Matthew 6:24-26
New English Translation
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate[a] the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise[b] the other. You cannot serve God and money.[c]
Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry[d] 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:[e] They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds[f] them. Aren’t you more valuable[g] than they are?
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Matthew 6:24 sn The contrast between hate and love here is rhetorical. The point is that one will choose the favorite if a choice has to be made.
- Matthew 6:24 tn Or “and treat [the other] with contempt.”
- Matthew 6:24 tn Grk “God and mammon.”sn The term money is used to translate mammon, the Aramaic term for wealth or possessions. The point is not that money is inherently evil, but that it is often misused so that it is a means of evil; see 1 Tim 6:6-10, 17-19. Here “money” is personified as a potential master and thus competes with God for the loyalty of the disciple. The passage is ultimately not a condemnation of wealth (there is no call here for absolute poverty) but a call for unqualified discipleship. God must be first, not money or possessions.
- Matthew 6:25 tn Or “do not be anxious,” and so throughout the rest of this paragraph.
- Matthew 6:26 tn Or “the wild birds”; Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).
- Matthew 6:26 tn Or “your heavenly Father gives them food to eat.” L&N 23.6 has both “to provide food for” and “to give food to someone to eat.”
- Matthew 6:26 tn Grk “of more value.”
Matthew 6:24-26
New International Version
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.(A)
Do Not Worry(B)
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry(C) 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? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.(D) Are you not much more valuable than they?(E)
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.