Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 5-7 - EasyEnglish Bible (2024)

Jesus teaches his disciples

5Jesus saw that crowds of people were following him. So he went up a hill and he sat down there to teach them. His disciples came near to listen to him. ²He began to teach them. This is what he said:

³‘Happy are the people who know that they need God very much.
The kingdom of heaven belongs to people like that.^[a]
⁴Happy are the people who are sad now.
God will come near to help them.^[b]
⁵Happy are the people who are kind.
The whole earth will belong to them.
⁶Happy are the people who want to obey God, as much as they want to eat food.
God will give to them everything that they need.
⁷Happy are the people who help other people and who forgive them.
God will forgive people like that.
⁸Happy are the people who have only good thoughts.
They will come near to God and see him.
⁹Happy are the people who bring people together to be friends.
God will call them his children.
¹⁰Happy are the people who do what is right but other people hurt them because of it.
The kingdom of heaven belongs to people like that.

¹¹Yes, happy are you when people say bad things against you because you believe in me. Or they may hurt you. Or they may say things about you that are not true. ¹²God is preparing many good things for you in heaven. So you should be very happy when people do these bad things to any of you. People did these same things to God's prophets who lived long ago.’

Jesus' disciples are like salt and light

¹³Jesus said, ‘You are like salt for all people to taste and use. Salt is good. But if it is not salty any more, you cannot make it salty again. People can no longer use it for anything. They just throw it away and they walk on it.

¹⁴You are like a light for everybody in this world. If people build a city on a hill, then other people can see it easily. ¹⁵Nobody lights a lamp and then puts it under a pot. He will put the lamp in a high place.^[c] Everybody who is in the house can then see the light from the lamp. ¹⁶You must be sure that your light shines well. Then you will give light to other people. They will see all the good things that you do.^[d] Then they will praise God, who is your Father in heaven.’

Jesus talks about the Laws that Moses gave to the Jews

¹⁷Jesus said, ‘You should not think that I have come to destroy God's Law. Also, I have not come to destroy the messages that God's prophets wrote down. No, I have not come to destroy their words. I have come to make what they taught become true. ¹⁸I tell you this: One day, even the earth and the sky will finish. But while they remain, God's Law will also remain. Nobody can remove even the smallest thing from it. The Law will remain until everything in it has happened.

¹⁹A person may choose not to obey a rule in God's Law. He may think it is the least important rule. He may also teach other people to think like that. Then God will call him the least important person in the kingdom of heaven. But a person may choose to obey all the rules in God's Law. And he may teach other people to obey them too. Then God will call that person great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰I tell you this: You must always do what is right. You must live in a way that is better than the teachers of God's Law and the Pharisees.^[e] You will never come into the kingdom of heaven if you do not do better than them.’

Jesus teaches about angry people

²¹Jesus then said, ‘You know the rule that God gave to your ancestors: “You must not kill anyone. Any person who does kill someone will stand in front of a judge.^[f] The judge will punish him because he has done a wrong thing.” ²²But what I now say to you is this: Anybody who is angry with his brother will have to stand in front of a judge. Or someone might call his brother by a bad name. Then he will have to stand in front of the Jewish leaders. They will judge him. But someone may say to his brother, “You are a fool.”^[g] God will judge that person. God may punish him in the fires of hell.

²³Maybe you go to the temple to give your gift to God. You take it to the altar. But then you remember that your brother is angry with you. ²⁴You must leave your gift there in front of God's altar. First you must go and find your brother. Tell him that you are sorry. Then you can both become friends with each other again. After that, you can return to the altar and give your gift to God.

Jesus teaches people about bad thoughts

²⁷Jesus then said, ‘You know what God's rule says: “You must not have sex with anyone who is not your husband or your wife.” ²⁸But what I tell you is this: A man may look at a woman who is not his wife. And he may want to have sex with her. In his thoughts, he has had sex with her, so he has done a wrong thing. ²⁹If your right eye leads you to do wrong things, then you should take it out. You should throw it away. Yes, you will lose one eye. But it will be much worse if you keep your whole body and God throws you into hell. ³⁰Also, if your right hand leads you to do wrong things, then you should cut it off. You should throw it away. You will lose one hand. But it will be much worse if you keep your body in one piece and go to hell.’^[i]

Jesus talks about when a man sends his wife away

³¹‘God's Law also says: “Any man who wants to send his wife away must give her a letter. This letter must say that they are no longer married.” ³²But what I tell you is this: A man must not send his wife away except for one reason. He may only send her away if she has had sex with another man. If he sends her away for any other reason, he has done a wrong thing. It is like he has caused her to have sex with another man. Also, if a woman has left her husband, another man must not marry her. That is the same as if he had sex with another man's wife.’

