Zetemata

Matthew 6

The chapter in full, then the passages inside it that are worth stopping on — what each one claims, what the Greek or Hebrew shows, and how the reading is arrived at.

Matthew 6 WEB
  1. 1 "Be careful that you don't do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
  2. 2 Therefore, when you do merciful deeds, don't sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from men. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.
  3. 3 But when you do merciful deeds, don't let your left hand know what your right hand does,
  4. 4 so that your merciful deeds may be in secret, then your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
  5. 5 "When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward.
  6. 6 But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
  7. 7 In praying, don't use vain repetitions as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking.
  8. 8 Therefore don't be like them, for your Father knows what things you need before you ask him.
  9. 9 Pray like this: "'Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
  10. 10 Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
  11. 11 Give us today our daily bread.
  12. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
  13. 13 Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.'
  14. 14 "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
  15. 15 But if you don't forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
  16. 16 "Moreover when you fast, don't be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.
  17. 17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
  18. 18 so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
  19. 19 "Don't lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal;
  20. 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don't break through and steal;
  21. 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
  22. 22 "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light.
  23. 23 But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
  24. 24 No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can't serve both God and Mammon.
  25. 25 Therefore I tell you, don't be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
  26. 26 See the birds of the sky, that they don't sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you of much more value than they?
  27. 27 "Which of you by being anxious, can add one moment to his lifespan?
  28. 28 Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don't toil, neither do they spin,
  29. 29 yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these.
  30. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won't he much more clothe you, you of little faith?
  31. 31 "Therefore don't be anxious, saying, 'What will we eat?', 'What will we drink?' or, 'With what will we be clothed?'
  32. 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
  33. 33 But seek first God's Kingdom and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.
  34. 34 Therefore don't be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day's own evil is sufficient.

Matthew 6 continues the Sermon on the Mount, spoken by Jesus to disciples and crowds on a hillside in Galilee. Having just redefined the law's demands in chapter 5 — anger as murder, lust as adultery, love extended even to enemies — Jesus now turns to the practice of piety itself: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, the three acts of Jewish devotion, and then to money and worry, the two anxieties that compete with devotion for the human heart.

6:5-6 Enter into your inner room

The instruction not to pray "as the hypocrites" who stand in synagogues and street corners "that they may be seen by men" (6:5) is not a ban on public prayer as such — Jesus himself prays in public elsewhere in this Gospel, and the early church prayed together constantly. The target is named precisely: the goal of being seen, φανῶσιν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις. The remedy Jesus gives — "enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret" (6:6) — uses ταμεῖον, a small storeroom or closet, the most private space in an ordinary house. This is not a law that all prayer must be literally solitary; it is a diagnostic. The question the verse presses is not location but audience: who the prayer is performed for. "They have received their reward" (6:5) is deliberately flat and commercial — ἀπέχουσιν, "they have it in full, paid out." The applause was the wage, and the transaction is closed. Nothing further is owing from the Father, because nothing was addressed to him.

6:9-13 Our Father, who art in heaven

The prayer Jesus gives as the pattern — "Pray like this" (6:9), not "pray these exact words only" — moves in a fixed order that readers over centuries have noticed is not accidental: God's name, kingdom, and will come before any human need is named, and even the request for bread is communal ("give us," "our," not "give me"). Two phrases have generated real difficulty. "Our daily bread" (6:11) translates ἐπιούσιον, a word that occurs almost nowhere else in Greek literature — early commentators, including Origen, thought Matthew or the tradition behind him may have coined it. It has been read as "bread for today," "bread for the coming day," or even, patristically, as a hint toward the Eucharist ("bread for existence" or "supersubstantial bread," as Jerome's Vulgate rendering suggests) — but the plain sense, bread sufficient for the present day, matches the chapter's later insistence on not living anxiously toward tomorrow (6:34). "Bring us not into temptation" (6:13) has troubled readers who ask why God would need asked not to lead someone into πειρασμός, a word that covers both "temptation" and "testing" — the request is best read not as fear that God is the tempter (contrast James's later denial of that) but as a plea to be spared trials severe enough to break faith, paired with the positive request to be rescued, ῥῦσαι, "from the evil one" or "from evil" — the Greek τοῦ πονηροῦ is grammatically ambiguous between the abstraction and the person.

6:14-15 If you forgive... but if you don't

The prayer's request for forgiveness (6:12) is immediately unpacked in verses that state a conditional relationship between human and divine forgiveness with no softening: "if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you... but if you don't forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (6:14-15). This is not a bargain by which forgiveness is earned — the rest of Matthew's Gospel, and the whole shape of the gospel, makes forgiveness a gift, not a wage. The claim is narrower and harder to evade: a person who will not forgive has not actually received what forgiveness is. To hold a debt against another while asking God to cancel one's own is the posture the parable of the unforgiving servant later exposes in this Gospel — an internal contradiction, not an external rule.

