Matthew 6:16-34

Fasting

16 "And ¹when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. ²Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

17 But when you fast, ³anoint your head and wash your face,

18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. ⁴And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Lay Up Treasures in Heaven

19 ⁵"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where ⁶moth and rust^[a] destroy and where thieves ⁷break in and steal,

20 ⁸but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

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

22 ⁹"The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,

23 ¹⁰but if ¹¹your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

24 ¹²"No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and ¹³money.^[b]

Do Not Be Anxious

25 ¹⁴"Therefore I tell you, ¹⁵do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

26 ¹⁶Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. ¹⁷Are you not of more value than they?

27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his ¹⁸span of life?^[c]

28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,

29 yet I tell you, ¹⁹even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, ²⁰O you of little faith?

31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'

32 For ²¹the Gentiles seek after all these things, and ²²your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

33 But ²³seek first ²⁴the kingdom of God and his righteousness, ²⁵and all these things will be added to you.

34 ²⁶"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Cross References

• 1. Isaiah 58:5
• 2. ver. 2, 5
• 3. Ruth 3:3; 2 Samuel 12:20
• 4. ver. 4, 6
• 5. Matthew 19:21; Luke 12:21, 33, 34; Luke 18:22; 1 Tim. 6:9, 10, 17-19; Hebrews 13:5
• 6. James 5:2, 3
• 7. Matthew 24:43
• 8. [See ver. 19 above]
• 9. Luke 11:34, 35
• 10. [See ver. 22 above]
• 11. Matthew 20:15; Deuteronomy 15:9; Proverbs 28:22
• 12. Luke 16:13; [Romans 6:16; James 4:4]
• 13. Luke 16:9, 11, 13
• 14. For ver. 25-33, see Luke 12:22-31
• 15. ver. 27, 28, 31, 34; Matthew 10:19; Matthew 13:22(Gk.); 1 Corinthians 7:32(Gk.); Philippians 4:6; 1 Peter 5:7
• 16. [Job 38:41; Psalms 147:9]
• 17. Matthew 10:31
• 18. Luke 2:52
• 19. 1 Kings 10:4-7
• 20. Matthew 8:26; Matthew 14:31; Matthew 16:8; [Matthew 17:20]
• 21. ver. 7
• 22. ver. 8
• 23. [Matthew 5:6, 20]
• 24. ver. 10
• 25. [1 Kings 3:11-14; Mark 10:29, 30; 1 Timothy 4:8; 1 Peter 3:9]
• 26. [James 4:13, 14]

Footnotes

• [a]. Or worm; also verse 20
• [b]. Greek mammon, a Semitic word for money or possessions
• [c]. Or a single cubit to his stature; a cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters