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!
• 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!
• New Living Translation (NLT)But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!

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. So, 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. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. 25"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not 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 20:15Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?'
• Isaiah 44:18They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand.
• Mark 7:22coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
• Ephesians 4:18They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
• Ephesians 5:8for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
• 1 John 2:11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
• Matthew 23:16"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.'
• Proverbs 26:12Do you see a man 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 put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
• Isaiah 8:20To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.
• Jeremiah 4:22"For my people are foolish; they know me not; they are stupid children; they have no understanding. They are 'wise'—in doing evil! But how to do good they know not."
• Jeremiah 8:8"How can you say, 'We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us'? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie.
• Luke 8:10he said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that 'seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.'
• John 9:39Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind."
• Romans 1:22Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
• Romans 2:17But 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