Chapter 6
1 "Yet take heed not to be doing
your righteousness in front of men, in order to be gazed at by them, otherwise surely you
have no wages with your Father Who is in the heavens.
2 "Whenever, then, you may be doing alms, you should
not be trumpeting in front of you, even as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the
streets, so that they should be glorified by men. Verily, I am saying to you, They are
collecting their wages!
3 Yet you, doing alms, let not your left hand know what
your right is doing,
4 so that your alms may be in hiding, and your Father,
Who is observing in hiding, will be paying you.
5 "And whenever you may be praying, you shall not be
as the hypocrites, for they are fond of standing in the synagogues and at the corners of
the squares to be praying, so that they may appear to men. Verily, I am saying to you,
They are collecting their wages!
6 "Now you, whenever you may be praying, enter into
your storeroom, and, locking your door, pray to your Father Who is in hiding, and your
Father, Who is observing in hiding, will be paying you.
7 Now, in praying, you should not use useless repetitions
even as those of the nations. For they are supposing that they will be hearkened to in
their loquacity.
8 Do not, then, be like them, for aware is God, your
Father, of what you have need before you request Him.
9 "Thus, then, you be praying: 'Our Father Who art
in the heavens, hallowed be Thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, on
earth also.
11 Our bread, our dole, be giving us today.
12 And remit to us our debts, as we also remit those of
our debtors.
13 And mayest Thou not be bringing us into trial, but
rescue us from the wicked one.'
14 "For if you should be forgiving men their
offenses, your heavenly Father also will be forgiving you.
15 Yet if you should not be forgiving men their offenses,
neither will your Father be forgiving your offenses.
16 "Now whenever you may be fasting, become not, as
the hypocrites, of a sad countenance, for they disguise their faces so that they may
appear to men to be fasting. Verily, I am saying to you: They are collecting their wages.
17 Now you, when fasting, rub your head with oil and wash
your face,
18 so that you may not appear to men to be fasting, but
to your Father Who is in hiding, and your Father, Who is observing in hiding, will be
paying you.
19 "Do not hoard for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and corrosion are causing them to disappear, and where thieves are tunneling
and stealing.
20 Yet hoard for yourselves treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor corrosion are causing them to disappear, and where thieves are not
tunneling nor stealing;
21 for wherever your treasure is, there will your heart
be also.
22 "The lamp of the body is your eye. If, then, your
eye should be single, your whole body will be luminous.
23 Yet if your eye should be wicked, your whole body will
be dark. If, then, the light that is in you is darkness, how dense is the darkness!
24 "Now no one can be slaving for two lords, for
either he will be hating the one and loving the other, or will be upholding one and
despising the other. You can not be slaving for God and mammon.
25 "Therefore I am saying to you, Do not worry about
you soul, what you may be eating, or what you may be drinking, nor yet about your body,
what you should be putting on. Is not the soul more than nourishment, and the body than
apparel?
26 "Look at the flying creatures of heaven, that
they are not sowing, neither are they reaping, nor are they gathering into barns, and your
heavenly Father is nourishing them. Are not you of more consequence than they?
27 "Now who of you by worrying is able to add on to
his stature one cubit?
28 And why are you worrying about apparel? Study the
anemones of the field, how they are growing. Not toiling are they, nor yet are they
spinning.
29 Yet I am saying to you that not even Solomon in all
his glory was clothed as one of these.
30 Now if the grass of the field, which is today, and
tomorrow is cast into the stove, God thus is garbing; not much rather you, scant of faith?
31 "You, then, should not be worrying, saying, 'What
may we be eating?' or 'What may we be drinking?' or 'With what may we be clothed?'
32 For for all these the nations are seeking. For aware
is your heavenly Father that you need all of these.
33 Yet seek first the kingdom and its righteousness, and
these all shall be added to you.
34 You should not, then, be worrying about the morrow,
for the morrow will be worrying of itself. Sufficient for the day is its own evil. |