Chapter 6

¹“But take care not to do your good deeds in public for people to see, for, if you do, you will get no reward from your Father in heaven. ²So when you are going to give to charity, do not blow a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do, in the synagogues and the streets, to make people praise them. I tell you, that is all the reward they will get! ³But when you give to charity, your own left hand must not know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your charity may be secret, and your Father who sees what is secret will reward you.

⁵“When you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they like to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the squares, to let people see them. I tell you, that is the only reward they will get! ⁶But when you pray, go into your own room, and shut the door, and pray to your Father who is unseen, and your Father who sees what is secret will reward you. ⁷And when you pray, do not repeat empty phrases as the heathen do, for they imagine that their prayers will be heard if they use words enough. ⁸You must not be like them. For God, who is your Father, knows what you need before you ask him. ⁹This, therefore, is the way you are to pray:

‘Our Father in heaven,

Your name be revered!

¹⁰Your kingdom come!

Your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven!

¹¹Give us today bread for the day,

¹²And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors.

¹³And do not subject us to temptation,

But save us from the evil one.’

¹⁴For if you forgive others when they offend you, your heavenly Father will forgive you too. ¹⁵But if you do not forgive others when they offend you, your heavenly Father will not forgive you for your offenses.

¹⁶“When you fast, do not put on a gloomy look, like the hypocrites, for they neglect their personal appearance to let people see that they are fasting. I tell you, that is all the reward they will get. ¹⁷But when you fast, perfume your hair and wash your face, ¹⁸so that no one may see that you are fasting, except your Father who is unseen, and your Father who sees what is secret, will reward you.

¹⁹“Do not store up your riches on earth, where moths and rust destroy them, and where thieves break in and steal them, ²⁰but store up your riches in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy them, and where thieves cannot break in and steal them. ²¹For wherever your treasure is, your heart will be also. ²²The eye is the lamp of the body. If then your eye is sound, your whole body will be light, ²³but if your eye is unsound, your whole body will be dark. If, therefore, your very light is darkness, how deep the darkness will be! ²⁴No slave can belong to two masters, for he will either hate one and love the other, or stand by one and make light of the other. You cannot serve God and money. ²⁵Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about life, wondering what you will have to eat or drink, or about your body, wondering what you will have to wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body than clothes? ²⁶Look at the wild birds. They do not sow or reap, or store their food in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more account than they? ²⁷But which of you with all his worry can add a single hour to his life? ²⁸Why should you worry about clothing? See how the wild flowers grow. They do not toil or spin, ²⁹and yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his splendor was never dressed like one of them. ³⁰But if God so beautifully dresses the wild grass, which is alive today and is thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will he not much more surely clothe you, you who have so little faith? ³¹So do not worry and say, ‘What shall we have to eat?’ or ‘What shall we have to drink?’ or ‘What shall we have to wear?’ ³²For these are all things the heathen are in pursuit of, and your heavenly Father knows well that you need all this. ³³But you must make his kingdom, and uprightness before him, your greatest care, and you will have all these other things besides. ³⁴So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries of its own. Let each day be content with its own ills.