Matthew 6
Giving to the Needy
6 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others
to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from YOUR FATHER
IN HEAVEN.
2 ‘So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets,
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by
others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know
what your right hand is doing,
4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then YOUR FATHER, WHO
sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Prayer
5 ‘And
when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray
standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others.
Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to YOUR
FATHER, WHO is unseen. Then YOUR FATHER, WHO sees what is done
in secret, will reward you.
7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for
they think they will be heard because of their many words.
8 Do not be like them, for YOUR FATHER knows what you
need before you ask HIM.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘OUR
FATHER in heaven,
hallowed be YOUR NAME,
10 YOUR
kingdom come,
YOUR will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give
us today our daily bread.
12 And
forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And
lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, YOUR
HEAVENLY FATHER will also forgive you.
15 But
if you do not forgive others their sins, YOUR FATHER will not forgive
your sins.
Fasting
16 When
you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure
their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have
received their reward in full.
17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,
18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but
only to YOUR FATHER, WHO is unseen; and YOUR FATHER, WHO sees
what is done in secret, will reward you.
Treasures in Heaven
19 Do
not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin
destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths
and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where YOUR
TREASURE is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,[c] your
whole body will be full of light.
23 But if your eyes are unhealthy,[d] your
whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness,
how great is that darkness!
24 No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and
love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You
cannot serve both God and money.
Do Not Worry
25 Therefore
I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or
about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body
more than clothes?
26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store
away in barns, and yet YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER feeds them. Are you not
much more valuable than they?
27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the
field grow. They do not labor or spin.
29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was
dressed like one of these.
30 If that is how GOD clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and
tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will HE not much more clothe you—you of
little faith?
31 So do not worry, saying,
‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What
shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32 For the pagans run after all these things, and YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER,
knows that you need them.
33 But seek first HIS kingdom and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, and all these things
will be given to you as well.
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry
about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
