The Fallible Study Bible

The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible

Matthew6:1–4

Giving to the Needy

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

Matthew 6:1–4 — Giving to the Needy. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

1

“Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Prosechete de tēn mē poiein hymōn dikaiosynēn emprosthen tōn anthrōpōn pros to theathēnai autois ei de mē¦ge echete ouk misthon para tō hymōn Patri tō en tois ouranois

Word by word28 · parsed
ΠροσέχετεProsecheteBe carefulG4337
√ προσέχω — (figuratively) to hold the mind (3563 implied) towards, iVerbPresent Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
prosechō: to hold the mind toward Present imperative active, second person plural, and the only plural command in the paragraph before the singular “thou” takes over in v2. The compound (G4314 pros plus G2192 echō) is the language of a posted watch. What is guarded is not the righteousness but its direction; nothing in the sentence discourages the act itself.
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
τὴνtēnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
μὴmēnotG3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
Negation attached to the infinitive, not to the imperative: the prohibition falls on the doing-before-men, not on the doing.
ποιεῖνpoieinto performG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbPresent Infinitive Active
ὑμῶνhymōnyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Plural
δικαιοσύνηνdikaiosynēnrighteous actsG1343
√ δικαιοσύνη — equity (of character or act)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
dikaiosynē: equity of character or act The better manuscripts read righteousness here rather than alms, and Ellicott, Benson (following Doddridge and Beza), JFB, Cambridge and the Pulpit all adopt it; JFB argues internal evidence is decisive, since so read the verse “becomes a general heading for this whole section.” JFB ties the word to the righteousness of Matthew 5:20 that must exceed the scribes' and to the doing of righteousness in Psalm 106:3. Gill dissents, holding that righteousness here means alms only, by ordinary Jewish idiom; the Pulpit answers that δικαιοσύνη has that sense nowhere else in the New Testament and that ἐλεημοσύνη arrives in the very next verse.
ἔμπροσθενemprosthenbeforeG1715
√ ἔμπροσθεν — in front of (in place (literally or figuratively) or time)Preposition
τῶνtōnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ἀνθρώπωνanthrōpōnmenG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Plural
anthrōpos: man The same ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων stands in Matthew 5:16, where the light is commanded to shine before men. Ellicott notes the words are self-same, which is why the verse cannot be read as a ban on visibility.
πρὸςprosvvvG4314
√ πρός — a preposition of directionPreposition
τὸtovvvG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
θεαθῆναιtheathēnaito be seenG2300
√ θεάομαι — to look closely at, iVerbAorist Infinitive Passive
theaomai: to look closely at, to gaze Aorist passive infinitive under πρὸς τό, the construction of deliberate aim. Ellicott puts the whole weight on it: “It is the motive, and not the fact of publicity, that vitiates the action,” and then concedes that in most religious men the two motives mingle and “we dare not say at what precise stage the presence of the lower overpowers the higher.” Benson agrees that being seen is “a circumstance purely indifferent.”
αὐτοῖςautoisby themG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
εἰeiIfG1487
√ εἰ — if, whether, that, etcConjunction
δὲde[you do]G1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
μή¦γεmē¦ge. . .G1490
√ εἰ δὲ μή(γε) — but if notParticle
ἔχετεecheteyou will haveG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
οὐκouknoG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
μισθὸνmisthonrewardG3408
√ μισθός — pay for service (literally or figuratively), good or badNounAccusative Masculine Singular
misthos: pay for service, good or bad A wage word, not a gift word, and Strong's notes it can be pay of either kind. The Geneva note refuses the obvious inference: “This word reward is always taken in the scriptures for a free recompense.” The same noun returns at v2 in the hypocrites' settled account, and again at 6:5 and 6:16, tying the three examples into one refrain.
παρὰparafromG3844
√ παρά — properly, nearPreposition
Locative, not ablative: the wage is not withheld by the Father so much as never entered on his books. See the divergence on παρὰ τῷ Πατρὶ.
τῷtōG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
ὑμῶνhymōnyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Plural
ΠατρὶPatriFatherG3962
√ πατήρ — a "father" (literally or figuratively, near or more remote)NounDative Masculine Singular
patēr: father The Pulpit points out the drumbeat of “your Father” through this context: Matthew 5:48; 6:4, 6, 8, 15, 18 twice. The correction is not that the disciple should act before no one, but that the audience is being changed. A watching Father replaces a watching crowd, and the dative παρά keeps him in the room rather than at the end of history.
τῷtōG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τοῖςtoisG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Plural
οὐρανοῖςouranoisheavenG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounDative Masculine Plural
2

