The big picture
Jesus, the teacher speaking to his followers, continues his teaching about life before God. He now turns to giving, prayer, and fasting, which means going without food to seek God. Each can become a way to gain praise. Jesus calls God his followers' Father and says that he sees hidden acts. He gives them words to pray and warns against letting money rule them. Food and clothes are real needs, but he urges trust in God's care rather than a life ruled by fear.
In this chapter
- Giving Should Seek God Rather Than Applause Matthew 6:1-4
Jesus warns his followers against helping the poor in order to be praised.
- Prayer Addresses the Father Who Already Knows Matthew 6:5-8
People who love to pray where crowds can see them have chosen human praise, Jesus says.
- Prayer Joins Daily Need with Forgiveness Matthew 6:9-15
Jesus gives his followers a prayer to God as their Father in heaven.
- Fasting Without a Public Display Matthew 6:16-18
Jesus turns to fasting, going without food as an act of devotion.
- Treasure Shows What Rules the Heart Matthew 6:19-24
Jesus contrasts earthly stores, vulnerable to moths, decay, and theft, with treasure kept with God.
- The Father Knows Their Daily Needs Matthew 6:25-34
Worry about food, drink, and clothing must not govern his hearers, Jesus says.
Central truth
Jesus teaches devotion that seeks the Father rather than an audience, and trust that refuses to make either wealth or worry the ruler of life.
Scripture beside the summary
Matthew · King James Version · 34Matthew 6:1-4
Giving Should Seek God Rather Than Applause
Jesus warns his followers against helping the poor in order to be praised. He describes people who draw eyes to their gifts in the streets and synagogues, Jewish places of worship. Once others praise them, they have the reward they wanted. His followers are to give so quietly that one hand seems unaware of what the other does. This is a vivid picture of avoiding display, not a claim about how hands work. God sees even a hidden gift. Jesus promises that their Father will reward it. The giver's aim matters as well as the help that reaches the poor.
In everyday life
A laundrette worker slips money into the staff collection for a colleague's train fare. She leaves her name off the envelope and returns to folding sheets. The colleague receives the ticket without being asked to praise her in front of the team. Jesus promises a reward from God, which quiet giving at work cannot guarantee.
Notice
Matthew 6:2 The praise-seeking givers already have their reward when others admire them. Jesus exposes the aim they chose rather than saying their public success went unnoticed.
Matthew 6:1-4
King James Version1Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
3But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
Matthew 6:5-8
Prayer Addresses the Father Who Already Knows
People who love to pray where crowds can see them have chosen human praise, Jesus says. He tells his followers to shut a door and speak to God in private. Their Father sees what no one else sees. They also need not pile up empty words to make God listen. He knows their needs before they speak. Christians differ about repeated forms of prayer; the warning here targets empty speech meant to make God listen through its length. Jesus still teaches people to ask for what they need. Prayer is speech to a Father who knows them, not a display of skill with words.
In everyday life
A daughter sits beside her father on a garden bench and tells him what troubles her. She drops the polished speech she had planned and speaks without trying to impress the neighbours. He listens, though he has already heard some of the news. Jesus describes a Father whose knowledge has no human gaps.
Notice
Matthew 6:8 The Father's knowledge comes before the request. Asking is still taught, so prior knowledge does not make the act of prayer pointless or unwanted.
Matthew 6:5-8
King James Version5And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
Matthew 6:9-15
Prayer Joins Daily Need with Forgiveness
Jesus gives his followers a prayer to God as their Father in heaven. It asks for God's name to be honoured as holy. It seeks his kingdom, meaning his rule, and asks that earth obey him as heaven does. Then come food for the day, forgiveness for wrongs, and rescue from temptation and evil. The prayer ends by praising God's rule and strength. Debts here include wrongs done, as Jesus' next words show. He warns that those who refuse to forgive will not receive the Father's forgiveness. Christian traditions differ on how this warning relates to grace, God's freely given help.