6:19-21 Where your treasure is

"Don't lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth" (6:19) is not a general suspicion of possessions but a comparison of two economies: one where moth, rust, and thieves have jurisdiction, and one where they do not. The imperative in verse 20 is positive — lay up treasure in heaven — which means the passage is not asceticism for its own sake but a redirection of investment. Verse 21 states the psychological law that makes the whole passage work: "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." The heart does not choose its treasure after the fact; it follows it. Basil the Great presses this same logic concretely in his sixth homily: "The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked" — treasure withheld on earth is treasure that never crosses over.

6:24 You cannot serve God and mammon

"No one can serve two masters" (6:24) uses δουλεύειν, the verb for slavery, not employment — the image is not divided attention but exclusive ownership. Mammon (μαμωνᾷ) is Aramaic for wealth or property, personified here as a rival lord. The verse does not say wealth is evil; it says wealth functions as a claimant on total allegiance, and total allegiance cannot be split. This sets up the transition to anxiety in verse 25 precisely because worry about provision is what happens when mammon, not the Father, is trusted to secure the future.

6:25-34 Seek first the kingdom

"Therefore I tell you, don't be anxious for your life" (6:25) follows logically from the two masters just named — anxiety about food and clothing is the emotional signature of serving mammon rather than the Father who already knows what is needed (6:32). The argument runs from lesser to greater twice: birds neither sow nor reap yet are fed (6:26); lilies neither toil nor spin yet are clothed beyond Solomon (6:28-29) — "if therefore" (6:30) makes explicit that the comparison is a logical inference, not merely a comforting image. The command is not a case for passivity — birds still fly and lilies still grow, doing what is proper to them — but against μεριμνᾶτε, a corrosive, forward-leaning worry that tries to secure tomorrow today. "Which of you by being anxious, can add one moment to his lifespan?" (6:27) names the futility directly: worry is causally powerless even by its own logic. "Seek first God's Kingdom and his righteousness" (6:33) reorders the priorities named at the start of the chapter — the pagan pursuit is "all these things" first (6:32); the disciple's pursuit is the kingdom first, with the rest following, not guaranteed in quantity but promised in sufficiency. "Each day's own evil is sufficient" (6:34) closes the chapter with the same rationing logic as the daily bread of verse 11: grace, like bread, is dispensed one day at a time, and today's portion is enough for today.

What the chapter asks

The chapter asks where the audience for a life is located — whether righteousness is performed for men or done before a Father who sees in secret — and it asks what has final claim on the heart, since treasure, master, and worry all point the same direction: toward whatever a person actually trusts to secure their future. The chapter does not offer techniques for better performance of religion or better management of anxiety. It asks for a single, undivided allegiance, and states plainly that everything else — bread, forgiveness, clothing, tomorrow — is provided within that, not instead of it.

The verses this turns on

Matthew 6:5 WEB
"When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward.
discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904

Καὶ ὅταν προσεύχησθε, οὐκ ἔσεσθε ὡς οἱ ὑποκριταί· ὅτι φιλοῦσιν ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς καὶ ἐν ταῖς γωνίαις τῶν πλατειῶν ἑστῶτες προσεύχεσθαι, ὅπως φανῶσιν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις· ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἀπέχουσιν τὸν μισθὸν αὐτῶν.

  • Καὶ καί conjunction G2532
  • ὅταν ὅταν conjunction G3752
  • προσεύχησθε, προσεύχομαι verb · present middle or passive deponent subjunctive, 2nd person plural G4336
  • οὐκ οὐ particle · nominative G3756
  • ἔσεσθε εἰμί verb · future middle deponent indicative, 2nd person plural G1510
  • ὡς ὡς adverb G5613
  • οἱ ὁ article · nominative plural masculine G3588
  • ὑποκριταί· ὑποκριτής noun · nominative plural masculine G5273
  • ὅτι ὅτι conjunction G3754
  • φιλοῦσιν φιλέω verb · present active indicative, 3rd person plural G5368
  • ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
  • ταῖς ὁ article · dative plural feminine G3588

Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.