Jesus teaches people about promises to God

³³‘You also know the rule that God gave to your ancestors: “If you make a promise to God, you must do what you have said.” ³⁴But what I tell you is this. Do not use any name to make a promise stronger. Do not use the words “by heaven” to make a promise stronger. Heaven is the place where God rules. Do not use the words “by the earth” to make a promise stronger. The earth is the place where God rests his feet. ³⁵Do not use the words “by Jerusalem” to make a promise stronger. Jerusalem is God's city. He is the great King who rules from there. ³⁶Do not use the words “by my head” to make a promise. You cannot make the colour of even one of your hairs black or white. ³⁷Instead, when you make a promise, you should say only “Yes, I will do it.” Or you should say only “No, I will not do it.” If you say anything more than this, what you say is bad.^[j] It comes from Satan.’

Jesus teaches how to love people

³⁸Jesus then said, ‘You also know that God's Law says: “If somebody destroys your eye, then you should destroy that person's eye. If somebody destroys your tooth, then you should destroy that person's tooth.” ³⁹But what I tell you is this. If somebody does something bad to you, do not do anything against him.^[k] Somebody may slap you on one side of your face. Then you should also let him slap the other side of your face.

⁴⁰Maybe somebody wants to take you to the judge. He says that you should give him your shirt. Give the man your shirt, and give him your coat too. ⁴¹Or a soldier may tell you, “Carry my luggage for one kilometre.” You should do that. Even agree to carry it for two kilometres. ⁴²When people ask you for something, you should give it to them. If they ask you to lend them something, then you should not refuse.

⁴³You have heard people say, “Love the people who are your friends. But hate those who want to hurt you.” ⁴⁴What I tell you is this: You should love the people who want to hurt you. If people want to give you pain, pray for them. Pray that God would help them. ⁴⁵If you live like this, you will show that you really are children of your Father above. God is kind to everyone. He causes the sun to shine on everyone, both good people and bad people. He also causes the rain to fall on everyone, people who obey him and people who do not obey him. ⁴⁶Do you only love people who love you? God will not give you good things just for doing that. Even the men who take taxes love their friends!^[l]

⁴⁷If you are only kind to your friends, then you are not doing anything special. Even people who do not believe in God do that. ⁴⁸So you must be good in every way, as your Father above is good in every way.’

Jesus teaches people how to help poor people

6Jesus then said to them, ‘You should do good things to help people. But be careful! Do not do this so that other people see you. If you want other people to praise you, your Father in heaven will not praise you.

²When you give something to a poor person, do not tell anyone about it. The hypocrites do this in their meeting places. They also do it in the busy streets of the town. They do this so that other people will praise them. I tell you this. They have already received their gift. God will not give them anything more.^[m]

³So when you give something to a poor person, keep it a secret from other people. Do not tell anyone. Your left hand will not even know what your right hand does! ⁴Nobody else will know about the good thing that you have done. But God sees the things that you do secretly. In return, he will give you good things.’

Jesus teaches people how to pray

⁵‘Also, you must not pray in the way that the hypocrites pray. They like to stand and pray in their meeting places. They like to do it on the corners of the busy streets.^[n] Then many people will see them and they will praise them. I tell you this. They have already received their gift from people. God will not give them anything more.

⁶But this is how you should pray. Go to a place in your house where you can be alone. You can shut the door and you can pray to God your Father. He is in that secret place. He sees what you do there. He will give you good things in return. ⁷When you pray, do not say the same words many times. People who do not believe in God do that. They use many words that mean nothing. They think that when they pray like that, their gods will hear them. ⁸Do not pray like they do. God your Father already knows what you need. He knows this even before you ask him.

⁹So this is how you should pray:

“God, our Father who is in heaven,
we want people to give honour to you.
¹⁰We want the day when you rule everyone to come soon.
We want everyone to obey you on earth, like everyone in heaven obeys you.
¹¹Please give us the food that we need today.
¹²We have forgiven people who have done wrong things to us.
In the same way, please forgive us for the wrong things that we have done.
¹³Do not let us agree to do wrong things.
Keep us safe from Satan.” ’

¹⁴Then Jesus said, ‘When other people do wrong things against you, you must forgive them. Then God, your Father in heaven, will also forgive you for the wrong things that you have done. ¹⁵But if you do not forgive other people, then your Father will not forgive you.’

Jesus teaches people about different things

¹⁶Jesus then said, ‘You may decide to fast for some time.^[o] But do not look sad so that people know you are doing a special thing. Hypocrites want people to see how good they are. They make their faces dirty. Then other people can see that they are fasting. I tell you this: people have praised them and that is the only gift that they will get. ¹⁷But when you fast for some time, you should wash your face. Make your hair look nice. ¹⁸Then other people will not know that you are doing a special thing. But God, your Father, will know. You do not see him but he sees what you do secretly. He will give you good things in return.

