Matthew 6

Be careful not to do your giving to the poor where people can watch, just so they will see you. If you do it that way, your Father in heaven will give you no reward.

1Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

NoteThe King James "alms" means money, food or goods given to the poor. The Greek manuscripts differ at this point: some read a word meaning acts of charity, others a broader word meaning acts of righteousness, which would make this verse a heading covering all three practices that follow, giving, praying and fasting. "Take heed" is simply old English for "be careful."

2So when you give to people in need, do not announce it with a trumpet, the way the pretenders do in the meeting houses and on the streets, so that people will praise them. I tell you the truth: that praise is the whole reward they get.

2Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

NoteThe Greek word behind "hypocrites" originally meant a stage actor, someone speaking lines in a mask, so the charge is playacting rather than lying. A synagogue was the local building where a Jewish community gathered to pray and hear the scriptures read; it was a normal and public place to give and to pray. No one has found evidence of actual trumpets being blown for donations, so the phrase is most likely a figure of speech for making an announcement of it. "They have their reward" translates a commercial term used on receipts: paid in full, the account closed, nothing further owing. "Verily I say unto you" renders the Hebrew word amen, used here as a strong opening: this is certain.

3When you give to people in need, do not even let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

3But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

NoteLetting one hand not know what the other is doing is a proverb, not an instruction about hands. The point is giving so discreetly that you barely register it yourself.

4Keep your giving secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you openly.

4That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

Note"Openly" in "shall reward thee openly" is absent from the oldest Greek manuscripts, which end simply "will reward you." The word was in the manuscripts the King James translators used, and appears again in verses 6 and 18.

5When you pray, do not be like the pretenders. They love to stand and pray in the meeting houses and on the street corners so that people will see them. I tell you the truth: that attention is the whole reward they get.

5And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

6But when you pray, go into your own room, shut the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you openly.

6But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Note"Closet" in 1611 English did not mean a place to hang clothes. It meant a small private inner room, often a storeroom, one of the few rooms in an ordinary house with a door that shut. "Thy Father which is in secret" means the Father who is himself unseen, not a Father hiding in the room.

7When you pray, do not pile up empty words over and over, the way people who do not know God do. They think God will hear them because they talk so much.

7But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Note"Vain repetitions" translates a Greek word that appears almost nowhere else and seems to imitate the sound of babbling or stammering. It suggests heaping up words or syllables to wear a god down. "The heathen" here means non-Jews, people outside Israel's worship; ancient prayers to the gods often did pile up long strings of divine names and titles to be sure of naming the right one.

8Do not be like them. Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him.

8Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

9So this is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored as holy.

9After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Note"Hallowed" is an old English word meaning treated as holy, set apart, held in reverence. It is a request, not a description: may your name be regarded as holy. "Which art in heaven" uses "which" of a person, normal in 1611 English where we would now say "who." In Hebrew usage a person's name stands for the person himself and his reputation.

10May your kingdom come. May what you want be done on earth, just as it is done in heaven.

10Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11Give us today the food we need for today.

11Give us this day our daily bread.

Note"Daily" translates a Greek word found almost nowhere else in ancient literature, and its meaning is genuinely uncertain. It may mean "for the day at hand," "for the coming day," or "necessary for existence." Translators have to choose one; the original readers may have heard all of these at once. "Bread" stands for food generally, as it does in English phrases like earning your bread.

12Forgive us what we owe you, just as we have forgiven those who owe us.

12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Note"Debts" is literal: the Greek word means money or goods owed. In the Aramaic that Jesus spoke, the ordinary word for a sin was the same word used for a debt, so the image and the meaning ran together. Luke's version of this prayer uses "sins" in the first half and "is indebted" in the second.

13Do not bring us into testing, but rescue us from evil. The kingdom, the power, and the glory belong to you forever. Amen.'

13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Note"Temptation" translates a word that covers both enticement to do wrong and testing or trial of any kind, including hardship; English has no single word that carries both. "Deliver us from evil" is also ambiguous in Greek: the phrase can mean "from evil" in general or "from the evil one," and the grammar does not settle it. The closing sentence, "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen," is not in the oldest manuscripts of Matthew; it appears to be an ending used in early church worship that was later copied into the text.

14If you forgive other people the wrongs they do, your Father in heaven will also forgive you.

14For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

Note"Trespasses" translates a Greek word meaning a false step, a slip, a blunder, used for offenses against another person. It is a different word from "debts" in verse 12.

15But if you do not forgive other people, your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done.

15But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

16When you fast, do not put on a gloomy face, the way the pretenders do. They let themselves look worn out so that everyone can tell they are fasting. I tell you the truth: that notice is the whole reward they get.

16Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

Note"Of a sad countenance" means wearing a gloomy face. There is wordplay in the Greek: the verb translated "disfigure" means to make something disappear or go unrecognized, and it sits next to a verb meaning to appear or be seen, so the sense is that they make their faces unrecognizable in order to be recognized. In practice this meant leaving the face unwashed and ungroomed, or smearing it with ashes.

