The Scriptures (ISR 1998) 1“Beware of doing your kind deeds before men, in order to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in the heavens. 2“Thus, when you do a kind deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do, in the congregations and in the streets, to be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. 3“But when you do a kind deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your kind deed shall be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret shall Himself reward you openly. 5“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the congregations and on the corners of the streets, to be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6“But you, when you pray, go into your room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place. And your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly. 7“And when praying, do not keep on babbling like the gentiles. For they think that they shall be heard for their many words. 8“Therefore do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. 9“This, then, is the way you should pray: ‘Our Father who is in the heavens, let Your Name be set-apart, 10let Your reign come, let Your desire be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11‘Give us today our daily bread. 12‘And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13‘And do not lead us into trial,a but deliver us from the wicked one – because Yours is the reign and the power and the esteem, forever. Amĕn.’ 14“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father shall also forgive you. 15“But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither shall your Father forgive your trespasses. 16“And when you fast, do not be sad-faced like the hypocrites. For they disfigure their faces so that they appear to be fasting to men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. 17“But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place. And your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly. 19“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21“For where your treasure is, there your heart shall be also. 22“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, all your body shall be enlightened. 23“But if your eye is evil,a all your body shall be darkened. If, then, the light that is within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24“No one is able to serve two masters, for either he shall hate the one and love the other, or else he shall cleave to the one and despise the other. You are not able to serve Elohim and mammon.a 25“Because of this I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you shall eat or drink, or about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than the food and the body more than the clothing? 26“Look at the birds of the heaven, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into storehouses, yet your heavenly Father does feed them. Are you not worth more than they? 27“And which of you by worrying is able to add one cubit to his life’s span? 28“So why do you worry about clothing? Note well the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, 29and I say to you that even Shelomoh in all his esteem was not dressed like one of these. 30“But if Elohim so clothes the grass of the field, which exists today, and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more you, O you of little belief? 31“Do not worry then, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32“For all these the gentiles seek for. And your heavenly Father knows that you need all these. 33“But seek first the reign of Elohim, and His righteousness, and all these matters shall be added to you. 34“Do not, then, worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow shall have its own worries. Each day has enough evil of itself. |