King James Version · Under Rome
Matthew 6
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Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your which is in . Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a before thee, as the do in the and in the streets, that they may have of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the are: for they love to standing in the and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, to thy which is in secret; and thy which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye , use not repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore ye: which art in , Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in . Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into , but us from evil: For thine is , and the , and the , for ever. . For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your forgive your trespasses. Moreover when ye , be not, as the , of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to . Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy ; That thou appear not unto men to , but unto thy which is in secret: and thy , which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. Lay not up for yourselves upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves in , where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your is, there will be also. of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of . But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of . If therefore that is in thee be , how great is that ! No man can two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even in all his was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little ? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the seek:) for your knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first of , and his ; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.