1 “When you do your good deeds, make certain that you do not do them when other people are watching so that they may see you and think highly of you. If you do good deeds merely in order that other people may think highly of you, God, your Father who is in heaven, will not give you any reward. 2 So, whenever you give something to the poor, do not announce it as people announce something that they want other people to know about by playing a fanfare on a trumpet [MET]. That is what the hypocrites do ◄in the synagogues/in the Jewish meeting places► and on the main roads in order that people might see what they do and praise them. Keep this in mind: People praise those hypocrites, but that is the only reward they will receive! 3 Instead of doing as they do, when you give something to the poor, do not let other people know that you are doing that [MET]. 4 In that way, you will be giving to the poor secretly. As a result God, your Father who observes you while no one else sees you, will reward you.

5 Also when you pray, do not do what the hypocrites do. They like to stand in the Jewish meeting places and on the corners of the main streets to pray, in order that other people will see them and think highly of them. Keep this in mind: People praise them, but that is the only reward they will get. 6 But as for you, when you pray, go into your private room and close the door in order to pray to God, your Father, whom no one can see. He observes you where no one else observes you, and he will reward you. 7 When you pray, do not repeat words many times as the people who do not know God do when they pray. They repeat meaningless words because they think that if they use many words, their gods will listen to them and give them what they ask for. 8 Do not repeat words as they do, because God your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 So pray things like this: Father, you who are in heaven, we (exc) desire that you be honored/revered {that people honor/revere you}. 10 We (exc) desire that people let you rule over their lives. We(exc) want people who live on the earth to do what you desire, as those who live in heaven do what you want them to do. 11 Give us (exc) each day the food [SYN] that we (exc) need for that day. 12 Forgive our sins just like we (exc) have forgiven the people who sin against us (exc). 13 Do not let us(exc) do wrong things when we(exc) are tempted {someone or something tempts us}, and rescue us (exc) when Satan the evil one tempts us to do evil things.*people should praise you forever.”

14 “Forgive the people who sin against you, because, if you forgive other people, God, your Father who is in heaven, will forgive your sins. 15 But if you do not forgive other people, neither will God forgive your sins.”

16 “When you abstain from eating food in order to please God, do not look sad as the hypocrites look. They make their faces appear sad in order that people will see that they are abstaining from food and will think highly of them. Keep this in mind: People will think highly of those people for that, but that is the only reward those people will get! 17 Instead, each of you, when you abstain from food, should comb your hair and wash your face as usual, 18 in order that other people will not notice that you are fasting because you will look as you always do. But God, your Father, whom no one can see, will observe that you are abstaining from food. God your Father sees you even though no one else sees you, and he will reward you.”

19 “Do not selfishly accumulate large quantities of money and material goods for yourselves on this earth, because the earth is where everything is destroyed. For example, on earth termites ruin things, and things rust, and thieves enter buildings and steal things. 20 Instead, do deeds that will please God. Your doing such deeds will be like storing treasures in heaven [MET]. Nothing perishes in heaven. In heaven no termites ruin things, nothing rusts, and thieves do not enter buildings and steal. 21 Remember that the things that you think are the most valuable are the things that you will be constantly concerned about [MET]. So if you want to be storing treasures in heaven, you need to be constantly thinking about God and heaven, instead of your earthly possessions.”

22 “Your eyes are like a lamp [MET] for your body, because they enable you to see things. So if your eyes are healthy, you are able to see everything well [MET]. Similarly, if you are generous with your money and other possessions, you will be able to know much of what God wants you to know [MET]. 23 But if your eyes are bad, you are not able to see things well. And if that continues, the time will come when you will not be able to see at all. You will be in complete darkness [MET]. Similarly, if you continue to be greedy, you will be in spiritual darkness. If all that your eyes can see and your mind can think about involves your greedily desiring material possessions, all that you do will be evil [MET].”

24 “No one is able to serve two different bosses at the same time. If he tried to do that, he would dislike one of them and love the other one, or he would be loyal to one of them and despise the other one [DOU]. Similarly, you cannot devote your life to worshipping God and worshipping money and material goods at the same time.”

25 “Because you should be concerned about what God thinks is important and not about material goods, I tell you that you should not worry about things that you need in order to live. Do not worry about whether you will have enough food to eat, and something to drink, or enough clothes to wear. It is important to have sufficient food and drink and clothing, but the way you conduct your lives is much more important [RHQ]. 26 Look at the birds. They do not plant seeds, and they do not harvest crops and gather them into barns. But they always have food to eat because God, your Father who is in heaven, provides food for them. And you are certainly worth a lot more than birds [RHQ]! So you can be assured that God will supply what you need! 27 ◄None of you can, just by worrying, add time to your life./Can any of you, just by worrying, add time to your life?► [RHQ] You cannot add even one minute to your life! So you should not worry about things such as food and clothing!

28 You should also not worry about whether you will have enough clothes to wear [RHQ]. Think about the way flowers grow in the fields. They do not work to earn money, and they do not make their own clothes. 29 But I tell you that even though King Solomon, who lived long ago, wore very beautiful clothes, his clothes were not as beautiful as one of those flowers. 30 God makes the wild plants very beautiful, but they grow in the field for only a short time. One day they grow, and the next day they are thrown into an oven {someone cuts them and throws them into an oven} to be burned to make heat for baking bread. But you are more important to God than wild plants are, and you live much longer. So ◄God will certainly provide clothes for you who live a long time but trust him so little!/will not God surely very adequately clothe you, who live a long time but trust him so little?► [RHQ] 31 Because of God’s caring for you, do not worry and say, ‘Will we have anything to eat?’ or ‘Will we have anything to drink?’ or ‘Will we have clothes to wear?’ [RHQ] 32 Those who do not know God are always worrying about things like that. But God, your Father who is in heaven, knows that you need all those things, so you should not worry about them. 33 Instead, the most important thing you should be concerned about is to let God completely direct your life, and to strive to live righteously. If you do that, all the things that you need will be given to you {God will give you all the things that you need}. 34 So each day do not be worried about what will happen to you the next day, because when that day [PRS] comes, you will be concerned about what happens during that day. You will have enough to be concerned about each day. So do not worry ahead of time.”