--- title: "Matthew 6 - Study King James Bible with lightfoots commentary on the gospels" description: "Read Matthew 6 with lightfoots commentary on the gospels commentary. 1 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. 2 Therefore when thou" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/6" --- [ Read](/kjv/matthew/6)[ Commentary](/study/matthew/6)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/matthew/6) Audio 1 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. 2 Therefore 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. 3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: 4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. 5 ¶ And 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. 6 But 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. 7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen *do*: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. 9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as *it is* in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. 14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 16 ¶ Moreover 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. 17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18 That 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. 19 ¶ Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 23 But 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! 24 ¶ No 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. 25 Therefore 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? 26 Behold 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? 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Wherefore, 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? 31 Therefore 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. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 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. [Matthew 5](/study/matthew/5) [Matthew 7](/study/matthew/7) ## Commentary To verse 1 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. [Take heed, that ye do not your alms, *etc.*] It is questioned, whether Matthew writ *alms*; or *righteousness*. I answer; I. That our Saviour certainly said *righteousness*...I make no doubt at all; but that that word could not be otherwise understood by the common people than of *alms*; there is as little doubt to be made. For although the word *righteousness*; according to the idiom of the Old Testament, signifies nothing else than *righteousness*; yet now, when our Saviour spoke those words, it signified nothing so much as *alms*. II. Christ used also the same word *righteousness* in the three verses next following, and Matthew used the word *alms*; but by what right, I beseech you, should he call it *righteousness*; in the first verse, and *alms* in the following, -- when Christ every where used one and the same word? Matthew might not change in Greek, where our Saviour had not changed in Syriac. Therefore we must say, that the Lord Jesus used the word *righteousness* in these four first verses: but that, speaking in the dialect of common people, he was understood by the common people to speak of *alms*. Now they called *alms* by the name of *righteousness*; in that the Fathers of the Traditions taught, and the common people believed, that *alms* conferred very much to *justification*. Hear the Jewish chair in this matter: "For one farthing, given to a poor man in alms, a man is made partaker of the beatifical vision." Where it renders these words [[Psalms 17:15](/kjv/psalms/17/15)] ’I shall behold thy face in *righteousness*;’ after this manner; ’I shall behold thy face *because of alms*.’ One saith, "This money goes for *alms*; that my sons may live, and that I may obtain the world to come." "A man’s table now expiates by *alms*; as heretofore the altar did by sacrifice." "If you afford *alms* out of your purse, God will keep you from all damage and harm." "Monobazes the king bestowed his goods liberally upon the poor, and had these words spoke to him by his kinsmen and friends, ’Your ancestors increased both their own riches and those that were left them by their fathers; but you waste both your own and those of your ancestors.’ To whom he answered, ’My fathers laid up their wealth on earth; I lay up mine in heaven; as it is written, *Truth shall flourish out of the earth, but righteousness shall look down from heaven*. My fathers laid up treasure that bears no fruit; but I lay up such as bear fruit; as it is said, *It shall be well with the just, for they shall be at the fruit of their works*. My fathers treasured up where power was in their hands; but I where it is not; as it is said, *Justice and judgment is the habitation of his throne*. My fathers heaped up for others; I for myself; as it is said, *And this shall be to thee for righteousness*. They scraped together for this world; I for the world to come; as it is said, *Righteousness shall deliver from death*.’ " These things are also recited in the Babylonian Talmud. You see plainly in what sense he understands *righteousness*; namely, in the sense of *alms*; and that sense not so much framed in his own imagination, as in that of the whole nation, and which the royal catechumen had imbibed from the Pharisees his teachers. Behold the justifying and saving virtue of *alms* from the very work done, according to the doctrine of the Pharisaical chair. And hence the opinion of this efficacy of *alms* so far prevailed with the deceived people, that they pointed out alms by no other name (confined within one single word) than *righteousness*. Perhaps those words of our Saviour are spoken in derision of this doctrine; "Yea, give those things which ye have in alms, and behold all things shall be clean to you," [Luke 11:41](/kjv/luke/11/41). With good reason, indeed, exhorting them to give *alms*; but yet withal striking at the covetousness of the Pharisees, and confuting their vain opinion of being clean by the washing of their hands, from their own opinion of the efficacy of alms. As if he had said, "Ye assert that *alms* justifies and saves; and therefore ye call it by the name of *righteousness*; why, therefore, do ye affect cleanness by the washing of hands, and not rather by the performance of charity?" See the praises of *alms*; somewhat too high for it, in the Talmud. "R. Jannai saw one giving money openly to a poor man; to whom he said, It is better you had not given at all, than so to have given." [Otherwise ye have no reward.] He therefore seems the rather to speak of a reward, because they expected a reward for their alms-doing without all doubt; and that, as we said, for the mere work done. "R. Lazar was the almoner of the synagogue. One day going into his house, he said, ’What news?’ They answered, ’Some came hither, and ate and drank, and made prayers for thee.’ ’Then,’ saith he, ’there is no good reward.’ Another time going into his house, he said, ’What news?’ It was answered, ’Some others came, and ate and drank, and railed upon you.’ ’Now,’ saith he, ’there will be a good reward.’ " ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/6#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/6#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/6","name":"Matthew 6 - Study King James Bible with lightfoots commentary on the gospels","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/6#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Matthew 6 with lightfoots commentary on the gospels commentary. 1 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. 2 Therefore when thou","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/6#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/6"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/6#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels","name":"lightfoots commentary on the gospels"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew","name":"Matthew"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/6","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/lightfoots-commentary-on-the-gospels/matthew/6","name":"6"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```