New Living Translation
Matthew 6:23
23But 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!
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
21Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. 22“Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. 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! 24“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money. 25“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?
Read all of Matthew 6Matthew 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 20:15Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?’
- Isaiah 44:18Such stupidity and ignorance! Their eyes are closed, and they cannot see. Their minds are shut, and they cannot think.
- Mark 7:22adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.
- Ephesians 4:18Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him.
- Ephesians 5:8For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!
- 1 John 2:11But anyone who hates a fellow believer is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness.
- Matthew 23:16“Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple,’ but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple.’
- Proverbs 26:12There is more hope for fools than for people who think they are wise.
- Isaiah 5:20What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.
- Isaiah 8:20Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark.
- Jeremiah 4:22“My people are foolish and do not know me,” says the Lord. “They are stupid children who have no understanding. They are clever enough at doing wrong, but they have no idea how to do right!”
- Jeremiah 8:8“‘How can you say, “We are wise because we have the word of the Lord,” when your teachers have twisted it by writing lies?
- Luke 8:10He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables to teach the others so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled: ‘When they look, they won’t really see. When they hear, they won’t understand.’
- John 9:39Then Jesus told him, “I entered this world to render judgment—to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.”
- Romans 1:22Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.
- Romans 2:17You who call yourselves Jews are relying on God’s law, and you boast about your special relationship with him.
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
In the dictionaries
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
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