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Matthew 6

1But take care not to practice your righteousness before people in order to be seen by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father in heaven.

2So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that people will give them glory. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the poor, do not 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.

5And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on street corners so that people will see them. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not babble like the Gentiles, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8So do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9Pray, then, like this:

Our Father in heaven, may your name be held holy. 10May your kingdom come. May your will be done, on earth as in heaven. 11Give us today our daily bread. 12And forgive us our debts, as we too have forgiven our debtors. 13And do not bring us into temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

14For if you forgive people their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you too. 15But if you do not forgive people, neither will your Father forgive your offenses.

16And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they make their faces look unsightly so that people will see that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so that your fasting will be seen not by people but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

19Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and where thieves dig through and steal. 20But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, and where thieves do not dig through or steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light in you is darkness, how great that darkness is!

24No one can be a slave to two masters; for he will either hate the one and love the other, or hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves to God and wealth.

25For this reason I tell you: do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the sky: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they are? 27And which of you by worrying can add a single cubit to the length of his life? 28And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither labor nor spin. 29But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these. 30And if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into an oven, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” 32For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33But seek first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Translation notes 14

5:6, 10, 20; 6:1, 33 — Righteousness. Retained as a connected theme. It concerns what is right before God; “justice” is a possible rendering in some contexts, but neither private virtue alone nor social justice alone exhausts the word here.

6:1 — Righteousness. Some manuscripts instead read “giving to the poor.” The base text uses the broader word, introducing giving, prayer, and fasting.

6:2–6 — Synagogues; hypocrites. “Synagogues” identifies the particular communal setting here. “Hypocrites” describes people presenting a misleading appearance; the reading text retains both the rebuke and the trumpet image.

6:9 — Held holy. Traditionally “hallowed.” The prayer asks that God's name be treated as holy, not that an unholy name become holy.

6:11 — Daily bread. The rare adjective is disputed: alternatives include bread needed for sustenance and bread for the coming day. “Daily” is the working reading, not a settled dictionary equivalence.

6:12 — Debts. The debt image is kept. “Sins” explains its application but removes that image. The base text reads “have forgiven”; another reading has “forgive.” Verses 14–15 use a different word, rendered “offenses.”

6:13 — Temptation; the evil one. “Testing” or “trial” is another sense of the first term. “Evil” is an alternative to “the evil one.” The request's direct wording is preserved rather than rewritten to resolve a theological difficulty.

6:13 — Bracketed ending. The words in ⟦double brackets⟧ are a familiar textual addition absent from the SBLGNT reading and important early witnesses. They are included at their traditional location under our presentation policy, not as equally secure original wording.

6:16 — Gloomy. A conspicuously sad or sullen appearance advertises the fast. Making their faces unsightly concerns their appearance during fasting, not necessarily permanent injury.

6:19–20 — Decay; dig through. “Decay” renders a word for eating or consuming, often translated “rust.” “Dig through” preserves the burglary image rather than replacing it with “break in.”

6:22–23 — Sound eye; evil eye. “Sound” is the working reading; “single” or “undivided” is an alternative. The image also has possible associations with generosity and envy. The text retains the eye and light imagery instead of replacing it with an instruction about money.

6:24 — Slaves and wealth. The Greek verb denotes serving as a slave. “Wealth” translates mamōnas, traditionally “mammon”; possessions are pictured as a competing master.

6:25, 33 — Shorter readings. The base text omits “or what you will drink” in verse 25 and “of God” after “kingdom” in verse 33. Both appear in other Greek editions. These differences are recorded rather than silently filled from familiar English wording.

6:27 — A cubit of life. A cubit measures length, roughly a forearm. The wording retains the image of lengthening life rather than replacing the unit with “an hour.” Alternatively, the Greek can refer to adding a cubit to one's height.