The Sermon on the Mount
Mt 5:1-8:1; cp. Lk 6:17-49
The Sermon on the Mount
(Mt 5:1-8:1; cp. Lk 6:17-49)
5:1When he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountain and sat down, and his disciples came to him. 2He started teaching:
3“Blessed spiritually are the poor;
the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.
4“Blessed are the ones in mourning;
they’ll be comforted.
5“Blessed are the humble;
they’ll inherit the earth.
6“Blessed are the ones who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness;
they’ll be satisfied.
7“Blessed are the merciful;
they’ll receive mercy.
8“Blessed are the pure in heart;
they’ll see God.
9“Blessed are the peacemakers;
they’ll be called God’s sons.
10“Blessed are the ones that are persecuted for living right;
the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.
11“Blessed are you when people insult you, mistreat you, say all kinds of things about you as evil because of me. 12Be glad, because you have a great reward in heaven. They mistreated the prophets before you the same way.
13“You’re the salt of the earth; but if salt loses its saltiness, what can make it salty? It’s not good for anything but to be thrown out for people to walk on. 14You’re the light of the world. A city on a hill can’t hide. 15Nobody lights a lamp and sticks it under a basket; he puts on a stand. That way it gives light to everybody in the house. 16Let your light shine so people can see the good things you’re doing and glorify your Father in heaven.
17“Don’t get the impression that I’m here to destroy the law or the prophets. I’m not here to destroy them, but to fulfill them. 18Earth and sky will pass away, but not one iota or one serif will pass away from the law till everything’s accomplished. 19So whoever breaks one of its least commandments and teaches people that way, is least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them is great in the kingdom of heaven. 20Unless the way you live is better than what the scribes and Pharisees do, you won’t even get in the kingdom of heaven.
21“You’ve heard that God said a long time ago, ‘DON’T MURDER’ [Ex 20:13]; ‘whoever commits murder faces condemnation.’ 22I’m telling you, anybody that’s mad at his brother faces condemnation. Whoever says to his brother, ‘You good for nothing . . .’ has to face the Sanhedrin. Whoever says, ‘You idiot,’ faces a burning hell. 23So if you’re bringing your gift to the altar and remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave it at the altar and go reconcile with him. Then come and offer your gift. 25Come to terms with your opponent quickly while you’re on the way to court with him, so he won’t deliver you to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the constable, and the constable put you in jail. 26You won’t get out till you pay the last dime.
27“You’ve heard, ‘DON’T COMMIT ADULTERY’ [Ex 20:14; Deut 5:8]. 28I’m telling you, anybody that looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye is causing you problems, pull it out and throw it away. It’s better to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to get thrown in hell. 30If your right hand is causing you problems, cut it off and throw it away. It’s better to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go to hell.
31“It’s been said, ‘WHOEVER DIVORCES HIS WIFE HAS TO GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE” [Deut 24:1]. 32I’m tell you, whoever divorces his wife—except for adultery—is treating her like an adulteress, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
33“Again, you’vepl heard that God said a long time ago, ‘DON’T SWEAR FALSELY’; ‘PERFORMsg YOUR OATHS TO THE LORD’ [Lev 19:12; Num 30:3; Deut 23:22]. 34I’m telling youpl not to swear at all—not by heaven, it’s God’s throne; 35not by the earth, it’s his footstool; not by Jerusalem, it’s the city of the Great King; 36not by your head, you can’t make one hair white or black. 37Just say, ‘yes’ or ‘no’; anything more than that has evil in it.
38“You’ve heard, ‘AN EYE FOR AN EYE’ and ‘A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH’ [Ex 21:24; Lev 24:20; Deut 19:21]. 39I’m telling you not to try to get even with evil. 40Whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other one to him too. If somebody sues you for your shirt, give him your coat too. 41If somebody conscripts you to go one mile, go with him two. 42Give to whoever asks you, and don’t turn away from anybody that wants to borrow from you.
43“You’ve heard, ‘LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR [Lev 19:18] and hate your enemy.’ 44I’m telling youpl, love your enemies and pray for people that mistreat you, 45so you can be like your Father in heaven. He raises his sun on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. 46If you love the ones that love you, what credit is that to you? Don’t tax collectors do that much? 47If you say ‘Hi’ just to your buddies, what’s special about that? Don’t even pagans do that? 48You be perfect like he is.
6:1“Beware of practicing yourpl goodness in public so people will see you. Otherwise, you won’t have any reward from your Father in heaven.
2“When yousg donate to benevolence, don’t blow a trumpet like hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets so people will look up to them. They have all the reward they’re going to get. 3When you donate to benevolence, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand’s doing. 4That way your benevolence will be private; and you Father who sees in private will reward you [openly]ms.