So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

oun Hotan poiēs eleēmosynēn salpisēs mē emprosthen sou hōsper hoi hypokritai poiousin en tais synagōgais kai en tais rhymais hopōs doxasthōsin hypo tōn anthrōpōn amēn legō hymin apechousin ton autōn misthon

Word by word31 · parsed
οὖνounSoG3767
√ οὖν — (adverbially) certainly, or (conjunctionally) accordinglyConjunction
ὍτανHotanwhenG3752
√ ὅταν — whenever (implying hypothesis or more or less uncertainty)Conjunction
ποιῇςpoiēsyou give to the needyG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbPresent Subjunctive Active2nd Person Singular
poieō: to make or do Present subjunctive with ὅταν: whenever, repeatedly. Jesus assumes the giving. Barnes: “Our Saviour here does not positively command his disciples to aid the poor, but supposes that they would do it of course, and gives them directions how to do it.”
ἐλεημοσύνηνeleēmosynēn. . .G1654
√ ἐλεημοσύνη — compassionateness, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
eleēmosynē: compassionateness Ellicott traces the whole life of the word: in the original Greek it was “the quality of mercy, or rather of ‘mercifulness,’” the practice of Hellenistic Jews limited it to money gifts, and it passed through Latin Christendom until “the word of six syllables and rich fulness of meaning contracts and collapses into our modern English ‘alms.’” Cambridge notes the same shrinkage overtaking agapē. The Greek here still carries the breadth the English has lost.
σαλπίσῃςsalpisēsdo not sound a trumpetG4537
√ σαλπίζω — to trumpet, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Active2nd Person Singular
salpizō: to trumpet Whether anything literal stands behind this is genuinely unsettled, and the sources disagree. Ellicott reports that the best scholars find no trace in Jewish literature of a trumpet sounded at almsgiving; Poole says those learned in the rabbinic writings “could never find in them any foundation for such an opinion”; the Pulpit quotes J. Lightfoot's flat negative. Cambridge and Edersheim point instead to the trumpet-shaped alms-chests in the Court of the Women, literally called trumpets in the Talmud, though the Pulpit calls that reading fanciful because Jesus used the verb, not the noun. The figure is certain; its referent is not.
μὴmē. . .G3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
ἔμπροσθένemprosthenbeforeG1715
√ ἔμπροσθεν — in front of (in place (literally or figuratively) or time)Preposition
σουsouyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
ὥσπερhōsperasG5618
√ ὥσπερ — just as, iAdverb
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ὑποκριταὶhypokritaihypocritesG5273
√ ὑποκριτής — an actor under an assumed character (stage-player), iNounNominative Masculine Plural
hypokritēs: an actor under an assumed character A stage word before it was a moral one. Ellicott derives it from the verb for answering or taking part in a dialogue and notes that in the LXX it appears in the figurative sense at Job 36:13 only; the Geneva gloss says plainly, “hypocrites were players that played a part in a play.” Cambridge sharpens the trajectory: “Such men begin by deceiving others, but end in self-deception.” The Pulpit cites Bishop Lightfoot on Galatians 2:13 for the assumed part that masks a man's genuine feelings.
ποιοῦσινpoiousindoG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ταῖςtaistheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Plural
συναγωγαῖςsynagōgaissynagoguesG4864
√ συναγωγή — an assemblage of personsNounDative Feminine Plural
synagōgē: an assemblage of persons Barnes notes the word need not mean the building: it “might mean, however, any ‘collection of people’ assembled for any purpose,” and he doubts charity was commonly bestowed in the synagogue proper. Cambridge answers that to this day alms are given in the Jewish synagogues.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐνenonG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ταῖςtaistheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Plural
ῥύμαιςrhymaisstreetsG4505
√ ῥύμη — an alley or avenue (as crowded)NounDative Feminine Plural
rhymē: an alley or avenue (as crowded) Rare: four verses in the whole New Testament. The other three are Luke 14:21, where the master's servant is sent into the lanes to fetch the poor, and Acts 9:11 and 12:10. The hypocrite performs in the same lane where the kingdom does its unadvertised work.
ὅπωςhopōstoG3704
√ ὅπως — what(-ever) how, iConjunction
δοξασθῶσινdoxasthōsinbe honoredG1392
√ δοξάζω — to render (or esteem) glorious (in a wide application)VerbAorist Subjunctive Passive3rd Person Plural
doxazō: to render or esteem glorious Aorist subjunctive passive under ὅπως, the purpose clause matching πρὸς τό in v1. The Pulpit is precise: “The thought, however, of the word is rather of the glory given than of their welcome reception of it,” and this glory is given to men “instead of this glory being given to God (ch. 5:16).” It is the same glory, rerouted.
ὑπὸhypobyG5259
√ ὑπό — under, iPreposition
τῶνtōnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ἀνθρώπωνanthrōpōnmenG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Plural
ἀμὴνamēnTrulyG281
√ ἀμήν — properly, firm, iHebrew Word
amēn: firm, verily A Hebrew word carried untranslated into the Greek and placed, unusually, at the head of the sentence rather than in response to another speaker. JFB: “In such august expressions, it is the Lawgiver and Judge Himself that we hear speaking to us.” What follows is a verdict, not an observation.
λέγωlegōI tellG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active1st Person Singular
ὑμῖνhyminyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
ἀπέχουσινapechousinthey already haveG568
√ ἀπέχω — (actively) to have out, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
apechō: to have out, to have in full Present indicative active, the receipt written in the present tense: the account is closed while they are still standing in the lane. Ellicott: “They bargained for that praise of men, and they get it.” Henry sees the sting: “The doom Christ passes, at first may seem a promise, but it is their reward.” Gill records the rabbinic parallel that he who glories in his own deed “takes his reward,” and notes the Ethiopic version renders it “they have lost their reward.” The verb is the exact counterweight to ἀποδώσει in v4: one account settled now, one still open with the Father.
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
αὐτῶνautōntheirG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
μισθὸνmisthonfull rewardG3408
√ μισθός — pay for service (literally or figuratively), good or badNounAccusative Masculine Singular
3