In everyday life
An allotment grower asks to share a neighbour's crop after her own beans fail. As they pick, she releases a small debt the neighbour still owes her. She seeks help while also giving up a claim she holds over him. Jesus speaks of forgiving wrongs before God, not trading produce or cancelling a garden debt.
Notice
Matthew 6:12 The request for forgiven debts includes the speaker's treatment of debtors. Mercy is voiced as a shared obligation rather than a benefit claimed while denying it to others.
Matthew 6:9-15
King James Version9After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11Give us this day our daily bread.
12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
14For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
15But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matthew 6:16-18
Fasting Without a Public Display
Jesus turns to fasting, going without food as an act of devotion. Those seeking attention make their faces look miserable so others will notice what they are doing. Their visible approval is the reward they wanted. His disciples should wash their faces and care for their appearance in the usual way. The fast is directed towards the Father, not towards observers who can admire it. God sees what is hidden and will reward it. The instruction does not deny that fasting has a bodily cost. It refuses to turn that cost into a public claim to greater holiness.
In everyday life
A swimmer arrives for practice after spending his free evening helping an ill friend. He washes, changes, and joins the others without posing for praise over his lost sleep. The help remains real even though no one at the pool knows its cost. Jesus concerns himself with fasting before God, not hidden fatigue from helping a friend.
Notice
Matthew 6:17 Ordinary washing and grooming are prescribed during the fast. The disciple is not asked to create visible distress as proof that devotion is serious.
Matthew 6:16-18
King James Version16Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
17But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
18That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
Matthew 6:19-24
Treasure Shows What Rules the Heart
Jesus contrasts earthly stores, vulnerable to moths, decay, and theft, with treasure kept with God. The heart follows what a person values most. He then pictures the eye as the body's lamp: clear sight brings light, while a bad eye leaves darkness. Readers differ over details of that image, but its setting concerns an undivided outlook towards possessions. No servant can serve two rival masters fully. Attachment to one means rejecting the other. God and wealth cannot both rule. The teaching asks who directs life, not merely how much money appears in an account.
In everyday life
A shipowner tells a captain to preserve safety, while a second paymaster secretly rewards faster trips that breach the limits. At the helm, the captain cannot obey both commands in the same crossing. One authority must govern the choice. Jesus says wealth competes with God for loyalty; neither shipowner holds God's place.
Notice
Matthew 6:21 Treasure is followed by the heart, not described as separate from it. What is stored and prized draws attention and loyalty into the same place.
Matthew 6:19-24
King James Version19Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
22The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
24No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Matthew 6:25-34
The Father Knows Their Daily Needs
Worry about food, drink, and clothing must not govern his hearers, Jesus says. Life is more than those needs. Birds are fed without barns, and field flowers outshine Solomon, the earlier king famed for splendour, without weaving cloth. Worry cannot add to a person's stature. If God cares for brief-lived grass, his people can trust his care for them. The Father already knows their needs. They are to seek his kingdom and right ways first, trusting his provision. Tomorrow need not be carried in advance; each day already has its own troubles.
In everyday life
A home-care worker stands beside an anxious client's bed and sets out clothes for today. The client keeps reaching for a long list of next week's worries. She helps him dress and names the one appointment he faces this morning. Jesus bases trust on God's care, not on a worker's plan for the day.
Notice
Matthew 6:34 Jesus acknowledges that each day has trouble. Trust is not presented as proof that life contains no real problems, but as freedom from carrying tomorrow before it comes.
Matthew 6:25-34
King James Version25Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Matthew 6:1 begins with “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.”
Where the chapter turns
Matthew 6:17 forms a natural hinge: “But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;”
The final note
Matthew 6:34 leaves the reader with “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”
A word trail through the chapter
The words Father, reward, forgive, secret, thought, body help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- alms
- Gifts given to help people who lack what they need.
- closet
- A private inner room where a person can shut the door.
- Hallowed
- Honoured as holy and worthy of reverence.
- mammon
- Wealth or possessions treated as a source of security and control.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
