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 then your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is diseased, 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 worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body 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 permitted to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
• Isaiah 44:18They do not comprehend or understand, for their eyes are blind and cannot see; their minds do not discern.
• Mark 7:22adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly.
• Ephesians 4:18They are darkened in their understanding, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.
• Ephesians 5:8for you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light –
• 1 John 2:11But the one who hates his fellow Christian is in the darkness, 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, ‘Whoever swears by the temple is bound by nothing. But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound by the oath.’
• Proverbs 26:12Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
• Isaiah 5:20Those who call evil good and good evil are as good as dead, who turn darkness into light and light into darkness, who turn bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter.
• Isaiah 8:20Then you must recall the Lord’s instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened.
• Jeremiah 4:22The Lord answered, “This will happen because my people are foolish. They do not know me. They are like children who have no sense. They have no understanding. They are skilled at doing evil. They do not know how to do good.”
• Jeremiah 8:8How can you say, “We are wise! We have the law of the Lord”? The truth is, those who teach it have used their writings to make it say what it does not really mean.
• Luke 8:10He said, “You have been given the opportunity to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that although they see they may not see, and although they hear they may not understand.
• John 9:39Jesus said,] “For judgment I have come into this world, so that those who do not see may gain their sight, and the ones who see may become blind.”
• Romans 1:22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
• Romans 2:17But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of your relationship to 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