¹⁹Do not want to have many valuable things here in the world. Insects or water can destroy those kinds of things. Or people may come into your house and they can rob you of those things. ²⁰Instead, you should want to have valuable things in heaven. Insects and water cannot destroy anything there. Men cannot rob you of your things there. ²¹Then you will be thinking a lot about heaven, because that is where you keep your valuable things.^[p]

²²Your eyes are like lamps and your body is like a room. Make sure that your eyes are like a clean lamp, then your whole body will have light. ²³If your eyes are not good, then your whole body will be in the dark. If the light in you has become dark, you will be living in a very dark place.’^[q]

²⁴Jesus said, ‘Nobody can work as a slave for two masters at the same time. Maybe he will hate one of the masters, but he will love the other one. Or he will work well for one master, but he will think bad things about the other master. God and money are like different masters. You cannot work for both of them.

²⁵So I tell you this. You should not worry about how to stay alive. Do not worry about the food and drink that you need. Do not worry about the clothes that you need to wear. Your life is more important than the food that you eat. Your body is more important than your clothes. ²⁶Think about the wild birds. They do not plant seeds in the ground. They do not cut down plants to eat. They have no buildings to store food. But God, your Father in heaven, gives them food to eat. You are much more valuable than the birds. ²⁷Even if you always worry about your life, you cannot make it as much as one hour longer!

²⁸You should not worry about your clothes. Think about how the wild flowers grow. They do not work or make clothes for themselves. ²⁹But I tell you this. Even one wild flower is more beautiful than King Solomon was. And King Solomon wore the most beautiful clothes. ³⁰It is God that gives beautiful clothes even to the grass. One day the grass is growing in the field, but the next day people will cut it and burn it.^[r] God will certainly take care of you, much more than he takes care of the grass. You should trust him more than you do!

³¹So do not worry about these things. Do not always say, “What will we eat?”, or “What will we drink?”, or “What will we wear?” ³²People who do not know God are always trying to get these things. But as for you, your Father in heaven knows that you need them. ³³Instead, always think about the things that are important in the kingdom of heaven. Always do what God shows you is right. Then he will also give you the things that you need each day. ³⁴So do not have trouble in your mind about what might happen tomorrow. Tomorrow will have its own problems. It is enough for you to be thinking each day about the problems of that day.’

We should not speak against other people

7Jesus then said, ‘Do not say to anyone, “You are a bad person.” If you do that, God will say to you, “You are a bad person.” ²God will think about you in the same way that you think about other people. He will use the same rules for you as you use for other people.

³Perhaps you want to tell your friend about his little mistake. If you want to do that, first remember your own bigger mistakes. ⁴You are like a person who has a big piece of wood in his eye. But then he says to his friend, “Let me take that little piece of dirt out of your eye for you.” ⁵Do not be like that person. You think that you are better than your friend. But you are not. First, you must take the big piece of wood out of your own eye. After that, your eyes will see clearly. Then you can take the small piece of dirt out of your friend's eye.^[s]

⁶Do not give special things that are for God to dogs. The dogs will turn round and attack you. Do not throw valuable things to pigs. The pigs will only stand on them and bury them in the dirt.’^[t]

Jesus teaches his disciples more about God

⁷Jesus said, ‘Go on asking God for what you need. Then God will give it to you. Go on looking for what you need. Then you will find it. Go on knocking at the door, and God will open it for you. ⁸Everyone who asks for something will receive it. Everyone who looks for something will find it. God will open the door for everyone who knocks on it.

⁹Some of you are fathers. If your son asks you for some bread, you would not give him a stone. ¹⁰If he asks you for a fish, you would not give him a snake. ¹¹You may be bad, but even you know how to give good things to your children. Your Father in heaven knows much better than you do how to give good things to his children. He will give good things to everyone who asks him.^[u] ¹²So do the good things for other people that you would want them to do for you. That is true in everything you do. That is what God's Law and the messages of God's prophets teach us.’

Jesus teaches people how to get true life

¹³‘Go in through the narrow gate to get true life with God. There is a wide gate that is easy to go through. The wide path is easy to travel on. Many people find that wide gate, but it is the way to hell. ¹⁴It is difficult to go through the small gate. And it is difficult to walk on the narrow road. But when you do go that way, you will get true life. Not many people find that narrow gate.’^[v]

Jesus tells a story about a tree and its fruit

¹⁵‘Some people say that they are prophets from God. But their words are false. They seem to be like sheep that are not dangerous. But they are really like hungry wild dogs. What they teach will hurt you.

¹⁶You will know these people by the way that they live. The things that they do are like their fruit. Grapes do not grow on thorn bushes. Figs do not grow on weeds.^[w] ¹⁷Good fruit grows on a tree that is good. Bad fruit grows on a tree that is not good. ¹⁸A good tree cannot make bad fruit. A bad tree cannot make good fruit. ¹⁹A farmer will cut down any tree that does not make good fruit. He will burn it on a fire. ²⁰In the same way, look at the way people live. Then you will know what they are really like.

