1 Take heed not to do your alms before men to be seen of them, otherwise ye have no reward with your Father who is in the heavens. 2 When therefore thou doest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may have glory from men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 3 But thou, when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand does; 4 so that thine alms may be in secret, and thy Father who sees in secret will render [it] to thee. 5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets so that they should appear to men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who sees in secret will render [it] to thee. 7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as those who are of the nations: for they think they shall be heard through their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like them, for your Father knows of what things ye have need before ye beg [anything] of him. 9 Thus therefore pray ye: Our Father who art in the heavens, let thy name be sanctified, 10 let thy kingdom come, let thy will be done as in heaven so upon the earth; 11 give us to-day our needed bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors, 13◆ and lead us not into temptation, but save us from evil. 14 For if ye forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father also will forgive you [yours], 15 but if ye do not forgive men their offences, neither will your Father forgive your offences. 16 And when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, downcast in countenance; for they disfigure their faces, so that they may appear fasting to men: verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 17 But thou, [when] fasting, anoint thy head and wash thy face, 18 so that thou mayest not appear fasting unto men, but to thy Father who is in secret; and thy Father who sees in secret shall render [it] to thee. 19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust spoils, and where thieves dig through and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust spoils, and where thieves do not dig through nor steal; 21 for where thy treasure is, there will be also thy heart. 22 The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body will be light: 23 but if thine eye be wicked, thy whole body will be dark. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great the darkness! 24 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and will love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 25 For this cause I say unto you, Do not be careful about your life, what ye should eat and what ye should drink; nor for your body what ye should put on. Is not the life more than food, and the body than raiment? 26 Look at the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, nor reap, nor gather into granaries, and your heavenly Father nourishes them. Are ye not much more excellent than they? 27 But which of you by carefulness can add to his growth one cubit? 28 And why are ye careful about clothing? Observe with attention the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin; 29 but I say unto you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed as one of these. 30 But if God so clothe the herbage of the field, which is to-day, and to-morrow is cast into [the] oven, will he not much rather you, O [ye] of little faith? 31 Be not therefore careful, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we put on? 32 for all these things the nations seek after; for your heavenly Father knows that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Be not careful therefore for the morrow, for the morrow shall be careful about itself. Sufficient to the day [is] its own evil.
Matthew 6 Darby Translation
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
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)