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"You should try and settle things even as your enemy is dragging you to court. Otherwise
he might place you into the hands of the judge, and the judge, into the custody of the bailiff,
who may, in turn, throw you into prison! I say to you most assuredly, you will not be
let out until you have paid back the last cent.
"You have heard that people have said, ‘Do not cheat on your spouse.’ I, however, am
telling you now that anyone who looks a woman over and wishes to have his way with her is
an adulterer already. If your right eye is a conduit of evil, then poke it out and throw
it away. If your right hand is an instrument for wrongdoing, then cut it off and cast it
aside. Better to lose a body part than to walk fully intact right into Gehenna!
"People have said, ‘Anyone who puts away his wife has but to issue her a certificate
of divorce.’ I, however, am telling you now that anyone who divorces his wife for
anything but unfaithfulness forces her into adultery, since anyone who marries this woman
becomes guilty of adultery. "Moreover, in ages past you have heard that
it was said, ‘Do not go back on your oaths, but follow through on your vows to the Lord.’
But I am telling you to never swear. Do not swear by heaven, since it is the throne of
God; nor by this world, since that is His footrest; nor by Jerusalem, since that place
belongs to the Great King. Do not even swear by your head, since you can neither whiten
nor darken so much as a single strand. Simply let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your
‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is of the evil one.
"You have heard it said, ‘An eye in exchange for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ I
am telling you otherwise. Do not oppose an evil man. If anyone should strike your cheek,
turn the other one his way as well. Also, if someone wishes to sue you for the clothes
on your back, let him have your underclothes. If anyone obliges you to go a mile, then go
with him two. Should anyone ask you for something, then give it to them, and do not ignore the
one who asks you for a loan. "You have heard that it was said, ‘Show
love for a friend, but hatred for an enemy.’ But I am saying to those of you who hear my
words, show love to your enemies, blessing those who curse you, doing good to those who
hate you, and extending your prayers toward those who wrong you. If someone should hit
you on the cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone should take your clothes,
do not keep him from stealing your underclothes. Give to everyone who asks of you, and if anyone
should take what’s yours, do not insist on its return. This is so that you may be
sons to your heavenly Father. He orders His sun to rise over the wicked and the righteous,
and He sends rain upon both the virtuous and the sinful. How is it to your credit, (and)
what reward can you hope to receive for loving those who love you back? Do not even the tax-collectors
do that? Even ‘sinners’ show love toward those who love them. And if you only acknowledge
your friends, what are you doing that these others are not? Do not even the pagans do
this? And if you are only kind to those who show you benevolence, tell me how that makes
you special? Even ‘sinners’ do as much as that. What credit can you hope to receive
by lending to those from whom you fully expect to receive payment in kind? Even ‘sinners’
grant loans to ‘sinners’ in full expectation of repayment. Rather, show your enemies what
love is, and perform acts of kindness even to them. It is more blessed to give than to
receive. Should you have any money, do not lend it at interest. Present it instead to
those from whom you will not receive it back. Grant loans to them without any terms of recompense,
that way your return will indeed be great, and you will truly be the sons of the Most
High, since He shows kindness toward the reprobate and the unappreciative alike. Embody mercy
(and) perfection even as your Father in heaven embodies [them].
"Take pains to avoid doing kind works in public, for everyone to see. If you should, your Father
in heaven will not reward you. So when you are helping out the impoverished do not proclaim
it with trumpet blasts, receiving praises from men as do the hypocrites in the synagogues
and in the streets. You can be sure that they have already received their wages. You, however,
when giving to the poor, do not even inform your left hand of the doings of your right,
that your giving might remain unseen. Your Father, Who examines all that is hidden, will
pay you back. "And do not pray on like the hypocrites do,
for they all like to be seen by men; they stand in prayer before synagogues and at street
corners. I am telling you the truth, they already have the payment they crave. When
you pray, enter into your room, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father, Who is
hidden. Then your Father will pay you back, for He sees what is done in secret. And do
not pray on like the pagans do, for they think that they will be heard for all their blather.
Your Father knows all about your needs way before you even ask, so do not seek to be
like them. Here is a pattern for your prayers: "Dearest Father in heaven,
Blessed be Your name! May Your kingdom come,
And Your will be done on earth As it is in heaven.
Give us this day Our daily bread
(And that which is) for the next, And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptations,
But guard us against (the) evil (of) the wicked one.
For the kingdom, the dominion and the praises Are Yours for never-ending ages.
Amen. You see, if you forgive what men do to you,
then your Father in the heavens will forgive you, too. But if you don’t forgive the sins
of men, then your Father won’t forgive your sins.
"Whenever you fast, do not go around looking dismal like the hypocrites do, because they
make all kinds of faces so that men will be sure to see that they are fasting. I tell
you most assuredly, they have the reward that they are after. But when you fast, rub anointing
oil over your head, and scrub your face, so that people might not mark your observance.
But your Father, who cannot be seen, will indeed take note; and your Father, Who sees
what is done in secret, will reward you. "Do not hoard up wealth on earth, where moth
and rust decay, and burglars break in and steal. Rather, stockpile riches in the sky,
where moth and rust do not break down, and thieves do not purloin. For whatever the leaning
of your heart, the things you value will be close at hand."
"Reveal to us your place of life," his disciples implored him, "since we all must seek for
it!" He responded, "Those of you with two good ears, listen here! There is within a
luminous being a light that shines throughout all things. If it should remain unlit, then
everything will be obscured. The ‘eye’ is the ‘lamp of the body;’ if your eye
is undivided, then your body will beam with light. But if your eyes should be divided,
then your entire body will be eclipsed by darkness. If the light within should remain
obscured, then that darkness is indeed profound! "A person cannot ride two horses, nor yet
can he draw two bows; neither can he serve two masters. He will either hate the one and
love the other, or else be loyal to the one while disdaining the other. You cannot serve
both God and Mammon. "And for this reason do I say, do not fret
about your life, what you are going to eat or drink; nor over your body, what you are
going to wear. Is not life a weightier matter than food, and the body for more than mere
clothing? Think about the birds of the sky; they neither plant, nor harvest, nor stockpile
in barns, yet their heavenly Father nourishes them. Are you not more precious than these?
Who among you can add an hour to his life, (or) a cubit to his height?
"And why trouble yourselves when it comes to your clothes? Think about the lilies in
the field, which do not strive, nor do they weave. All the same, I can assure you that
even Solomon decked in his finest apparel pales in comparison to even one of these.
Fret not from daybreak until sunset, nor from sunset until daybreak your --the
things that to eat; --the things that you
to wear. If God arrays field grass in such splendor, being here today and tossed into
the flames tomorrow, will He not clothe you even better, oh you stunted of faith? superior to the lilies, which neither strive nor As for yourselves, when
you have no clothes, what on? Who is the One that can lengthen your
life? The very Same will give you your clothes! So do not get all worked up, saying, ‘What
are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ The Pagans chase
after all of these things, but your Father in heaven knows that you need them. Therefore
seek His kingdom first, together with His righteousness, and every one of these things
will be added on to you. Seek for things that are superior, and the inferior things will
be given as well; seek after the things of heaven, and the things of the earth will be
thrown into the bargain. For this reason, do not dwell on tomorrow, for tomorrow will
dwell on itself. Each day, you see, has distresses sufficient for the duration thereof.