TAKE heed that ye do not your alms before men, in order to catch their
eye: for otherwise ye have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
(2)Therefore when thou givest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee, as
the hypocrites do, in the synagogues, and in the streets, that they may
have glory from men. Verily I say unto you, They receive their reward.
(3)But when thou givest alms, let not thy right hand know what thy left
is doing: (4)that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father who seeth
in secret, will himself reward thee openly.
(5)And when thou prayest, be not as the hypocrites: for they love
standing in the synagogues and at the corners of the streets, to pray,
that they may make a shew to men. Verily I say unto you, That they have
their reward. (6)But when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and shut
thy door, to pray to thy Father who is in secret; and thy Father who
seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. (7)And when thou art at
prayer, use not vain repetitions, like the heathen: for they imagine
that they shall be heard for their much speaking. (8)Be not ye
therefore like them: for your Father knoweth of what things ye have
need, before you ask him. (9)Thus then pray ye: Our Father, which art
in heaven, hallowed be thy name. (10)Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done
in earth, as it is in heaven. (11)Give us this day our daily bread.
(12)And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. (13)And lead
us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil: for thine is the
kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen! (14)For
if ye forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will also
forgive you: (15)but if ye forgive not to men their offences, neither
will your Father forgive your offences.
(16)And when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, affecting a gloomy
look: for they disfigure their visages, that they may make a shew of
fasting to men. Verily I say unto you, That they have their reward.
(17)But when thou keepest a fast, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
(18)that thou mayest not make a shew of fasting to men, but to thy
Father who is in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret shall
reward thee openly.
(19)Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where the rust and
canker spoil, and where thieves dig through and steal: (20)but lay up
for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither rust nor canker
spoil, and where thieves do not dig through and steal; (21)for where
your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
(22)The lamp of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be
transparent, thy whole body shall be enlightened. (23)But if thine eye
be vitiated, thy whole body will be darkened. If therefore the light
which is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
(24)No man can serve two masters: for he will either hate the one, and
love the other; or he will adhere to the one, and disregard the other.
Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (25)For this cause I tell you, Be not
anxious about your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor
for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life of more value than
meat, and the body than raiment? (26)Look on the birds of the air: for
they neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly
Father feedeth them. Are you not of more value than they? (27)But which
of you, by his cares, can add one cubit to his stature? (28)And why are
ye anxious about clothing? Contemplate the lilies of the field, how
they grow; they toil not, nor spin: (29)yet I tell you, Not even
Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these. (30)If God then
so clothe a vegetable of the field, which to-day is, _in beauty_, and
tomorrow is cast into the furnace, shall he not much more clothe you, O
ye of little faith? (31)Wherefore be under no anxiety, saying, What
shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, With what shall we be
clothed? (32)(for after all these things the heathen seek:) and your
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of them all. (33)But seek ye,
in the first place, the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all
these things shall be given you over. (34)Be not therefore anxious
about to-morrow: for tomorrow will provide for its own wants.
Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.