Matthew 6
1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people in order to be seen by them. Otherwise, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 So when you give to the poor, do not announce it with a trumpet, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, so that people will honor them. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.
3 But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
4 so that your gift may be given in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
5 And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. They love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, so that people will see them. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.
6 But when you pray, go into your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
7 When you pray, do not keep babbling empty words like the Gentiles, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
8 So do not be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
9 “So pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored as holy.
10 May your kingdom come; may your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation, but rescue us from evil.’
14 For if you forgive people their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;
15 but if you do not forgive people, your Father will not forgive your offenses either.”
16 “When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They disfigure their faces to show people that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.
17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,
18 so that you will not appear to people to be fasting, but to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
19 Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal;
20 but store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be too.
22 The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light;
23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness, how great that darkness is!
24 No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon.”
25 “That is why 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 clothing?
26 Look at the birds of the sky: they do not sow or reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
27 Which of you, by worrying, can add a single cubit to his height?
28 And why do you worry about clothing? Look at how the wildflowers grow: they do not work or spin;
29 yet I tell you that not even Solomon, in all his glory, was dressed like one of them.
30 If God clothes the grass of the field like this, though it is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith?
31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’
32 For the Gentiles seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
33 Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 So do not worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
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