Go to Related Reading
About this book

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 Onkelos Exodus 18:21 and Matthew 6:24

Targum · New Testament

Share:

Summary

In Matthew 6, Jesus says no one can serve God and “mammon,” treating wealth as a rival power. The Aramaic translation of Exodus in Targum Onkelos also praises leaders who reject “mammon,” suggesting Jesus was influenced by a similar Aramaic tradition.

Passages

Onkelos Exodus 18:21

Targum
20 and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they must walk and the work that they must do. 21 And you, look out from the whole people for capable men who fear the Lord, men of truth who hate taking mammon; and set them over them as chiefs of thousands, and chiefs of hundreds, and chiefs of fifties, and chiefs of tens. 22 And they shall judge the people at all times; every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall judge themselves; so they will make it lighter for you and bear it with you.
50–500 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Onkelos Exodus

Matthew 6:24

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

References

"... It concludes with the application: 'You cannot serve God and mammon.' Here 'mammon' is personified as an idol, the service of whom is the rejection of God. Betz interprets: 'Materialism ... is a pseudo-religious way of life, the service of a pseudo-god identified by the name of Mammon.' Mammon is not found in the Old Testament. At Qumran it is found with the sense of 'property' (1 QS 6:2; CD 14:20). It has much the same neutral sense in Pirke Avot 2:12. In Targum Onkelos on Genesis 37:26, it refers to the wicked 'gain' of Joseph's brothers. In Targum Onkelos on Exodus 18:21, the honest judge is one who 'abhors mammon.' In the New Testament it is used only in Matthew 6:24 and in Luke 16:9, 11 (modified by adikia). (Compare 2 Clement 6:1, which reflects dependence on Matthew) The sentiment expressed is similar to that of others both in ancient Judaism and among pagan writers ..."
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), 123.

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

Tags

Your feedback

Onkelos Exodus 18:21 and Matthew 6:24

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library