See also 5
  1. Matthew 6:2 Therefore, when you do merciful deeds, don't sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from men. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.
  2. Luke 18:10 "Two men went up into the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector.
  3. Luke 18:13 But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn't even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his chest, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'
  4. Mark 11:25 Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father, who is in heaven, may also forgive you your transgressions.
  5. Isaiah 55:6 Seek Yahweh while he may be found. Call on him while he is near.
Matthew 6:6 WEB
But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904

σὺ δὲ ὅταν προσεύχῃ, εἴσελθε εἰς τὸ ταμεῖόν σου καὶ κλείσας τὴν θύραν σου πρόσευξαι τῷ Πατρί σου τῷ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ· καὶ ὁ Πατήρ σου ὁ βλέπων ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ ἀποδώσει σοι.

  • σὺ σύ personal pronoun G4771
  • δὲ δέ conjunction G1161
  • ὅταν ὅταν conjunction G3752
  • προσεύχῃ, προσεύχομαι verb · present middle or passive deponent subjunctive, 2nd person singular G4336
  • εἴσελθε εἰσέρχομαι verb · aorist active imperative, 2nd person singular G1525
  • εἰς εἰς preposition G1519
  • τὸ ὁ article · accusative singular neuter G3588
  • ταμεῖόν ταμεῖον noun · accusative singular neuter G5009
  • σου σύ personal pronoun G4771
  • καὶ καί conjunction G2532
  • κλείσας κλείω verb · aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine G2808
  • τὴν ὁ article · accusative singular feminine G3588

Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.

See also 5
  1. 2 Kings 4:33 He went in therefore, and shut the door on them both, and prayed to Yahweh.
  2. Matthew 14:23 After he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into the mountain by himself to pray. When evening had come, he was there alone.
  3. Isaiah 65:24 It will happen that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
  4. Acts 9:40 Peter sent them all out, and knelt down and prayed. Turning to the body, he said, "Tabitha, get up!" She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.
  5. Psalm 34:15 Yahweh's eyes are toward the righteous. His ears listen to their cry.
Matthew 6:9 WEB
Pray like this: "'Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904

οὕτως οὖν προσεύχεσθε ὑμεῖς Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς· Ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου·

  • οὕτως οὕτω adverb G3779
  • οὖν οὖν conjunction G3767
  • προσεύχεσθε προσεύχομαι verb · present middle or passive deponent imperative, 2nd person plural G4336
  • ὑμεῖς σύ personal pronoun G4771
  • Πάτερ πατήρ noun · vocative singular masculine G3962
  • ἡμῶν ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
  • ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
  • ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
  • τοῖς ὁ article · dative plural masculine G3588
  • οὐρανοῖς· οὐρανός noun · dative plural masculine G3772
  • Ἁγιασθήτω ἁγιάζω verb · aorist passive imperative, 3rd person singular G37
  • τὸ ὁ article · nominative singular neuter G3588

Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.

See also 5
  1. Revelation 4:11 "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, the Holy One, to receive the glory, the honor, and the power, for you created all things, and because of your desire they existed and were created!"
  2. Luke 11:1 When he finished praying in a certain place, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples."
  3. Romans 8:15 For you didn't receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"
  4. Psalm 111:9 He has sent redemption to his people. He has ordained his covenant forever. His name is holy and awesome!
  5. Isaiah 64:8 But now, Yahweh, you are our Father. We are the clay and you our potter. We all are the work of your hand.
Matthew 6:11 WEB
Give us today our daily bread.
discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904

Τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον·

  • Τὸν ὁ article · accusative singular masculine G3588
  • ἄρτον ἄρτος noun · accusative singular masculine G740
  • ἡμῶν ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
  • τὸν ὁ article · accusative singular masculine G3588
  • ἐπιούσιον ἐπιούσιος adjective · accusative singular masculine G1967
  • δὸς δίδωμι verb · aorist active imperative, 2nd person singular G1325
  • ἡμῖν ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
  • σήμερον· σήμερον adverb G4594

Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.

See also 5
  1. Proverbs 30:8 Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me,
  2. Luke 11:3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
  3. Matthew 4:4 But he answered, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of God's mouth.'"
  4. Psalm 34:10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but those who seek Yahweh shall not lack any good thing.
  5. John 6:31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, 'He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.'"
Matthew 6:12 WEB
Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904

καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν, ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφήκαμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν·

  • καὶ καί conjunction G2532
  • ἄφες ἀφίημι verb · aorist active imperative, 2nd person singular G863
  • ἡμῖν ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
  • τὰ ὁ article · accusative plural neuter G3588
  • ὀφειλήματα ὀφείλημα noun · accusative plural neuter G3783
  • ἡμῶν, ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
  • ὡς ὡς adverb G5613
  • καὶ καί conjunction G2532
  • ἡμεῖς ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
  • ἀφήκαμεν ἀφίημι verb · aorist active indicative, 1st person plural G863
  • τοῖς ὁ article · dative plural masculine G3588
  • ὀφειλέταις ὀφειλέτης noun · dative plural masculine G3781

Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.