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de sou poiountos eleēmosynēn mē hē sou aristera gnōtō ti hē sou dexia poiei

Word by word14 · parsed
δὲdeBut [when]G1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
σοῦsouyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
ποιοῦντοςpoiountosgive to the needyG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbPresent Participle ActiveGenitive Masculine Singular
poieō: to make or do Present participle in a genitive absolute, the third appearance of this verb in three verses: righteousness is done (v1), the hypocrites do (v2), you are doing (v3). Cambridge observes that the singular “thou” runs through the almsgiving and prayer sections and these only, “because these duties are essentially personal and individual.” The plural command of v1 has narrowed to one person's hand.
ἐλεημοσύνηνeleēmosynēn. . .G1654
√ ἐλεημοσύνη — compassionateness, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
μὴmē{do} not {let}G3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
ἡhēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
σουsouyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
ἀριστεράaristeraleft [hand]G710
√ ἀριστερός — the left hand (as second-best)AdjectiveNominative Feminine Singular
aristeros: the left hand (as second-best) A rare word: four New Testament verses, the others being 2 Corinthians 6:7, Mark 10:37 and Luke 23:33. Ellicott thinks the phrase proverbial, indicating “in the form of free hyperbole, extremest secrecy,” and raises the possibility of a reference to the right hand's use in offering gifts at the altar. His symbolic reading, the right hand the higher element and the left the baser self-seeking, he marks himself as “an afterthought,” and we keep his caution.
γνώτωgnōtōknowG1097
√ γινώσκω — to "know" (absolutely) in a great variety of applications and with many implications (as follow, with others not thus clearly expressed)VerbAorist Imperative Active3rd Person Singular
ginōskō: to come to know Aorist imperative, third person singular. The object of the prohibition is not the neighbour's knowledge but the giver's own. Gill presses it to the limit: do it so privately “that, if it was possible, thou mightest not know it thyself.” Gill also cites a Jewish canon that a gift given to a friend out of love may be made known, “but not if it be by way of alms.” The command is aimed at the memory, which is where vainglory stores its receipts.
τίtiwhatG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
ἡhēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
σουsouyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
δεξιάdexiaright handG1188
√ δεξιός — the right side or (feminine) hand (as that which usually takes)AdjectiveNominative Feminine Singular
dexios: the right side or hand (as that which usually takes) Strong's own gloss carries the irony: the taking hand is the one here commanded to release. The pairing of right and left was already loaded in the tradition around this Gospel, as the request of Mark 10:37 and the placement of Luke 23:33 show. Here the two hands are separated so that no part of the self can keep an account of what it gave.
ποιεῖpoieiis doingG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
4

