Side by side
Matthew 6
Our retelling next to the Bible text it comes from. Each row lines up one scene with the verses it retells.
Between scenesVerses 1 to 4
This part isn't retold as its own scene.
1“Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Scene 1: Don't Pray to Show OffVerses 5 to 6
Jesus sat on the mountainside, teaching. He had been talking about doing good things in secret. Now he talked about prayer.
Some people loved to pray standing up in the synagogues and on street corners. A synagogue is a local meeting place for Jewish worship and study. These people wanted to be seen. Jesus called them hypocrites. A hypocrite is a pretender. The Greek word meant a stage actor.
Jesus said they "already have their full reward" (6:5). People saw them. That was all they got.
Then Jesus pointed to a quieter place. "Go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen" (6:6).
Your Father sees what is done in secret, Jesus said. And your Father will reward you.
Jesus was not against praying with other people. He was against praying for an audience.
5And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. 6But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Scene 2: Don't BabbleVerses 7 to 8
Jesus gave a second warning. He said not to babble on like pagans. Pagans were people who worshiped other gods. They piled up words when they prayed. They thought many words would make their gods listen.
"Do not be like them," Jesus said. Then he gave the reason. "Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him" (6:8).
So God is not a stranger you have to persuade. God is a Father who already knows.
7And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
Scene 3: Our FatherVerse 9
Then Jesus said, "So then, this is how you should pray" (6:9).
The prayer begins with "Our Father in heaven" (6:9).
Jesus did not teach them to say "my Father." He taught them to say "our." This prayer is for a whole family praying together.
Father is a family word. Jesus invited his followers to talk to God the way a child talks to a loving parent.
9So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
Scene 4: Your NameVerse 9
The next words are "hallowed be Your name" (6:9).
Hallowed means treated as holy. Holy means set apart for God, pure and special.
A person's name stands for the whole person. So God's name stands for God himself. This line asks that people everywhere would honor and trust God, starting with us.
9So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
Scene 5: Your Kingdom and Your WillVerse 10
Next comes "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (6:10).
God's kingdom means God's rule. It is the way God runs things. God's will is what God wants.
In heaven, what God wants happens. This line asks for earth to be like that too. It asks God to bring his good rule into our world and into our lives.
On the night before he died, Jesus prayed this way himself. "Yet not as I will, but as You will" (Matthew 26:39).
10Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Scene 6: Daily BreadVerse 11
Then comes a very ordinary request. "Give us this day our daily bread" (6:11).
Bread was the main food back then. Asking for bread meant asking for what you need to live.
This line asks for today. It does not ask for a whole year of bread. It asks God for enough, one day at a time.
God cares about bodies, not only souls. You can pray about food, a home, sleep, and health.
11Give us this day our daily bread.
Scene 7: Forgive UsVerse 12
Next comes "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" (6:12).
A debt is something you owe. Jesus uses the word here as a comparison. Our sins are like debts we cannot pay. Sin means the wrong we do and the good we fail to do.
Jesus put this line in a prayer for every day. One likely reason: he knew his followers would need forgiveness again and again.
The line also connects two things. God forgives us. And we forgive the people who wrong us.
12And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Scene 8: Temptation and EvilVerse 13
The prayer ends by asking for protection. "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one" (6:13).
Temptation is a pull toward doing wrong. Deliver means rescue.
This line does not mean God tries to make us sin. The letter of James says God does not tempt anyone (James 1:13).
Instead, this line asks God to keep us safe when we feel pulled toward wrong. It asks God to rescue us from evil. It also asks God to rescue us from the evil one, who fights against God.
13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
Scene 9: Forgiving OthersVerses 14 to 15
Then Jesus said something hard to hear about forgiveness.
"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you" (6:14). Trespasses are wrongs. The word pictures someone stepping over a line they should not cross. This is a comparison.
"But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours" (6:15).
These words can feel frightening. But Jesus is not saying we earn God's forgiveness by forgiving well. Later in Matthew, Jesus told a story about a master who forgave a servant's huge debt first (Matthew 18:27). The forgiven servant was then called to forgive others.
Jesus began this prayer with "Our Father" (6:9). He ended this teaching by talking about forgiveness. God's family is a forgiven family, learning to forgive.
14For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.
Between scenesVerses 16 to 34
This part isn't retold as its own scene.
16When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. 17But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18so that your fasting will not be obvious to men, but only to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 19Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24No one can serve two masters: 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 both God and money. 25Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns—and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 28And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the lilies of the field grow: They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.
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