Matthew · 34 verses
Matthew 6
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
The grass receives divine tailoring today and a furnace tomorrow, which is an unusually brisk career.
A little secrecy, pleasevv. 1–18
Righteousness is to be kept out of the shop window: almsgiving should make no trumpet-call, prayer should leave the street corner for an inner room, and fasting should wash its face rather than advertise its misery. The left hand is even to remain ignorant of the right hand’s charitable business, a wonderfully literal arrangement. The Father already knows what is needed before the asking, yet the prayer still asks for daily bread, forgiveness, and deliverance; and forgiveness, rather neatly, is made reciprocal.
Treasures, eyes, birds, and a furnacevv. 19–34
Earthly treasure has moths, rust, and thieves in its employ, so the heart is advised to keep its valuables elsewhere. A good eye fills the body with light; a bad one produces the alarming possibility of darkness inside the darkness. Then money becomes a master, worry becomes a futile clockmaker, and the birds and lilies are summoned as evidence: birds neither sow nor store, lilies neither labor nor spin, and grass is gloriously dressed before being thrown into the furnace. Solomon himself is outshone by a flower, while tomorrow is left to worry about tomorrow.
The text
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Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Matt 6:1“Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
Matt 6:2So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
Matt 6:3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
Matt 6:4so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Matt 6:5And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
Matt 6:6But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Matt 6:7And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard.
Matt 6:8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
Matt 6:9So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
Matt 6:10Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Matt 6:11Give us this day our daily bread.
Matt 6:12And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Matt 6:13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
Matt 6:14For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
Matt 6:15But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.
Matt 6:16When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
Matt 6:17But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
Matt 6:18so that your fasting will not be obvious to men, but only to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Matt 6:19Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
Matt 6:20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Matt 6:21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matt 6:22The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.
Matt 6:23But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Matt 6:24No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Matt 6:25Therefore 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 clothes?
Matt 6:26Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Matt 6:27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Matt 6:28And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the lilies of the field grow: They do not labor or spin.
Matt 6:29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these.
Matt 6:30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Matt 6:31Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
Matt 6:32For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
Matt 6:33But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
Matt 6:34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.’’
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 616 passages were voted onto 34 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 33Luke 12:31But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added unto you.
- 33Matthew 5:6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
- 33John 6:27Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.”
- 33Psalms 34:9–10Fear the LORD, you His saints, for those who fear Him lack nothing.
- 33Mark 10:29–30“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for My sake and for the gospel
- 33Romans 14:17For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
- 33Proverbs 3:9–10Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your crops;
- 33Psalms 37:25I once was young and now am old, yet never have I seen the righteous abandoned or their children begging for bread.
- 332 Chronicles 31:20–21So this is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah. He did what was good and upright and true before the LORD his God.
- 25Philippians 4:6Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
- 33Colossians 1:13–14He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son,
- 331 Timothy 4:8For physical exercise is of limited value, but godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for the present life and for the one to come.
- 331 Kings 3:11–13So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this instead of requesting long life or wealth for yourself or death for your enemies—but you have asked for discernment to administer justice—
- 241 John 2:15–16Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- 24Luke 16:13No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
- 21Colossians 3:1–3Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Onward