so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

hopōs sou hē eleēmosynē ē en tō kryptō kai ho sou Patēr ho blepōn en tō kryptō apodōsei soi

Word by word19 · parsed
ὅπωςhopōsso thatG3704
√ ὅπως — what(-ever) how, iConjunction
σουsouyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
ἡhēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
ἐλεημοσύνηeleēmosynēgivingG1654
√ ἐλεημοσύνη — compassionateness, iNounNominative Feminine Singular
eleēmosynē: compassionateness Now nominative, the subject of the verb “to be,” and the only place in the unit where alms is the grammatical subject rather than the object of ποιεῖν. The act has become a condition: what was something you do in v2 and v3 is something that is in v4. The Pulpit notes that the phrase ποιεῖν ἐλεημοσύνην occurs in the New Testament only at vv. 2 and 3, alms being viewed elsewhere as a gift (Luke 11:41; Luke 12:33) or as separate occasions (Acts 9:36; Acts 10:2); here it is a work, and then a standing state.
ᾖēmay beG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
eimi: I exist Present subjunctive under ὅπως, matching the ὅπως of v2 where the hypocrites' purpose was to be glorified. Two purpose clauses, two destinations. Ellicott warns against turning the result into a rule: “Publicity may be a duty, especially in public work,” and the word alms “refers rather to acts of mercy, to cases of individual suffering.”
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῷtōG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Singular
κρυπτῷkryptōsecretG2927
√ κρυπτός — concealed, iAdjectiveDative Neuter Singular
kryptos: concealed, hidden Articular dative with ἐν, used twice in one verse, of the alms and of the Father's seeing. Gill points to a literal instance: the chamber of secrets in the sanctuary, “into which pious persons put in secret, and the poor children of good men were maintained out of it privately,” and he adds the rabbinic judgment that giving publicly would have been better left undone. Cambridge records the Talmudic saying that “he that doeth alms in secret is greater than Moses,” and adds the indictment: “the Pharisees taught and did not.” The standard Jesus presses was already on the books.
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
σουsouyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
ΠατήρPatērFatherG3962
√ πατήρ — a "father" (literally or figuratively, near or more remote)NounNominative Masculine Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
βλέπωνblepōnwho seesG991
√ βλέπω — to look at (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
blepō: to look at Present participle with the article: not an act of seeing but a description of who the Father is, the one always looking. Ellicott notices that the attribute usually preached as a terror is here a consolation: omniscience “is commonly dwelt on as calculated to inspire a just fear of the All-seeing One,” but “here it is brought before us as an encouragement and ground of hope.” The eye that made concealment impossible is the same eye that makes concealment safe.
ἐνenvvvG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῷtōwhat is doneG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Singular
κρυπτῷkryptōin secretG2927
√ κρυπτός — concealed, iAdjectiveDative Neuter Singular
ἀποδώσειapodōseiwill rewardG591
√ ἀποδίδωμι — to give away, iVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
apodidōmi: to give away, to pay back Future indicative active, and the compound deliberately answers ἀπέχουσιν in v2: apo-having versus apo-giving. The hypocrites have drawn their pay in the lane; this giver will be paid by the Father. The Pulpit notes the same verb in the LXX of Isaiah 65:6-7 and says that when the recompense comes is simply not stated, though if our Lord is thinking of the reward of v1 and Matthew 5:12 it would naturally fall at the judgment day. Benson and Poole both take it of the last day before men and angels; Barnes and Poole allow that it often comes in this life. Henry keeps the character of the payer in view rather than the date.
σοιsoiyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Singular
Dative singular: the payment is made to one person, matching the singular “thou” that has governed since v2.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The heading over three duties, and the variant that hides it — 6:1

