Gospel according to Matthew 6

¹ ‘Be careful not to parade your good deeds before men to attract their notice; by doing this you will lose all reward from your Father in heaven.

² So when you give alms, do not have it trumpeted before you; this is what the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win men’s admiration. I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward.

³ But when you give alms, your left hand must not know what your right is doing;

⁴ your almsgiving must be secret, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.

⁵ ‘And when you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites: they love to say their prayers standing up in the synagogues and at the street corners for people to see them; I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward.

⁶ But when you pray, go to your private room and, when you have shut your door, pray[*a] to your Father who is in that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.

⁷ In your prayers do not babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard.

⁸ Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

⁹ So you should pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be held holy,

¹⁰ your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.

¹¹ Give us today our daily bread.

¹² And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us.

¹³ And do not put us to the test, but save us from the evil one.

¹⁴ Yes, if you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours;

¹⁵ but if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failings either.

¹⁶ ‘When you fast do not put on a gloomy look as the hypocrites do: they pull long faces to let men know they are fasting. I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward.

¹⁷ But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,

¹⁸ so that no one will know you are fasting except your Father who sees all that is done in secret; and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.

¹⁹ ‘Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moths and woodworms destroy them and thieves can break in and steal.

²⁰ But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworms destroy them and thieves cannot break in and steal.

²¹ For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

²² ‘The lamp of the body is the eye. It follows that if your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light.

²³ But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be all darkness. If then, the light inside you is darkness, what darkness that will be!

²⁴ ‘No one can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.

²⁵ ‘That is why I am telling you not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and how you are to clothe it. Surely life means more than food, and the body more than clothing!

²⁶ Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are we not worth much more than they are?

²⁷ Can any of you, for all his worrying, add one single cubit to his span of life?

²⁸ And why worry about clothing? Think of the flowers growing in the fields; they never have to work or spin;

²⁹ yet I assure you that not even Solomon in all his regalia was robed like one of these.

³⁰ Now if that is how God clothes the grass in the field which is there today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will he not much more look after you, you men of little faith?

³¹ So do not worry; do not say, “What are we to eat? What are we to drink? How are we to be clothed?”

³² It is the pagans who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all.

³³ Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on his righteousness, and all these other things will be given you as well.

³⁴ So do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.