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
Giving to the Needy
1 “Beware of #
1 John 2:29 practicing your righteousness before other people in order # ver. 16; ch. 23:5 to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
2 # [1 Cor. 13:3] “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may #
John 5:44 be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have #
Luke 6:24
received their reward. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. #ver. 6, 18And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
The Lord’s Prayer
5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love #
Mark 11:25; Luke 18:11 to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. # ver. 2, 16 Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6But when you pray, #2 Kgs. 4:33; Isa. 26:20 go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. #ver. 4, 18And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as # ver. 32; ch. 5:47 the Gentiles do, for #
1 Kgs. 18:26 they think that they will be heard #
Prov. 10:19; Eccles. 5:2 for their many words. 8Do not be like them, #ver. 32for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9#For ver. 9-13, [Luke 11:2-4] Pray then like this:
# ver. 1 “Our Father in heaven,
#
Isa. 29:23; [Luke 1:49; 1 Pet. 3:15] hallowed be #
John 17:6
your name. # 6:9 Or Let your name be kept holy, or Let your name be treated with reverence
10 # [ch. 3:2; 4:17] Your kingdom come,
# ch. 26:42; Luke 22:42; Acts 21:14; [ch. 12:50; Heb. 13:21] your will be done,#6:10 Or Let your kingdom come, let your will be done
#
Ps. 103:20, 21; Dan. 4:35 on earth as it is in heaven.
11 #
Prov. 30:8 Give us # [ver. 34] this day our daily bread, # 6:11 Or our bread for tomorrow
12 and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And # ch. 26:41; Mark 14:38; Luke 22:40, 46; [1 Cor. 10:13] lead us not into temptation,
but #
John 17:15; 2 Thess. 3:3; [2 Tim. 4:18] deliver us from # See ch. 13:19 evil. # 6:13 Or the evil one ; some manuscripts add For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen
14 #
Mark 11:25; Luke 6:37; Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:13 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15#ch. 18:35; See James 2:13but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Fasting
16 “And #
Isa. 58:5 when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. # ver. 2, 5 Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17But when you fast, #Ruth 3:3; 2 Sam. 12:20anoint your head and wash your face, 18that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. #ver. 4, 6And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Lay Up Treasures in Heaven
19 # ch. 19:21; Luke 12:21, 33, 34; 18:22; 1 Tim. 6:9, 10, 17-19; Heb. 13:5 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where #
James 5:2, 3 moth and rust # 6:19 Or worm ; also verse 20 destroy and where thieves #ch. 24:43break in and steal, 20#[See ver. 19 above]but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 #
Luke 11:34, 35 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23#[See ver. 22 above] but if #ch. 20:15; Deut. 15:9; Prov. 28:22your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 #
Luke 16:13; [Rom. 6:16; James 4:4] “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and #
Luke 16:9, 11, 13 money. # 6:24 Greek mammon, a Semitic word for money or possessions
Do Not Be Anxious
25 # For ver. 25-33, see Luke 12:22-31 “Therefore I tell you, # ver. 27, 28, 31, 34; ch. 10:19; 13:22 (Gk.); 1 Cor. 7:32 (Gk.); Phil. 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:7 do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26#[Job 38:41; Ps. 147:9] Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. #ch. 10:31Are you not of more value than they? 27And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his #Luke 2:52span of life?#6:27 Or a single cubit to his stature; a cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters 28And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, #1 Kgs. 10:4-7even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, #ch. 8:26; 14:31; 16:8; [ch. 17:20]O you of little faith? 31Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For #ver. 7 the Gentiles seek after all these things, and #ver. 8your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33But #[ch. 5:6, 20] seek first #ver. 10 the kingdom of God and his righteousness, #[1 Kgs. 3:11-14; Mark 10:29, 30; 1 Tim. 4:8; 1 Pet. 3:9]and all these things will be added to you.
34 # [James 4:13, 14] “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
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