²¹Some people say to me, “Master, Master!” But not all of them will come into the kingdom of heaven. Only the people who obey God, my Father in heaven, will come in. They do what he wants them to do. ²²On the day when God judges people, many of them will say, “Master, Master! We used your authority and we spoke a message from you. We used your authority and we sent bad spirits out of people. We used your authority to do many powerful things.” ²³But I will say to these people, “I never knew you. You do not obey God. You are bad. So go away from me.” ’

Jesus tells a story about two men who each built a house

²⁴Jesus then said, ‘Some people listen to my message and they obey it. Those people are like a wise man who built his house on rock. ²⁵Then a storm came with a lot of rain and wind. The rivers rose up high. Strong winds blew hard against that house. But the house did not fall down because the man had built it on rock. ²⁶Other people listen to my message but they do not obey it. Those people are like a fool who built his house on sand. ²⁷Then a storm came with a lot of rain and wind. The rivers rose up high. Strong winds blew hard against the house. That house fell down. The storm destroyed it completely.’^[x]

²⁸Jesus finished speaking. The crowds of people were very surprised at the things that he taught them. ²⁹When Jesus taught them, he showed that he had authority. That was not like the way that the teachers of God's Law taught people.

Footnotes

5:3 ‘Happy’ here means that God has blessed people who are like this. They may not always feel happy, but they are in a good place, a happy place. God will take care of them.
5:4 Jesus was not only speaking about people who are sad. Some people are sorry about all the bad things that they have done. Jesus was speaking about those people.
5:15 At this time, people burned oil in a dish to make a light. They called this a lamp. When it was burning, they sometimes put it on a place high on a wall.
5:16 Jesus is teaching his disciples about how they must live in a good way that makes God happy. Light shows people the way. In the same way, the disciples must show people the way to God.
5:20 The teachers of God's Law and the Pharisees thought that they obeyed every rule in the Law. But they did not do it because they loved God. They wanted other people to think well of them.
5:21 At the time when Jesus said this, there were 71 important rulers in Jerusalem. And they met together to judge a bad person. The leader of the priests was their leader. These men had great power. God is the most powerful judge. Only he can send a person to hell.
5:22 When Jesus used the word brother, he was also talking about any special friend.
5:25 A judge listens to what people say against each other. He then decides who is right or wrong. Jesus is telling the people that everyone has done wrong things to God. They do not obey him in the way that they should. Jesus says that we should believe in him now. If we do not, then God will judge us. And he will punish us when we stand in front of him.
5:30 Jesus does not want his disciples to cut their bodies. It is very important for them not to do wrong things. And Jesus is telling them this.
5:37 People used to say these extra words when they made a promise. They wanted other people to know that they would keep their promise. Jesus taught that we should always keep our promises (do what we promised to do).
5:39 We should not do bad things to other people who have done bad things to us.
5:46 The men who took taxes for the Roman government took the money from their own people, the Jews. They often took more money than they should have taken. So people hated the men who took taxes from them.
6:2 Hypocrites want people to think that they are good. But they are not really good people.
6:5 The corners of the streets were places where Jews met to pray. They also prayed in the special buildings. In those places there were a lot of people who could see them when they were praying.
6:16 Some people stop eating for hours or days so that they can have more time with God. This causes them to feel nearer to God when they pray. But the hypocrites did it for the wrong reason.
6:21 People think about their valuable things, so it is better to have them stored with God in heaven above. They will be safe there. We will also think about going to be with God.
6:23 Jesus himself is the light that he is talking about. If a person lets Jesus rule his life, there will be nothing dark or hidden. But some people do not believe Jesus' words. They are like a person who is living in the dark.
6:30 People burned dry grass and wild flowers on fires to cook their food.
7:5 Jesus tells us to make our own mistakes right. After that, we can tell our friends about their mistakes.
7:6 When Jesus talked about dogs and pigs here he was talking about people who do not want God. We do not give valuable things to pigs and dogs. They would not take care of them.
7:11 Jesus is teaching his disciples that they must pray. And they must continue to pray. God will hear them. He will give them the good things that they ask for.
7:14 If we want to have true life with God, there is a difficult way to travel along. It is like a narrow gate that we have to go through and a narrow path to go along.
7:16 The prophets are like fruit trees. The things that they do are like the fruit on the trees. If they do good things, then the fruit is good. And the people will know that they are real prophets. If they do wrong things, then that is like bad fruit. And the people will know that they are not real prophets.
7:27 Jesus tells us that our life is like a house. We should obey God. Then our life will be like the first house. It continued to stand when troubles came. If we do not obey God, our life will be like the second house. That house fell down. So our life will have a sad end.