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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 Matthew 6:20 and Neofiti Genesis 15:1

New Testament · Targum

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Summary

In Matthew 6, Jesus teaches storing treasure in heaven rather than on earth, similar to a tradition found in the Aramaic translation of Genesis 15 in Targum Neofiti, where Abraham is told that his reward for good works is stored for the world to come.

Passages

Matthew 6:20

New Testament
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.
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

Neofiti Genesis 15:1

Targum
1 After these things, after all the kingdoms of the earth had gathered together and drawn up battle against Abram, and had fallen before him, and he had killed four kings of them and brought back nine camps, Abram thought in his heart and said, “Woe is me now! Perhaps I have received the reward of the commandments in this world, and there is no portion for me in the world to come. Or perhaps the brothers or the kinsmen of these slain men who fell before me will go and be in their fortified towns and in their cities, and many legions will join up with them, and they will come against me and kill me. Or perhaps there were a few commandments to my credit the first time, when they fell before me, and they stood up for me; or perhaps no commandment will be found to my credit the second time, and the name of Heaven will be profaned through me.” For this reason a word of prophecy came from before the Lord to Abram the righteous, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram; for even though many legions join up and come against you to kill you, my Memra will be a shield for you, and it will be a protection for you in this world. And even though I have handed your enemies over before you in this world, the reward of your good deeds is made ready for you before me in the world to come.” 2 And Abram said, “I entreat you, in mercy from before you, Lord: much you have given me, and much is before you to give me; but I am going from the world without sons, and Eliezer, a son of my house, by whose hands miracles were done for me in Damascus, will be my heir.” 3 And Abram said, “Look, to me you have not given sons, and look, a son of my house will be my heir.”
300–600 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Neofiti Genesis

References

"... In the Gospels we find repeated references to good works and bad works. These terms, occurring neither in the Hebrew nor Greek Old Testament, are extremely common right through the Palestinian Targums of the Pentateuch. We have already cited Palestinian Targum Genesis 4:7. The works of the generation of the flood were evil (Palestinian Targum Genesis 6:3). So were the works of the people of Sodom (Palestinian Targum Genesis 18:21). Abram is told by God to serve before him in truth and be perfect in good works (Genesis 17:7, Neofiti). God reassured him that the reward of his good works was exceeding great, and kept and prepared before God in his favour for the world to come (Palestinian Targum Genesis 15:1) ..."
Martin McNamara, Targum and Testament Revisited: Aramaic Paraphrases of the Hebrew Bible: A Light on the New Testament, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), 198.

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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Matthew 6:20 and Neofiti Genesis 15:1

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