Matthew
Summary
Jesus continues the Sermon on the Mount by warning His disciples against the "hypocrisy" of performing religious duties: such as giving, praying, and fasting: merely to be seen and honored by others. He emphasizes that true devotion is a private matter between the believer and the Father: who sees in secret and rewards accordingly. Central to this chapter is the Lord’s Prayer: a model for balanced and sincere communication with God that prioritizes His Kingdom and our dependence on His provision and forgiveness. Jesus also addresses the corrosive nature of material anxiety and the pursuit of wealth: instructing His followers to "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" and to trust in the Father’s compassionate care for their daily needs.
"Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward.
But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
"That your alms may be in secret: and your Father which ses in secret himself shall reward you openly."
"And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward.
But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
"But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking."
"Be not you therefore like to them: for your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask him."
In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen."
"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:"
"But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
"Moreover when you fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men to fast. truly I say to you, They have their reward."
"But you, when you fastest, anoint your head, and wash your face;"
"That you appear not to men to fast, but to your Father which is in secret: and your Father, which ses in secret, shall reward you openly."
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
"The light of the body is the eye: if therefore your eye be single, your whole body shall be full of light."
"But if your eye be evil, your whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness!"
"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."
"Therefore I say to you, Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?"
"Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they?"
"Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature?"
"And why take you thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:"
"And yet I say to you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."
"Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"
"Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?"
"(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things."
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."