The first question in this unit is textual, and the commentators know it. Ellicott states it flatly: “The better MSS. give righteousness, and obviously with a far truer meaning, as the wider word which branches off afterwards into the three heads of alms, fasting, prayer.” JFB weighs the external evidence as “pretty nearly equal” and then decides on internal grounds, noting that a copyist would far more easily substitute the similar Greek word ἐλεημοσύνην for δικαιοσύνην than the reverse, and that with righteousness the verse “becomes a general heading for this whole section of the discourse.” Benson, following Doddridge and Beza, adopts the same reading because it “prevents the appearance of a tautology in the following words.” The Pulpit adds three grammatical reasons: δικαιοσύνη never means alms elsewhere in the New Testament, ἐλεημοσύνη arrives in the very next verse, and the emphatic position of τὴν δικαιοσύνην marks it as a collective term. Gill stands almost alone against them, arguing that “nothing being more common with the Jews than to call alms ‘righteousness,’” the narrower sense is intended, and that whatever word Matthew wrote, this was the word Christ used.

⚙ The stake is not antiquarian. On Gill's reading the paragraph is about money. On the reading the others adopt, Matthew 6:1 is the title page of everything through v18, and Jesus is not warning about one sin in one duty but naming the common disease of a whole religion at its best. Ellicott presses that further than anyone: Pharisaism's excellence, he says, was that it laid stress on almsgiving, fasting and prayer “rather than on sacrifices and offerings,” so that “a subtle evil found its way even here.” The warning lands where devotion is highest, which is why the Pulpit reads the connecting δέ as tying it back to the command to be perfect.

ii. The trumpet nobody can find, and the receipt everyone can read — 6:2

Four of our voices go looking for the trumpet and come back empty. Ellicott reports that “the best scholars have found no trace of any such practice in Jewish literature.” Poole says those learned in the rabbinic writings “assure us they could never find in them any foundation for such an opinion.” The Pulpit quotes John Lightfoot's own search and its result. Gill, who has read more of the sources than any of them, concedes “it does not appear that any such practice was literally performed,” and then supplies what the rabbinic rule actually says: the collectors of alms “collected privately, and put it into their bosom, and distributed it to everyone by himself.” Against this, Cambridge follows Edersheim to the trumpet-shaped alms-chests in the Court of the Women, called trumpets in the Talmud; the Pulpit judges the allusion “less fanciful if the substantive had been used instead of the verb.” Benson and Barnes keep the literal reading alive as a possibility. ⚙ We record the disagreement rather than settle it: the figure is certain, its referent is not, and nothing in the sentence's force depends on the answer.

What is not in doubt is the verdict. Cambridge: “Strictly, have in full. Their reward is now and on earth.” Ellicott: “They have to the full, and so exhaust.” The Pulpit supplies the technical sense from Bishop Lightfoot on Philippians 4:18, the preposition denoting “the full complement.” ⚙ Read with the lexicon, ἀπέχουσιν is not a threat but a bookkeeping entry, and Henry hears the trap in it: “The doom Christ passes, at first may seem a promise, but it is their reward.” The most frightening thing Jesus says about the hypocrite is that he gets exactly what he asked for.

iii. The hand that is not told, and the Father who is already looking — 6:3-6:4

Cambridge notices what is easy to miss: from v2 the commands go singular, and “the singular number is used throughout these instructions on the subject of almsgiving and prayer, and in these only.” The aorist imperative μὴ γνώτω then forbids not publicity but self-notice, and JFB reads it exactly so: “dwell not on it even in thine own thoughts, lest it minister to spiritual pride.” Gill pushes the hyperbole to its limit, and adds a Jewish canon that a gift of love may be told but alms may not. Ellicott offers the allegory of the higher and baser hand and honestly labels it “an afterthought.” Barnes and Gill agree with Benson that the phrase is proverbial for doing a thing secretly, Benson adding the practical qualification that the secrecy must be “consistent, 1st, with the doing it at all; 2d, with the doing it in the most effectual manner.”

