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Matthew

About this book
Chapter 6

1 “Be careful not to display your righteousness merely to be seen by people.⁠ Otherwise you have no reward with your Father in heaven.⁠ 2 Thus whenever you do charitable giving, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in synagogues and on streets so that people will praise them. I tell you the truth, they have their reward!⁠ 3 But when you do your giving, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,⁠ 4 so that your gift may be in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. 5 “Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites⁠ because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward! 6 But whenever you pray, go into your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.⁠ And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. 7 When you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the Gentiles because they think that by their many words they will be heard.⁠ 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 So pray this way: “Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored,⁠ 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 ourselves have forgiven our debtors.⁠ 13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.⁠ 14 “For if you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.⁠ 15 But if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins. 16 “When you fast, do not look sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unattractive so that people will see them fasting.⁠ I tell you the truth, they have their reward! 17 When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others when you are fasting, but only to your Father who is in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. 19 “Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and devouring insect destroy and where thieves break in and steal.⁠ 20 But accumulate for yourselves treasures in heaven,⁠ where moth and devouring insect do not destroy, and 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 then your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.⁠ 23 But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!⁠ 24 “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 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.⁠ Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing?⁠ 26 Look at the birds in the sky: They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you more valuable than they are?⁠ 27 And which of you by worrying can add even one hour to his life? 28 Why do you worry about clothing? Think about how the flowers of the field grow; they do not work or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these! 30 And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, won’t he clothe you even more, you people of little faith? 31 So then, don’t worry saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For the unconverted pursue these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.⁠ 34 So then, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Sirach 23:5 and Matthew 6:13

Deuterocanon · New Testament

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Summary

The Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6 includes a petition asking not to be led into testing or temptation but delivered from evil, language that echoes Sirach where the speaker pleads for protection from desire and passion that could lead to their ruin.

Passages

Sirach 23:5

Deuterocanon · Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
1 O Lord, Father and Master of my life, don’t abandon me to their counsel. Don’t let me fall because of them. 2 Who will set scourges over my thought, and a discipline of wisdom over my heart, that they do not spare me for my errors, and not overlook their sins? 3 Otherwise my errors might be multiplied, and my sins abound, I fall before my adversaries, and my enemy rejoice over me. 4 O Lord, Father and God of my life, don’t give me a haughty eyes, 5 and turn away evil desire from me. 6 Let neither gluttony nor lust overtake me. Don’t give me over to a shameless mind.
195–180 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Sirach

Matthew 6:13

New Testament
7 When you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the Gentiles because they think that by their many words they will be heard. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 So pray this way: “Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored, 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 ourselves have forgiven our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. 14 “For if you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins.
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

References

"... The third Us-petition comes in verse 13. It has two parts. 'Do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.' The translation in the NRSV of 'the time of trial' is preferable to 'temptation.' Hagner argues the translation should be 'testing' because God does not lead into temptation (James 1:13). God does, however, allow his people to be tested. 'To be tempted' is to be enticed to sin; 'to be tested' is to be brought into difficult circumstances that try one's faithfulness. The two are similar, since sin can result in either case; yet they are also to be differentiated, since the former has a negative purpose, the latter a positive one. 'The petition in this instance concerns severe testing that could eventuate in apostasy ... The disciple ... prays not to be led into such a situation, that is, not to be led into a testing in which his or her faith will not be able to survive' (compare 1 Corinthians 10: 13). Certain Jewish prayers are very similar to the two parts of the third petition. In 11 QPs Col XXIV 10, the prayer is voiced: 'Recognize me and do not forget me or lead me into difficulties.' In b. Berakoth 60a-60b, a prayer to be uttered before going to sleep includes 'do not make it my custom to do transgressions nor bring me into the power of sin, violation, temptation, or humiliation. May the impulse to do good control me and may the impulse to do evil not control me.' Jeremias says the causative 'bring me not' in the Lord's Prayer's closing petition has permissive sense: 'Do not let me fall victim.' James Charlesworth notes that the Old Syriac means 'do not allow us to enter temptation' ..."
Charles H. Talbert, Reading the Sermon on the Mount: Character Formation and Decision Making in Matthew 5–7 (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, 2004), 117.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Sirach 23:5 and Matthew 6:13

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