¹⁷“Do not think that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets. I have not come to destroy them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one tiny letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all takes place. ¹⁹Therefore whoever abolishes one of the least of these commandments and teaches people to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever keeps them and teaches them, this person will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰For I say to you that unless your righteousness greatly surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter into the kingdom of heaven.

The Sermon on the Mount: Anger Toward Others

²¹“You have heard that it was said to the people of old,^a ‘Do not commit murder,’^b and ‘whoever commits murder will be subject to judgment.’ ²²But I say to you that everyone who is angry at his brother will be subject to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, ‘Stupid fool!’^c will be subject to the council, and whoever says, ‘Obstinate fool!’^d will be subject to fiery hell. ²³Therefore if you present your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴leave your gift there before the altar and first go be reconciled to your brother, and then come and^* present your gift. ²⁵Settle the case quickly with your accuser^e while you are with him on the way, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. ²⁶Truly I say to you, you will never come out of there until you have paid back the last penny!

The Sermon on the Mount: Adultery and Lust

²⁷“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’^f ²⁸But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹And if your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it from you! For it is better for you that one of your members be destroyed than your whole body be thrown into hell. ³⁰And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it from you! For it is better for you that one of your limbs be destroyed than your whole body go into hell.

The Sermon on the Mount: Divorce

³¹“And it was said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’^g ³²But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for a matter of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

The Sermon on the Mount: Taking Oaths

³³“Again you have heard that it was said to the people of old,^h ‘Do not swear falsely,ⁱ but fulfill your oaths to the Lord.’^j ³⁴But I say to you, do not swear at all, either by heaven, because it is the throne of God, ³⁵or by the earth, because it is the footstool of his feet, or by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great king. ³⁶And do not swear by your head, because you are not able to make one hair white or black. ³⁷But let your statement be ‘Yes, yes; no, no,’ and anything beyond these is from the evil one.^k

Read in Logos

Matthew 5:17: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Footnotes

aLiterally “ancients”
bA quotation from Exod 20:13; Deut 5:17
cGreek “Raca,” a term of verbal abuse involving lack of intelligence
dPerhaps with the idea of obstinate, godless foolishness; some take the word to be a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew word for “rebel” (Deut 21:18, 20)
*Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“come”) has been translated as a finite verb
eLiterally “be making friends quickly with your accuser”
fA quotation from Exod 20:14; Deut 5:17
gA quotation from Deut 24:1
hLiterally “ancients”
iOr “do not break your oath”
jA quotation from Lev 19:12
kOr “is of evil”