Then the text withdraws its own supports. The best manuscripts have no “himself” and no “openly”; JFB calls the first an unauthorized addition, Ellicott calls the second “an early attempt to improve on our Lord's teaching,” and the Pulpit thinks the interpolation was made partly to say when God would act. Ellicott's conclusion is the sharpest thing in this unit: the reward “is not necessarily in this way, ‘openly,’ that God rewards His servants,” but may be “at once immediate, and, it may be, secret, the hidden manna, the joy with which a stranger doth not intermeddle.” ⚙ The copyists wanted a public payout to balance the private gift. The text as Matthew wrote it leaves the giver holding a promise with no date and no venue, which is precisely the test of whether the Father alone was ever the audience.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested. The paragraph is not built on a contrast between public and private. It is built on two prepositions and two verbs. The hypocrite acts ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων and is paid ἀπέχουσιν, in full, in the lane, in the present tense. The disciple's wage stands παρὰ τῷ Πατρὶ, with him, on his books, and will be paid out ἀποδώσει, future, undated. Same noun, μισθός, both times. Jesus does not abolish the wage; he moves the ledger. That is why Matthew 5:16, with its identical words about letting light shine before men, is not in tension with this verse: the question is never whether you are seen, but who is keeping the account. Ellicott saw it and would not oversell it: we dare not say at what precise stage the lower motive overpowers the higher. So the command lands on the one place a person can actually work, the memory. A deed the right hand does and the left hand never learns of cannot be withdrawn from the wrong account, because it was never deposited there. And the sting is that the Father who makes such hiding safe is the one from whom nothing was ever hidden in the first place; secrecy here is not concealment from God but refusal of any second auditor.

Jesus does not abolish the wage; he moves the ledger.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The alley of the display and the alley of the summons verbal / quotation: confirmed

The hypocrites perform ἐν ταῖς ῥύμαις (G4505), and Ellicott insists on the precision: “More strictly, the lanes or alleys of a city, as distinguished from the wider streets.” The word is rare, four New Testament verses in all, and the other three are unexpected company. At Luke 14:21 the master, refused by his invited guests, sends the servant into the ῥῦμαι to bring in the poor and maimed. At Acts 9:11 Saul is found praying in the street called Straight, and at Acts 12:10 the angel leaves Peter standing in one. ⚙ The same narrow crowded lane is where Matthew 6:2 stages its charity and where Luke's parable does its actual fetching; the kingdom works the back streets without an audience.

Luke 14:21 · Acts 9:11 · Acts 12:10

basis: Verifier candidates: shared Greek lexeme G4505 ῥύμη (in 4 vv), a rare word shared by all four passages. Greek to Greek, so the shared Strong's number is scorable; no quotation is claimed, only the rare lexeme itself.

Alms that went up as a memorial before God structural / thematic: confirmed

The Verifier links this unit to the Cornelius narrative on two lexemes at once: ἐλεημοσύνη (G1654) and ἔμπροσθεν (G1715), the very preposition Jesus uses of the wrong audience. Cornelius is described by his alms in Acts 10:2, the angel tells him his prayers and his alms have gone up ἔμπροσθεν before God in Acts 10:4, and the phrase is repeated back at Acts 10:31. ⚙ Luke has, without comment, told the story of a man whose almsgiving reached the only address Matthew 6:1 says counts. Barnes, commenting here, sends the reader to Acts 10:31 among his proofs that real religion helps the needy without waiting to be commanded.

Acts 10:2 · Acts 10:4 · Acts 10:31

basis: Verifier: Acts 10:4 shares G1654 ἐλεημοσύνη (in 13 vv) and G1715 ἔμπροσθεν (in 44 vv) with this unit; Acts 10:2 and 10:31 share G1654. Greek to Greek, so the lexemes are scorable, but we decline the verbal tier: ἐλεημοσύνη is simply the ordinary Luke and Acts word for alms, so the overlap is topical rather than distinctive, and ἔμπροσθεν (44 vv) is common. What is recorded is the shared motif of alms set before the right audience.

