Matthew 6:23

Matthew 6:23 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
• New International Version (NIV)But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
• English Standard Version (ESV)but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
• New King James Version (NKJV)But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

Context of Matthew 6:23

21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness! 24“No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. 25“Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Matthew 6:23 word by word

ἐὰν δὲ ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου πονηρὸς ᾖ, ὅλον τὸ σῶμά σου σκοτεινὸν ἔσται. εἰ οὖν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἐν σοὶ σκότος ἐστίν, τὸ σκότος πόσον.¶Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Butδέde · thenG1161
• ifἐάνean · ifG1437
• thineσύsu · youG4771
• eyeὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• eyeὀφθαλμόςophthalmos · eyeG3788
• beεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
• evilπονηρόςponēros · evil/badG4190
• wholeὅλοςholos · allG3650
• bodyσῶμαsōma · bodyG4983
• full of darknessσκοτεινόςskoteinos · darkG4652
• Ifεἰei · ifG1487
• thereforeοὖνoun · therefore/thenG3767
• the lightφῶςphōs · lightG5457
• inἐνen · in/on/amongG1722
• darknessσκότοςskotos · darknessG4655
• how greatπόσοςposos · how much/many?G4214

Cross-references for Matthew 6:23

• Matthew 20:15Don’t I have the right to do what I want with what is mine? Are you jealous because I’m generous?’
• Isaiah 44:18Such people do not comprehend and cannot understand, for he has shut their eyes so they cannot see, and their minds so they cannot understand.
• Mark 7:22adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, self-indulgence, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.
• Ephesians 4:18They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts.
• Ephesians 5:8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light —
• 1 John 2:11But the one who hates his brother or sister is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he’s going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
• Matthew 23:16“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever takes an oath by the temple, it means nothing. But whoever takes an oath by the gold of the temple is bound by his oath.’
• Proverbs 26:12Do you see a person who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
• Isaiah 5:20Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
• Isaiah 8:20Go to God’s instruction and testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them.
• Jeremiah 4:22“For my people are fools; they do not know me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing what is evil, but they do not know how to do what is good.”
• Jeremiah 8:8“How can you claim, ‘We are wise; the law of the Lord is with us’? In fact, the lying pen of scribes has produced falsehood.
• Luke 8:10So he said, “The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that Looking they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.
• John 9:39Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, in order that those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind.”
• Romans 1:22Claiming to be wise, they became fools
• Romans 2:17Now if you call yourself a Jew, and rely on the law, and boast in God,

Commentaries on Matthew 6:23

• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 19-24Verses 19-24 Worldly-mindedness is a common and fatal symptom of hypocrisy, for by no sin can Satan have a surer and faster hold of the soul, under the cloak of a profession of religion. Something the soul will have, which it looks upon as the best thing; in which it has pleasure and confidence above other things. Christ counsels to make our best things the joys and glories of the other world, those things not seen which are eternal, and to place our…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2323. But if thine eye be evil--distempered, or, as we should say, If we have got a bad eye. thy whole body shall be full of darkness--darkened. As a vitiated eye, or an eye that looks not straight and full at its object, sees nothing as it is, so a mind and heart divided between heaven and earth is all dark. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!--As the conscience is the regulative faculty, and a man's inward…Read the comment

Topics related to Matthew 6:23

• Blindness
• Commandments
• Conscience
• Darkness
• Religion
• Wicked (People)
• Wisdom

In the dictionaries

• Add
• Appear
• Closet
• Consider
• Corrupt
• Countenance
• Darkness
• Despise
• Fast
• Forgive

Commentaries on Matthew 6

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Catena Aurea
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• John Lightfoot Commentary
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings