Matthew 6:2

Plain English Version

You know, there are some people that want everyone to think they are good, even though they are not good. So whenever they give something to help a poor person, they do it in front of the meeting house or on a busy street, so that people will see it and say that they are good. But listen, that is all those people will get. God will not give them anything good for doing that. Don’t be like them.

Cross References

Matthew 24:51

And the boss will punish that bad work-man a lot. He will put him in a bad place with people that say they are good, but really, they do bad things. Everyone in that place will cry, and they will be so angry they will bite their teeth together.”

Matthew 5:18

Listen. God’s book is really important. Everything in it will happen. You know, the earth and sky are always here. They don’t change. Well, just like that, God’s word and his laws will not change, not even a little bit. They will stay the same until everything in God’s book happens.

Matthew 6:16

Jesus kept on teaching the people. Some of those people used to stop eating for a while, so they can think about God and respect him. Jesus said, “Whenever you stop eating for a while, make sure you look the same as you always look. You know, there are some people that want everyone to think they are good, even though they are not good. Whenever they stop eating food to respect God, they want everyone to know what they are doing, so they let their faces get dirty, and they try to look sad. They want people to say, ‘That’s a good person.’ But listen, that is all those people will get. God will not give them anything good for doing that. Don’t be like them.

Matthew 6:3

Whenever you give something to help somebody, don’t tell anyone else about it, not even your best friend.

Matthew 6:5

Jesus said, “Don’t pray like those people that want everyone to think they are good, even though they are not good. They like to stand up and pray in the meeting houses and on the busy street corners, so that lots of people can see them praying. They want to hear people say, ‘That’s a good person.’ But listen, that is all those people will get. God will not give them anything good for doing that.”

Mark 12:39

Those law teachers want everyone to respect them, so they want to have special chairs at the meeting houses, and if they go to parties, they want to have special places to sit.

Mark 7:6

Jesus said to them, “You mob tell everyone you are good, but really, you are not good. You know the man that was called Isaiah. He lived a long time ago, and he told God’s messages. He wrote true words about you, and they are in God’s book. He wrote, ‘These people show respect to me with their mouths, but really, they think another way.

Luke 11:41

The right way is like this. You have to think in your heads about poor people, and you have to feel sorry for them, and you have to give them the things they need. Then God will say that you are clean, on the inside as well as on the outside.

Luke 11:43

Yes, God will make trouble for you Pharisee mob. You try to get people to think you are important. Whenever you go to a meeting house, you want the good seats that are for important people. And whenever you walk around the shopping places, you want people to respect you and say hello to you in a good way.

Luke 12:56

But really, you are fools. Yes, you know how to look at the earth and the sky, and work out what the weather is doing. But you don’t know how to look at the things that are happening right now, and work out what God is doing.” (We have not yet translated 12:57-59. You can read that message in Matthew 5:25-26.)

Luke 13:15

Jesus said to him, “You and your mob are wrong. You say one thing, but you do something different. You work for yourselves on our rest day, right? You know, you keep cows and donkeys tied up in your yards, and every day you untie them and take them out to a water-hole, to let them drink. You do that on our rest day too.

John 13:29

Some of them thought that Jesus told Judas to go and buy more food for the ceremony, because he looked after the money bag. And some of them thought that Jesus told him to go and give money to poor people.

John 5:41

I don’t need people to say good things about me.

John 5:44

And you like other people saying good things about you, but you don’t try to live God’s way so that he will say good things about you. He is the only God, but you just care what people think about you, not what God thinks about you. That is the reason why you don’t believe in me.

John 7:18

Think about this. If somebody wants to make themselves look important, they make up their own stories. But sometimes a boss sends a work-man to give people a message. If that work-man wants people to respect his boss and know that his boss is important, then that work-man doesn’t make up his own story or tell lies. He only tells the true message that he heard. Then the people that listen to him respect the boss that sent him.

Acts 10:2

He and his family respected God, and they always tried to do things that made God happy. Cornelius gave a lot of money and things to poor people, and he prayed to God every day.

Acts 10:31

And he said to me, ‘Cornelius, God heard you pray, and he knows that you give money and things to poor people.

Acts 10:4

Cornelius looked at the angel and was frightened of him. He asked him, “What do you want, boss?” The angel said, “Cornelius, God heard you pray and saw you give money and things to poor people. It is like you gave that money and those things to God, so God is thinking about you.

Acts 11:29

The Christians in Antioch heard Agabus tell that message, and they remembered the Christians in Judea. They knew that the Judea Christians were poor, so they would have a very hard time if there is not much food. The Antioch Christians wanted to help them, so they all put money into a bag. Each of them gave as much money as they could. Then they gave it to Barnabas and Saul, and those 2 men, took it to the Christian leaders in Jerusalem, in Judea country.

Acts 24:17

Let me tell you what happened. A few years ago I went to some other countries, and then a few days ago I got back to Jerusalem. I brought some money with me to give to poor people there, and I wanted to show respect to God by giving things to him at his ceremony house.

Acts 9:36

There was a Christian woman that lived in a town called Joppa. Her name was Tabitha. Her name in the Greek language was Dorcas. She always did good things and helped poor people.

Romans 12:8

Or maybe God gave you the power to cheer people up, well that is your job. Or maybe he gave you the power to share your money and things with other people, well he wants you to share them with people that need them. Or maybe God gave you the power to be a leader, well you have to try to lead people properly. Or if God gave you the power to feel sorry for people that have troubles, and the power to be good to them, well that is his job for you, so be happy while you do it.

1 Corinthians 13:3

Suppose we give everything that we have to poor people, and suppose we stay strong for Jesus, even if somebody burns our bodies so that we die, but if we don’t love people, all of that is useless.

Galatians 2:10

The only other thing that they asked us to do was to help the poor Christians. And that was what I myself really wanted to do.

Ephesians 4:28

Anyone that steals things from other people has to stop doing that. Instead, they have to do honest work to get things for themselves, and they have to give things to other people that need them.

1 Thessalonians 2:6

And we didn’t try to get anyone to say good things about us. We didn’t want you or anyone else to do that.

1 Timothy 6:18

So tell them to use their money to do good things for other people. Tell them to be ready to give it to people that need it.

Philemon 1:7

I know, my friend, that you have been good to God’s people. You have helped them, and you have made them happy. I know that you love Jesus and you love all God’s people. That makes me very happy, and it makes me want to keep on working for God.

1 Peter 4:11

If you can tell stories to people, then tell them God’s story, and tell it clearly. If you can help other people, then let God make you strong so you can help them properly. Do everything properly so that when people see it, they might say that God is really great. If they know that you follow Jesus, they might thank God for sending Jesus to us. Jesus has really great power now, and he will have that power for ever. That’s true.