Matthew 6:9–34

The Model Prayer

⁹“Therefore, you should pray like this: ^s

Our Father in heaven,

Your name be honored as holy. ^t

¹⁰Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven. ^u

¹¹Give us today our daily bread. ^v

¹²And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors. ^w

¹³And do not bring us into ^x temptation, ^y

but deliver us from the evil one. ^za

[For Yours is the kingdom and the power

and the glory forever. ^•Amen.] ^b

¹⁴“For if you forgive people their wrongdoing, ^cyour heavenly Father will forgive you as well. ^d15But if you don’t forgive people, ^eyour Father will not forgive your wrongdoing. ^f

How to Fast

¹⁶“Whenever you fast, don’t be sad-faced like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive ^ghso their fasting is obvious to people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward! ¹⁷But when you fast, put oil on your head, and wash your face, ⁱ¹⁸so that you don’t show your fasting to people but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. ^j

God and Possessions

¹⁹“Don’t collect for yourselves treasures ^kon earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. ^l20But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, ^mwhere neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

²²“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. ²³But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness—how deep is that darkness! ⁿ

²⁴“No one can be a ^•slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money. ^o

The Cure for Anxiety

²⁵“This is why I tell you: ^pDon’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? ^q26Look at the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? ^r27Can any of you add a single ^•cubit to his height ^sby worrying? ²⁸And why do you worry about clothes? Learn how the wildflowers of the field grow: they don’t labor or spin thread. ²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! ³⁰If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t He do much more for you—you of little faith? ^t31So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ ³²For the idolaters ^ueagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first the kingdom of God ^vwand His righteousness, ^xand all these things will be provided for you. ^y34Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble ^zof its own.