Matthew 6:1-34
6 But beware of doing your righteousness before men, to be viewed by them; if you do, you have no reward with your Father in heaven.
2 So when you give charity do not have a trumpet blown before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be glorified by men; I tell you verily, they have got their reward.
3 But at your giving charity let your left hand not find out what your right is doing,
4 so that your charity may be under cover, and your Father who sees under cover will repay you.
5 “And when you pray you are not to be as the hypocrites are; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and at the corners of the main streets, so that they may be visible to men; I tell you verily, they have got their reward.
6 But do you, when you pray, go into your closet, and shut the door and pray to your Father who is present in hidden places; and your Father who sees in hidden places will reward you.
7 And in praying do not parrot off words like the heathen; for they think they will get themselves listened to by the quantity of what they say.
8 * So do not be like them; for your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.
9 Do you, then, pray in this way: ‘Father in heaven, may thy name be kept holy,
10 thy reign come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven;
11 give us today our next day’s bread,
12 and forgive us our debts as we too have forgiven our debtors,
13 * and do not have us fall under temptation but deliver us from evil.’
14 For if you forgive men their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;
15 but if you do not forgive men, no more will your Father forgive your offenses.
16 “And when you are fasting do not be lugubrious like the hypocrites; for they make their faces unsightly so that it may be seen by men that they are fasting; I tell you verily, they have got their reward.
17 But do you in fasting put oil on your head and wash your face,
18 so that it may not be seen by men that you are fasting but by your Father who is present in secret places; and your Father who sees in secret places will reward you,
19 “Do not lay up stores for yourselves on earth where moth and decay consume, and where thieves break in and steal,
20 but lay up stores for yourselves in heaven where neither moth nor decay consumes and where thieves do not break in nor steal;
21 for where your stores are, there your heart too will be.
22 * The lamp of the body is the eye; therefore if your eye is free your whole body will be light,
23 but if your eye is mean your whole body will be dark,—so if the light in you is darkness, what must the darkness be!
24 No one can belong to two masters, for he will either hate the one and love the other or be attentive to the one and despise the other: you cannot belong to God and money.
25 ** For this reason I tell you, do not fret over your soul what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor over your body what you shall put on; is not the soul more than the food, and the body than the garment?
26 Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them; are you not more important than they?
27 * and which of you by fretting can add to his height one foot?
28 And why do you fret about dress? Observe the lilies of the field, how they grow: they do not labor nor spin,
29 but I tell you not even Solomon in all his glory was clad like one of these.
30 But if God robes the plants in the field so, that are there today and are thrown in a firepot tomorrow, will he not much more you, little-faiths?
31 So do not fret and say ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wrap ourselves in?’
32 for the foreigners hunt after all this. For your heavenly Father knows that you want all this.
33 But seek first the Reign, and his righteousness, and you will have all this added.
34 So do not fret over tomorrow, for to morrow will do its own fretting; a day’s evil is a sufficiency for that day.
Footnotes
^ 6:8 Var. for God your Father knows
^ 6:13 Lit. have us go in into temptation
^ 6:22 Lit. if your eye is generous your whole body will be light, but if your eye is bad But in Hebrew use good eye is an expression for generosity and bad eye is an expression for stinginess
^ 6:25 In Hebrew use soul means also the appetites etc.
^ 6:25 Var. omits or what you shall drink
^ 6:27 Lit. cubit (half a yard)