17But when you go without food, put oil on your head and wash your face.

17But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;

NoteRubbing olive oil into the hair and skin was ordinary daily grooming in a hot, dry climate, like combing your hair, not a religious ceremony. Washing the face and oiling the head were exactly what someone fasting would normally leave undone. The instruction is to look completely ordinary.

18Then people will not be able to tell you are fasting, but your Father, who is unseen, will know. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you openly.

18That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

19Do not pile up riches for yourselves here on earth, where moths and rust ruin them, and where thieves break in and steal them.

19Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

NoteWealth in this world was held largely as stored grain, metal and fine cloth, so moths eating stored garments was a real way to lose a fortune. The Greek word translated "rust" means eating or devouring and can cover corrosion, worms or vermin generally. "Break through" is literally "dig through": house walls were commonly sun dried mud brick, and a thief got in by digging a hole through the wall rather than forcing a door.

20Instead, pile up riches for yourselves in heaven, where no moth or rust ruins them, and where no thief breaks in and steals them.

20But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

21Because wherever your treasure is, that is where your heart will be too.

21For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

22The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is clear and healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

22The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

Note"Single" translates a Greek word meaning single, whole or undivided, and by extension generous, free of calculation. So "if thine eye be single" may mean an eye that is sound and healthy, or a person who is openhanded rather than grasping. Both senses are present, and money is the subject on either side of this saying. The ancient picture of sight assumed the eye let light into the body, which is why it is called the body's lamp.

23But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. And if the light inside you is really darkness, how deep that darkness is!

23But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

Note"An evil eye" was a standard idiom in Hebrew and Greek for stinginess and envy, the opposite of the generous "single" eye of verse 22, alongside its plainer sense of an eye that cannot see properly.

24No one can work for two masters. He will either hate the first and love the second, or stay loyal to the first and think little of the second. You cannot serve both God and money.

24No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Note"Serve" here means to be a slave to, not to work for wages. A slave belonged to one owner absolutely, so belonging to two was not a strain but a contradiction. "Mammon" is not a god's name; it is an Aramaic word for money, property or accumulated wealth, left untranslated in the Greek and carried straight into the King James.

25So I tell you, do not worry about your life, about what you will eat or drink, or about your body, about what you will wear. Life is worth more than food, and the body is worth more than clothes.

25Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

Note"Take no thought" is the one phrase in this chapter most likely to mislead. In 1611 it meant "do not be anxious," not "do not plan" or "give it no thought." The Greek word means to be pulled apart with worry. "Meat" in the King James means food of any kind, not flesh specifically, and "raiment" means clothing.

26Look at the birds in the sky. They do not plant seed or bring in crops or store food in barns, yet your Father in heaven feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they are?

26Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

Note"Fowls" in the King James means birds in general, not poultry.

27Can any of you add even a little to your life by worrying about it?

27Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

NoteThe King James reading is literal and the Greek is genuinely ambiguous. A cubit is a measure of length, about eighteen inches, the distance from elbow to fingertip; but the word translated "stature" can mean either bodily height or span of life. So the line reads either "add eighteen inches to his height" or "add a short stretch to his lifespan," the latter using a length word for time as English does in "a long life."

28And why worry about clothes? Look at how the wildflowers in the field grow. They do not work hard, and they do not spin thread.

28And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

NoteThe flower meant is uncertain and probably not the garden lily; it is most likely a bright wildflower of the Galilean hillsides, such as the crown anemone. "Toil" means hard physical labor, the man's work in the fields; "spin" means twisting fiber into thread, the woman's work that clothing began with. Between them the two words cover the whole labor of producing cloth.

29But I tell you that not even Solomon, with all his riches, was dressed as well as one of these flowers.

29And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

NoteSolomon, king of Israel roughly a thousand years before this, was the standard byword for wealth and splendor; the accounts of his court in 1 Kings dwell on his gold, his robes and his table.

30God dresses the grass in the field like that, even though it is here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow. So will he not much more surely clothe you? You have so little trust!

30Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

NoteDried grass and wildflower stalks were burned as fuel, being the cheapest thing available where wood was scarce. The "oven" was a clay dome or jar heated by a quick, fierce fire lit inside it. The point is how briefly the grass lasts and how little it is worth.

31So do not worry, asking, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?'

31Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32People who do not know God chase after all these things. Your Father in heaven knows that you need them.

32(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

Note"The Gentiles" means the nations other than Israel, that is, everyone outside the Jewish community and its worship. It is the same group called "the heathen" in verse 7.

33Instead, make God's kingdom and his kind of right living your first concern, and all these things will be given to you as well.

33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Note"Righteousness" translates a word covering both right conduct and being in the right, the settled rightness of a life and of a relationship. "The kingdom of God" means God's rule or reign, the state of affairs where what he wants is actually done, rather than a territory on a map.

34So do not worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

34Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Note"Evil" in "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" means trouble, hardship or difficulty, not wickedness. "Sufficient unto the day" means each day brings enough of it on its own.