Matthew 6 is the sixth chapter of the

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and form ...

in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

. This chapter contains the central portion of the

Sermon on the Mount The Sermon on the Mount ( anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: ) is a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus of Nazareth found in the Gospel of Matthew (chapters 5, 6, and 7). that emphasizes his moral teachings. It ...

, including the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

Text

The original text was written in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

. This chapter is

divided Division is one of the four basic operations of arithmetic, the ways that numbers are combined to make new numbers. The other operations are addition, subtraction, and multiplication. At an elementary level the division of two natural numbe ...

into 34 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: *

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(~325–350; complete) *

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus ( Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscript ...

(~330–360; complete) *

Codex Washingtonianus The Codex Washingtonianus or Codex Washingtonensis, designated by W or 032 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 014 ( Soden), also called the ''Washington Manuscript of the Gospels'', and ''The Freer Gospel'', contains the four biblical gospels an ...

(~400) *

Codex Bezae The Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, designated by siglum D or 05 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 5 (in the von Soden of New Testament manuscript), is a codex of the New Testament dating from the 5th century writ ...

(~400; extant verses 1–19)

Structure

The first part of this chapter, Matthew 6:1– 18, deals with the outward and inward expression of piety, referring to almsgiving, private prayer and fasting.Talbert, Charles H. 2010 ''Matthew'' pp. 87–91. New Testament scholar Dale Allison suggests that this section acts as "a sort of commentary" on Matthew 5:21- 48, or a short "cult-didache": Matthew 5:21-48 details "what to do", whereas Matthew 6:1-18 teaches "how to do it". Sometimes called the "Discourse on Ostentation", these verses address the three most important outward expressions of Jewish piety,

alms Alms (, ) are money, food, or other material goods donated to people living in poverty. Providing alms is often considered an act of virtue or charity. The act of providing alms is called almsgiving, and it is a widespread practice in a numbe ...

giving,

prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deifie ...

, and

fasting Fasting is the abstention from eating and sometimes drinking. From a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (see " Breakfast"), or to the metabolic state achieved after ...

. Jesus endorses the standard teachings that these acts are important. Throughout this section he stresses that worship and piety should not be ostentatious, and ideally should be done in secret. He strongly contravenes those who make public displays of their piety, which can be understood as teaching that those who are pious to impress others will only impress people, and will do nothing to impress God. Matthew 6:19– 34 deals with possessions and the issues of priorities and trust. The first part in Matthew 6:19– 24 has three elements about two treasures, two eyes and two masters. The second part in Matthew 6:25– 34 deals with trust in God and also has three elements and provides reasons for not being anxious. In

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist who was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies he founded became the dominant form of the independent Meth ...

's analysis of the Sermon on the Mount, chapter five outlines "the sum of all true religion", allowing this chapter to detail "rules for that right intention which we are to preserve in all our outward actions, unmixed with worldly desires or anxious cares for even the necessaries of life" and the following chapter to provide "cautions against the main hinderances of religion". Wesley further analyses chapter 6 as follows: * Verses 1– 4: the right intention and manner of giving alms * Verses 5– 15: the right intention, manner, form, and prerequisites of prayer * Verses 16– 18: the right intention, and manner of fasting * Verses 19– 34: the necessity of a pure intention in all things, unmixed either with the desire of riches, or worldly care, and fear of want.

Verses

Literary references

In the 2007 book ''

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the seventh and final novel of the main ''Harry Potter'' series. It was released on 21 July 2007 in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury Publ ...

'' by

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( "rolling"; born 31 July 1965), also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume children's fantasy series published from 1997 to 2007. The ser ...

, it is written that the inscription on the tombstone of

Ariana Dumbledore Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's '' Harry Potter'' series. For most of the series, he is the headmaster of the wizarding school Hogwarts. As part of his backstory, it is revealed that he i ...

reads "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also". This is taken from the

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...

of Matthew 6:21 and/or Luke 12:34, which are identical.

Early manuscripts

File:Codex Sinaiticus Matthew 5,22-6,4.JPG, Codex Sinaiticus (AD 330–60), Matthew 5:22–6:4 File:Codex Sinaiticus Matthew 6,4-32.JPG, Codex Sinaiticus, Matthew 6:4–32 File:Codex Sinaiticus Matthew 6,32-7,27.JPG, Codex Sinaiticus, Matthew 6:32–7:27

Notes

References

External links

* King James Bible - Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''
(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.) {{Sermon on the Mount Matthew 06