Right hand and left, in Paul, in ambition, and at the cross verbal / quotation: confirmed

ἀριστερός (G710) occurs in only four New Testament verses, and this unit holds one of them. At 2 Corinthians 6:7 Paul arms the minister with the weapons of righteousness “for the right hand and for the left,” a verse that also shares δικαιοσύνη (G1343) with Matthew 6:1. At Mark 10:37 two disciples ask for the seats at the right and the left in glory, which is Matthew 6:2's disease stated as a request. At Luke 23:33 the two hands of the pairing become two crucified men. ⚙ The idiom is one of wholeness, the whole self divided into its two sides; Jesus splits it so that the self cannot keep its own accounts, while Mark shows what the undivided self asks for when it is honest.

2 Corinthians 6:7 · Mark 10:37 · Luke 23:33

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G710 ἀριστερός (in 4 vv, rare) with all three, plus G1188 δεξιός (in 54 vv) with all three and G1343 δικαιοσύνη (in 86 vv) with 2 Corinthians 6:7. Greek to Greek. The link is lexical and idiomatic, not a quotation.

The threefold refrain: alms, prayer, fasting structural / thematic: confirmed

The Verifier's nearest neighbours to this unit are Matthew 6:5 and 6:16, each sharing μισθός, ἀμήν and ὅταν. That is the structure the textual decision at v1 was defending: JFB argues that reading “righteousness” makes v1 “a general heading for this whole section,” with almsgiving, prayer and fasting “but selected examples.” The Pulpit makes the same case from form, noting that the “when” clause stands at the head of each subject, so that vv. 5 and 16 are co-ordinate with v2. ⚙ The repeated wage-word is the seam: three duties, one identical verdict, one identical alternative.

Matthew 6:5 · Matthew 6:16

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G3408 μισθός (in 28 vv), G281 ἀμήν (in 104 vv), G3752 ὅταν (in 119 vv). None is rare enough to carry a verbal tier on its own, so we record the link as the repeated structural refrain the commentators (JFB, Pulpit) independently identify.

Lending to the LORD, and the righteousness that scatters structural / thematic: confirmed

Barnes, on v3, grounds the promise in an older text: alms given to the poor are “lent to the Lord” (Proverbs 19:17) and will be repaid. Poole, on v4, sends the reader to Psalm 112:9 for the same ledger, the man who has scattered abroad and given to the poor and whose righteousness endures. ⚙ The Old Testament had already made generosity a credit transaction with God rather than with the recipient, which is the assumption Matthew 6:4 is trading on when it says the Father will pay back.

Proverbs 19:17 · Psalm 112:9

basis: Cross-Testament: no shared Strong's number is possible between the Greek of Matthew and the Hebrew of Proverbs and the Psalms, so a verbal tier cannot be scored even in principle. The recorded basis is the citation made by the commentators themselves: Barnes cites Proverbs 19:17 at Matthew 6:3, Poole cites Psalm 112:9 at Matthew 6:4.

Did the LXX turn righteousness into alms? flagged: verify source

The case for reading v1 as alms rests partly on a lexical claim about the Greek Old Testament. Ellicott asserts that “the Greek version of the LXX. often renders the Hebrew word for righteousness by ‘alms,’” and the Pulpit points to Deuteronomy 6:25 LXX together with Psalms of Solomon 9:6 as the instance, while still rejecting the narrow rendering here. Gill builds his whole dissent on the idiom. ⚙ We have not checked the Septuagint text ourselves, and our sources disagree about what follows from it even where they agree it is true.

Deuteronomy 6:25

basis: A claim about a Septuagint rendering reported at second hand by Ellicott and the Pulpit Commentary and contested in its application by Gill. Cross-Testament in any case, so no shared Strong's evidence can score it. Verify against the LXX before relying on it.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The one who would not take glory from men ancient/widely-held

The Pulpit, glossing δοξασθῶσιν, sets this verse beside John 5:44 and its δόξαν λαμβάνειν, the glory men receive from one another. ⚙ That is the Fourth Gospel's version of the same indictment, and in it the speaker is not only the judge of the disease but the one man free of it: the Son who does nothing of himself, who says he does not receive glory from men, and whose obedience was carried out in front of a Father who sees in secret. JFB, on v1, cites John 15:8 for what doing righteousness looks like, the Father glorified in fruit. ⚙ Read backwards from the cross, Matthew 6:1-4 is autobiography before it is instruction: the deepest act of mercy in the Gospel was performed outside the city, refused every offer of spectacle, and was paid out by the Father rather than the crowd. This is the old apostolic pattern of reading Christ into his own commands, and every commentator here assumes it; we mark it widely-held rather than new.