5“When youpl pray, don’t do like the hypocrites. They love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners so people will see them. They have all the reward they’re going to get. 6When you pray, go to your room, lock the door, and pray to your Father in private. Your Father who sees in private will reward you [openly]ms.
7“When youpl pray, don’t say things over and over like pagans do. That doesn’t mean anything. They think they’ll be listened to because they say lots of words. 8Don’t be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9Yousg pray like this,
‘Our Father in heaven,
You are holy.
10We want your kingdom to come,
and your will to be done
in the world like it is in heaven.
11Give us our food today.
12Forgive us our sins
like we’ve forgiven sinners against us.
13Lead us away from temptation
and evil,
[because the kingdom, power, and glory
belong to you forever. Amen.]ms
14If youpl forgive people of their sins, your heavenly Father will forgive yours. 15If you don’t, he won’t forgive you.
16“When youpl fast, don’t do like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance to show people they’re fasting. They have all the reward they’re going to get. 17When yousg fast, anoint your head and wash your face 18so you won’t be showing people you’re fasting. Your Father who sees in private will reward you [openly]ms.
19“Don’t save up treasure on earth, where moths and rust ruin things and thieves break in and steal them. 20Save up treasure in heaven, where moths and rust don’t ruin it, and thieves don’t break in and steal it. 21Your heart will be where your treasure is.
22“The eyes are the lamp for the body. If you have good eyes, your whole body will have light. 23If your eyes are bad, your whole body will be in the dark. If the light that’s in you is darkness, that’s serious darkness!
24“Nobody can serve two masters. He’ll disregard one and be loyal to the other. You can’t serve God and money. 25So don’t worry about your life, what you’ll eat, or about your body, what you’ll wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothes?
26“Look at the birds in the sky. They don’t plant or harvest or gather into barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than birds? 27Which of you by worrying can make himself eighteen inches taller? 28Why worry about clothes? Look how wild flowers grow. They don’t labor or spin, 29but Solomon in all his splendor didn’t dress like one of them. 30If God dresses the plants in the field this way—here today and thrown in an oven tomorrow—won’t he much more dress you, you with little faith?
31“So don’t worry, ‘What’re we going to eat!?’ ‘What’re we going to wear!?’ 32Gentiles strain after things like that. Your heavenly Father knows you need them. 33Strive for his kingdom and his righteousness, and they’ll come along with it. 34Don’t worry about tomorrow; one day has enough to worry about.
7:1“Don’t criticize, and you won’t be criticized. 2The criticism you criticize with you’ll get criticized by; the measure you measure with you’ll be measured by. 3Why look at a speck of sawdust in somebody else’s eye, and not see the log in your own? 4How can you say, ‘Let me get the speck of sawdust out of your eye,’ when there’s a log in yours!? 5You hypocrite, get the log out of your own eye so you can see to get the speck of sawdust out of his.
6“Don’t give sacred things to dogs or throw pearls in front of pigs. They’ll trample them under their feet and turn on you and tear you apart.
7“Ask and you’ll get, seek and you’ll find, knock and it’ll open for you. 8People that ask get, people that seek find, and people that knock it opens for. 9If your boy asks for a loaf of bread, would you give him a rock? 10If he asks for a fish, would you give him a snake? 11If you that are evil know how to give good gifts to your kids, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to people that ask him? 12Treat other people the way you want them to treat you. That’s the law and the prophets.
13“Go through the narrow gate. It’s a wide road and a big gate that leads to destruction and many go through it. 14It’s a narrow path and a small gate that leads to life, and not many find it.
15“Watch out for false prophets that come to you in wool, but inside they’re wolves. 16You can recognize them by their fruit. People don’t gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles, do they? 17-18Good trees bear good fruit; bad trees bear bad fruit. 19Every tree that doesn’t bear good fruit gets chopped down and thrown in the fire. 20So, you can recognize them by their fruit.
21“Not everybody that says, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will get in the kingdom of heaven. It’s the ones that do the will of my Father in heaven. 22A lot of people will try to say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord,’ didn’t we prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do lots of miracles in your name? 23I’ll tell them, ‘I never knew you. Go away, sinners.’
24“Everybody that hears what I’ve said and does it, is like a smart man that built his house on bedrock. 25Rain fell, floods came, winds blew and beat on it; but it didn’t fall down. He built it on bedrock.
26“Everybody that hears what I’ve said and doesn’t do it, is like a foolish man that built his house on sand. 27Rain fell, floods came, winds blew and beat on it; and it fell down. It was a total loss.”
28When Jesus finished, the crowd marveled at his teaching. 29He taught them like somebody that had authority, not like their scribes did.