Matthew 6:23

Read it in 5 translations

KJV King James Version

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!

BSB Berean Standard Bible

But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

WEB World English Bible

But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

ASV American Standard Version

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 the darkness!

YLT Young’s Literal Translation

but if thine eye may be evil, all thy body shall be dark; if, therefore, the light that is in thee is darkness—the darkness, how great!

Surrounding context — Matthew 6

20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

23 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!

24 No man can serve 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 serve God and mammon.

25 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?

26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

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Cross-references

1 John 2:11But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.Matthew 6:22The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.Isaiah 5:20-21Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!Jeremiah 4:22For my people [is] foolish, they have not known me; they [are] sottish children, and they have none understanding: they [are] wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.Proverbs 26:12Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? [there is] more hope of a fool than of him.1 Corinthians 3:18-19Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.1 Corinthians 1:18-20For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.Isaiah 44:18-20They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; [and] their hearts, that they cannot understand.Romans 2:17-23Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,Ephesians 4:18Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:1 Corinthians 2:14But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned.Luke 8:10And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.Romans 1:22Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,Ephesians 5:8For ye were sometimes darkness, but now [are ye] light in the Lord: walk as children of light:Isaiah 8:20To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, [it is] because [there is] no light in them.Revelation 3:17-18Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:Matthew 20:15Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?John 9:39-41And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION

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