 17:10; Lk 14:14; Col 3:23-24; Heb 4:13
How to Pray
5“Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward! # Mt 6:16; Mk 11:25; Lk 6:24; 18:11 6But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. # Other mss add openly # 2Kg 4:33; Is 26:20; Mt 6:18 7When you pray, don’t babble like the idolaters, # Or Gentiles, or nations, or heathen, or pagans since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. # 1Kg 18:26; Ec 5:2 8Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him. # Mt 9:12; Mk 2:17; Lk 5:31; 9:11; 10:42; Ac 2:45
The Model Prayer
9“Therefore, you should pray like this: # Lk 11:1-13
Our Father in heaven,
Your name be honored as holy. # Lk 11:2; 1Co 7:14
10Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven. # Ps 103:20; Mt 3:2; 4:17; 26:42; Lk 22:42; Ac 21:14
11Give us today our daily bread. # Or our necessary bread, or our bread for tomorrow
12And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors. # Pr 30:8; Rm 4:4; Gl 5:3
13And do not bring us into # Or do not cause us to come into temptation, # Mt 26:41; 1Co 10:13; 2Pt 2:9
but deliver us from the evil one. # Or from evil # Mt 5:37; Jn 17:15; 2Th 3:3; 2Tm 4:18
For Yours is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. Amen. # Other mss omit bracketed text
14“For if you forgive people their wrongdoing, # Or trespasses your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. # Mk 11:25; Eph 4:32; Col 3:13 15But if you don’t forgive people, # Other mss add their wrongdoing your Father will not forgive your wrongdoing. # Or trespasses
How to Fast
16“Whenever you fast, don’t be sad-faced like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive # Or unrecognizable, or disfigured # Is 58:5; Mt 18:35; Jms 2:13 so their fasting is obvious to people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward! 17But when you fast, put oil on your head, and wash your face, # Ru 3:3; 2Sm 12:20; Dn 10:3 18so that you don’t show your fasting to people but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. # Other mss add openly
God and Possessions
19“Don’t collect for yourselves treasures # Or valuables on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. # Pr 23:4; Heb 13:5 20But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, # Mt 19:21; Lk 12:33; 18:22; 1Tm 6:19 where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness — how deep is that darkness! # Mt 4:16; 8:12; 22:13; 25:30; 27:45
24“No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money. # Lk 16:13; Gl 1:10; Jms 4:4
The Cure for Anxiety
25“This is why I tell you: # Lk 12:22-31 Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? # Lk 10:41; Php 4:6; 1Pt 5:7 26Look at the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? # Jb 38:41; Ps 147:9; Mt 10:29-31 27Can any of you add a single cubit to his height # Or add one moment to his life-span by worrying? 28And why do you worry about clothes? Learn how the wildflowers of the field grow: they don’t labor or spin thread. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! 30If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t He do much more for you — you of little faith? # 1Kg 10:4-7; Mt 8:26; 14:31; 16:8 31So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat? ’ or ‘What will we drink? ’ or ‘What will we wear? ’ 32For the idolaters # Or Gentiles, or nations, or heathen, or pagans eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first the kingdom of God # Other mss omit of God # Mk 1:15; Ac 20:25 and His righteousness, # Mt 27:19; Lk 7:29; 23:41,47; Jn 5:30; 17:25; Ac 3:14 and all these things will be provided for you. # 1Kg 3:13; Mt 19:28; Mk 10:29; Lk 18:29; 1Tm 4:8 34Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble # Mt 6:25; Lk 10:41; Php 4:6; 1Pt 5:7 of its own.
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Matthew 6: HCSB
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© 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved.
Matthew 6
6
1Take heed not to do your alms before men to be seen of them, otherwise ye have no reward with your Father who is in the heavens. 2When therefore thou doest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may have glory from men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 3But thou, when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand does; 4so that thine alms may be in secret, and thy Father who sees in secret will render it to thee.
5And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets so that they should appear to men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who sees in secret will render it to thee. 7But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as those who are of the nations: for they think they shall be heard through their much speaking. 8Be not ye therefore like them, for your Father knows of what things ye have need before ye beg anything of him.
9Thus therefore pray ye: Our Father who art in the heavens, let thy name be sanctified, 10let thy kingdom come, let thy will be done as in heaven so upon the earth; 11give us to-day our needed bread, 12and forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors, 13and lead us not into temptation, but save us from evil. 14For if ye forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father also will forgive you yours, 15but if ye do not forgive men their offences, neither will your Father forgive your offences.
16And when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, downcast in countenance; for they disfigure their faces, so that they may appear fasting to men: verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 17But thou, when fasting, anoint thy head and wash thy face, 18so that thou mayest not appear fasting unto men, but to thy Father who is in secret; and thy Father who sees in secret shall render it to thee.
19Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust spoils, and where thieves dig through and steal; 20but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust spoils, and where thieves do not dig through nor steal; 21for where thy treasure is, there will be also thy heart. 22The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body will be light: 23but if thine eye be wicked, thy whole body will be dark. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great the darkness! 24No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and will love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
25For this cause I say unto you, Do not be careful about your life, what ye should eat and what ye should drink; nor for your body what ye should put on. Is not the life more than food, and the body than raiment? 26Look at the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, nor reap, nor gather into granaries, and your heavenly Father nourishes them. Are ye not much more excellent than they? 27But which of you by carefulness can add to his growth one cubit? 28And why are ye careful about clothing? Observe with attention the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin; 29but I say unto you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed as one of these. 30But if God so clothe the herbage of the field, which is to-day, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, will he not much rather you, O ye of little faith? 31Be not therefore careful, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we put on? 32for all these things the nations seek after; for your heavenly Father knows that ye have need of all these things. 33But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. 34Be not careful therefore for the morrow, for the morrow shall be careful about itself. Sufficient to the day is its own evil.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.