Matthew 5:20-24

New Living Translation

²⁰“But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!

Teaching about Anger

²¹“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’^[a] ²²But I say, if you are even angry with someone,^[b] you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot,^[c] you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone,^[d] you are in danger of the fires of hell.^[e]

²³“So if you are presenting a sacrifice^[f] at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, ²⁴leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.

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Footnotes

5:21 Exod 20:13; Deut 5:17.
5:22a Some manuscripts add without cause.
5:22b Greek uses an Aramaic term of contempt: If you say to your brother, ‘Raca.’
5:22c Greek if you say, ‘You fool.’
5:22d Greek Gehenna; also in 5:29, 30.
5:23 Greek gift; also in 5:24.