Matthew · Berean Standard Bible
Matthew 6 Berean Standard Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 “Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
1 “Be careful that you don’t do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
2 So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
2 Therefore, when you do merciful deeds, don’t sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from men. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.
3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
3 But when you do merciful deeds, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand does,
4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
4 so that your merciful deeds may be in secret, then your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
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 men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
5 “When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward.
6 But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
6 But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
7 And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard.
7 In praying, don’t use vain repetitions as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking.
8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
8 Therefore don’t be like them, for your Father knows what things you need before you ask him.
9 So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
9 Pray like this: “‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
10 Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
10 Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
12 Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
13 Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’
14 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.
15 But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
16 When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
16 “Moreover when you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.
17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
18 so that your fasting will not be obvious to men, but only to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
18 so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
19 “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal;
20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal;
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
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 good, your whole body will be full of light.
22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light.
23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
23 But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 No one can serve two masters: 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 both God and money.
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.
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?
25 Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns—and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
26 See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they?
27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
27 “Which of you by being anxious, can add one moment to his lifespan?
28 And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the lilies of the field grow: They do not labor or spin.
28 Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin,
29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these.
29 yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not 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 furnace, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith?
31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
31 “Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’
32 For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
33 But seek first God’s 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. Today has enough trouble of its own.
34 Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is sufficient.
Cross references (34)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Matthew 23:5; John 12:43; Hebrews 6:10; Matthew 23:28–30; Luke 16:15
- 2 Matthew 6:5; 2 Corinthians 9:6–15; John 5:41; Matthew 6:16; James 2:15–16
- 3 John 7:4; Matthew 9:30; Mark 1:44; Matthew 12:19
- 4 Matthew 6:18; Matthew 6:6; Jeremiah 17:10; Luke 14:14; Psalm 44:21
- 5 Matthew 6:2; Luke 18:10–11; Luke 18:13; Mark 11:25; Isaiah 55:6–7
- 6 2 Kings 4:33; Matthew 14:23; Isaiah 65:24; Acts 9:40; Psalm 34:15
- 7 Ecclesiastes 5:2–3; Ecclesiastes 5:7; 1 Kings 18:26–29; Matthew 6:32; Matthew 26:44
- 8 Matthew 6:32; Luke 12:30; Philippians 4:6; John 16:23–27; Psalm 38:9
- 9 Luke 11:1–4; Revelation 4:11; Romans 8:15; Isaiah 64:8; Psalm 111:9
- 10 Hebrews 10:36; Matthew 26:42; Matthew 12:50; John 4:34; 1 Thessalonians 5:18
- 11 Proverbs 30:8; Luke 11:3; Matthew 4:4; Psalm 34:10; John 6:31–59
- 12 Ephesians 4:32; Mark 11:25; Ephesians 1:7; Matthew 18:21–35; Colossians 3:13
- 13 1 Corinthians 10:13; John 17:15; Revelation 7:14–17; Matthew 26:41; 2 Thessalonians 3:3
- 14 Ephesians 4:32; Mark 11:25; Colossians 3:13; Matthew 7:2; James 2:13
- 15 Matthew 18:35
- 16 Isaiah 58:3–5; Matthew 9:14–15; Nehemiah 1:4; Daniel 9:3; Psalm 69:10
- 17 Ruth 3:3; Ecclesiastes 9:8; 2 Samuel 12:20; Daniel 10:2–3; 2 Samuel 14:2
- 18 Matthew 6:6; Matthew 6:4; 2 Corinthians 10:18; 2 Corinthians 5:9; 1 Peter 2:13
- 19 Hebrews 13:5; 1 John 2:15–16; Luke 12:21; Proverbs 23:4–5; James 5:1–3
- 20 Luke 12:33; Matthew 19:21; 1 Timothy 6:19; James 2:5; Luke 18:22
- 21 Colossians 3:1–3; Luke 12:34; 2 Corinthians 4:18; Proverbs 4:23; Isaiah 33:6
- 22 Luke 11:34–36; 2 Corinthians 11:3; Colossians 3:22
- 23 1 John 2:11; Matthew 6:22; Isaiah 5:20–21; Jeremiah 4:22; Proverbs 26:12
- 24 1 John 2:15–16; Luke 16:13; James 4:4; 1 Timothy 6:9–10; Joshua 24:15
- 25 Philippians 4:6; Romans 8:32; 1 Peter 5:7; Psalm 55:22; Luke 12:22–31
- 26 Matthew 10:29–31; Psalm 147:9; Luke 12:24–32; Job 38:41; Psalm 145:15–16
- 27 Luke 12:25–26; Ecclesiastes 3:14; Matthew 5:36; Psalm 39:5–6; 1 Corinthians 12:18
- 28 Matthew 6:25; Philippians 4:6; Luke 12:27; Luke 22:35–36; Matthew 6:31
- 29 2 Chronicles 9:20–22; 2 Chronicles 9:4–6; 1 Timothy 2:9–10; 1 Kings 10:4–7; 1 Peter 3:2–5
- 30 Luke 12:28; Matthew 14:31; 1 Peter 1:24; Matthew 8:26; Matthew 16:8
- 31 1 Peter 5:7; Luke 12:29; Matthew 4:4; Psalm 55:22; Matthew 15:33
- 32 Matthew 6:8; Luke 12:30; Ephesians 4:17; Luke 11:11–13; Psalm 17:14
- 33 Luke 12:31; Matthew 5:6; John 6:27; Psalm 34:9–10; Psalm 84:11–12
- 34 Matthew 6:25; John 14:27; Hebrews 13:5–6; John 16:33; Luke 11:3
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
Why does my Bible say something different?
- Matthew 6:13: “For thine is the kingdom…”
The closing doxology of the Lord’s Prayer, “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,” is missing from the oldest Greek manuscripts of Matthew and from most of the Latin tradition, but it is very old: a shorter form already appears in the Didache. The Patriarchal Text includes it, and in the Divine Liturgy the priest sings it in a Trinitarian form. Most scholars see it as an early liturgical response that entered the text.
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
The order established for your edification requires that ye learn first what to believe, and afterwards what to ask. For so saith the Apostle, "Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord, shall be saved." This testimony blessed Paul cited out of the Prophet; for by the Prophet were those times foretold, when all men should call upon God; …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6 (1888)
He roots out in what remains the most tyrannical passion of all, the rage and madness with respect to vainglory, which springs up in them that do right.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
Lay up treasure, therefore, in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt." And, "Be ye kind and merciful, as your Father also is kind and merciful, and maketh His sun to rise on sinners, and the righteous, and the wicked.
In like manner also, that [text] which says, "Ye cannot serve two masters," He does Himself interpret, saying, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon;" acknowledging God indeed as God, but mentioning mammon, a thing having also an existence.
… unto me, through that Medicine of our wounds who hung upon the tree, and who, sitting at Thy right hand, "maketh intercession for us." I know that she acted mercifully, and from the heart forgave her debtors their debts; do Thou also forgive her debts, whatever she contracted during so many years since the water of salvation.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)