See also 5
  1. Ephesians 4:31-32 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.
  2. Mark 11:25 Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father, who is in heaven, may also forgive you your transgressions.
  3. Ephesians 1:7 In him we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace
  4. Matthew 18:21-22 Then Peter came and said to him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times? Jesus said to him, I don't tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.
  5. Colossians 3:13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.
Matthew 6:13 WEB
Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.'
discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904

καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ.

  • καὶ καί conjunction G2532
  • μὴ μή particle · nominative G3361
  • εἰσενέγκῃς εἰσφέρω verb · aorist active subjunctive, 2nd person singular G1533
  • ἡμᾶς ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
  • εἰς εἰς preposition G1519
  • πειρασμόν, πειρασμός noun · accusative singular masculine G3986
  • ἀλλὰ ἀλλά conjunction G235
  • ῥῦσαι ῥύομαι verb · aorist middle deponent imperative, 2nd person singular G4506
  • ἡμᾶς ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
  • ἀπὸ ἀπό preposition G575
  • τοῦ ὁ article · genitive singular masculine G3588
  • πονηροῦ. πονηρός adjective · genitive singular masculine G4190

Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.

See also 5
  1. 1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
  2. John 17:15 I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one.
  3. Revelation 7:14 I told him, "My lord, you know." He said to me, "These are those who came out of the great suffering. They washed their robes and made them white in the Lamb's blood.
  4. Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray, that you don't enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
  5. 2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.
Matthew 6:14 WEB
"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904

Ἐὰν γὰρ ἀφῆτε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὰ παραπτώματα αὐτῶν, ἀφήσει καὶ ὑμῖν ὁ Πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος·

  • Ἐὰν ἐάν conditional G1437
  • γὰρ γάρ conjunction G1063
  • ἀφῆτε ἀφίημι verb · aorist active subjunctive, 2nd person plural G863
  • τοῖς ὁ article · dative plural masculine G3588
  • ἀνθρώποις ἄνθρωπος noun · dative plural masculine G444
  • τὰ ὁ article · accusative plural neuter G3588
  • παραπτώματα παράπτωμα noun · accusative plural neuter G3900
  • αὐτῶν, αὐτός personal pronoun · genitive plural masculine G846
  • ἀφήσει ἀφίημι verb · future active indicative, 3rd person singular G863
  • καὶ καί conjunction G2532
  • ὑμῖν σύ personal pronoun G4771
  • ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588

Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.

See also 5
  1. Ephesians 4:31-32 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.
  2. Mark 11:25 Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father, who is in heaven, may also forgive you your transgressions.
  3. Colossians 3:13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.
  4. Matthew 7:2 For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you.
  5. James 2:13 For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Matthew 6:19 WEB
"Don't lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal;
discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904

Μὴ θησαυρίζετε ὑμῖν θησαυροὺς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ὅπου σὴς καὶ βρῶσις ἀφανίζει, καὶ ὅπου κλέπται διορύσσουσιν καὶ κλέπτουσιν·

  • Μὴ μή particle · nominative G3361
  • θησαυρίζετε θησαυρίζω verb · present active imperative, 2nd person plural G2343
  • ὑμῖν σύ personal pronoun G4771
  • θησαυροὺς θησαυρός noun · accusative plural masculine G2344
  • ἐπὶ ἐπί preposition G1909
  • τῆς ὁ article · genitive singular feminine G3588
  • γῆς, γῆ noun · genitive singular feminine G1093
  • ὅπου ὅπου adverb G3699
  • σὴς σής noun · nominative singular masculine G4597
  • καὶ καί conjunction G2532
  • βρῶσις βρῶσις noun · nominative singular feminine G1035
  • ἀφανίζει, ἀφανίζω verb · present active indicative, 3rd person singular G853

Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.

See also 5
  1. Hebrews 13:5 Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.
  2. 1 John 2:15 Don't love the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father's love isn't in him.
  3. Luke 12:21 So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."
  4. Proverbs 23:4 Don't weary yourself to be rich. In your wisdom, show restraint.
  5. Proverbs 11:4 Riches don't profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

From the interpretive tradition

The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked.
Basil the Great Homily VI.7 father · eastern public domain
There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us.
Richard Sibbes The Bruised Reed, ch. 2 pastor · puritan public domain

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