John 5:44 · John 15:8

Two settlements: paid in full, and paid back ancient/widely-held

JFB, on v4, sends the reader to 1 Timothy 5:25, Romans 2:16 and 1 Corinthians 4:5 for the sense in which the hidden is rewarded. All three are passages in which the disclosure of secret things is an act of Christ at his appearing. Benson and Poole both take the recompense of v4 as given “before men and angels” at the last day, Poole citing Matthew 25:31-34. ⚙ So the two verbs of this unit, ἀπέχουσιν and ἀποδώσει, are two settlements with two dates, and the second is set by the return of the Judge who spoke the ἀμήν of v2. The giver's account is not merely secret; it is deposited with a person who is coming back. Barnes notes that Jesus never commands the almsgiving at all, only assumes it, which suits a kingdom whose subjects give because their king already has.

1 Corinthians 4:5 · Romans 2:16 · Matthew 25:31-34

A righteousness that cannot be self-funded novel

JFB anchors the δικαιοσύνη of v1 in Matthew 5:20: the righteousness that must exceed the scribes' and Pharisees' or no one enters the kingdom. The Geneva note, on the wage-word in the same verse, insists that “reward” in Scripture always means a free recompense and refuses the schoolmen's merit. ⚙ Holding the two together gives a reading neither source states: the righteousness Jesus requires here is one whose very form, unseen and unremembered even by the giver, makes it impossible to hoard as a claim. The hypocrite's account is closed because it can be totalled; this one cannot be totalled, because the hand that gave was never told. We mark this synthesis as our own rather than as the tradition's: the Reformed reading of μισθός is old, the fusion with the aorist of μὴ γνώτω is ours and is offered to be tested.

Matthew 5:20 · Matthew 6:3

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Three textual matters run through this unit, and our sources do not fully agree on any of them. (1) At v1 the manuscripts divide between δικαιοσύνην (righteousness) and ἐλεημοσύνην (alms). Ellicott, Benson, JFB, Cambridge and the Pulpit read righteousness; JFB grants that “the external authority for both readings is pretty nearly equal” and decides on internal grounds. Gill reads alms and asserts that this was the word Christ used. The BSB text printed here renders “righteous acts,” siding with the majority of our commentators. (2) At v4 the received text has “himself” and “openly”; the best manuscripts have neither, as Ellicott, JFB, Cambridge and the Pulpit all note, and the BSB omits both. (3) At v1 the Pulpit records δέ as probably genuine (Westcott and Hort bracket it); the BSB does not render it.

The trumpet of v2 is the unit's live interpretive dispute. Ellicott, Poole, Gill and the Pulpit (quoting John Lightfoot) report that no Jewish source attests a literal trumpet at almsgiving; Cambridge and Edersheim propose the trumpet-shaped alms-chests instead; Benson and Barnes keep the literal sense open. We have recorded the disagreement and taken no side. Gill's rabbinic citations (Maimonides, the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmud, Piske Tosephot) are reproduced as he gives them and have not been independently verified by us; the same applies to Cambridge's citation of Edersheim and the Pulpit's of Bishop Lightfoot on Philippians 4:18 and Galatians 2:13.

Three entries reached us capped by our own pipeline and were therefore only partly in view: Gill and JFB at 6:1, and the Pulpit Commentary at 6:2. Thread bases come from the Verifier's shared-lexeme computation over Strong's numbers, which can only detect Greek to Greek contact; every Old Testament link in this unit is therefore tiered structural or flagged, and rests on citations made by the commentators rather than on machine evidence. The ⚙ readings, including the sola reading and the third Christ entry, are this tool's own synthesis and are fallible.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)