Matthew 6
The full text of Matthew 6 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Greek. Free to read.
1 "Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
5 "And 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 others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
7 And when you pray, do not keep babbling like the Gentiles, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 "This, then, is how you should pray:
"'Our Father in heaven,
may your name be honored as holy,
10 may your kingdom come,
may your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.'
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
16 "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,
18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
20 But store 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 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
25 "Therefore 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?
26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you — you of little faith?
31 So do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?'
32 For the Gentiles chase after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Translation notes (12)
- Matthew 6:1a The earliest manuscripts read dikaiosyne, meaning 'righteousness,' which is the broad heading covering the giving, prayer, and fasting that follows. Some later manuscripts read eleemosyne, meaning 'almsgiving.' The Trinity Bible Version follows the earlier, broader reading.
- Matthew 6:2a The Greek word hypokrites originally meant a stage actor, but here it refers to someone whose outward show masks their true heart. The Greek word apechousin is a commercial term meaning 'they have their receipt in full,' indicating that no further reward is coming.
- Matthew 6:7a The Greek word battalogeo is an onomatopoeic word, meaning it sounds like its meaning, referring to empty repetition or meaningless chatter.
- Matthew 6:9a The Greek phrase hagiastheto to onoma sou is a passive petition meaning 'let your name be made holy' or 'be treated as holy.' It asks that God's name, referring to his person and reputation, be revered, not that God himself become holy.
- Matthew 6:11a The Greek word epiousios is rare, and its precise meaning is debated, with possible interpretations including 'for the coming day,' 'necessary for existence,' or 'daily.' 'Daily' is the traditional and most defensible rendering, but the uncertainty about its exact meaning is genuine.
- Matthew 6:12a The Greek word opheilemata literally means 'debts'; Matthew uses this financial-debt metaphor for sins, whereas Luke 11:4 uses 'sins.' 'Debts' is kept in this translation to preserve Matthew's original image. The Greek verb aphekamen is in the past tense, meaning 'have forgiven.'
- Matthew 6:13a The closing doxology — 'For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.' — is absent from the earliest and best manuscripts, including Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, and appears in varying forms in later witnesses. It is a treasured liturgical addition, almost certainly not part of Matthew's original text. The Trinity Bible Version follows the earliest manuscripts and documents the doxology here.
- Matthew 6:13b The Greek phrase me eisenenkes hemas eis peirasmon means 'do not bring or lead us into peirasmon,' which can mean either 'temptation' or 'testing/trial.' The phrase apo tou ponerou can mean 'from the evil one' (referring to the devil) or 'from evil'; the grammatical form is ambiguous and debated.
- Matthew 6:22a The Greek word haplous, meaning 'single' or 'sound,' is used here with a double meaning: it refers to a healthy eye and, idiomatically, to a generous, undivided heart. Its opposite, poneros in verse 23, also means 'stingy.' Both the optical and the moral sense are in view.
- Matthew 6:24a The Greek word mamonas, transliterated 'mammon,' is an Aramaic word for wealth or property. Here it is almost personified as a rival master, and 'Money' renders this sense for modern readers.
- Matthew 6:27a The Greek word helikia can mean either 'lifespan' (as in 'add an hour to life') or 'stature' or 'height' (as in 'add a cubit to height'). The Greek word pechys literally means 'a cubit.' The meaning 'lifespan' fits the context of worry, and the translation preserves this more sensible meaning while noting the literal sense.
- Matthew 6:33a Some early manuscripts read 'the kingdom and his righteousness,' while many later manuscripts add 'of God' to make it 'the kingdom of God.' The meaning is the same. The Trinity Bible Version follows the earlier text and translates it as 'his kingdom' for clarity.
About this translation
The Trinity Bible Version (TBV) is Trinity Bible's own modern English translation, worked directly from the original Greek and honest to the earliest manuscripts. It was completed in 2026 — the most modern English Bible translation — and is exclusive to Trinity Bible. Every chapter, including all of Matthew, is free to read here on the web.
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