leave your gift there before the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
Parallel translations
- WEB leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
- KJV Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
- NKJV leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
- NASB leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.
- NLT leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Leave your gift, first be reconciled to your brother, then offer it. It commands seeking reconciliation before worship.
Overview
Jesus urges immediate action to mend the relationship before completing one's offering. Right worship and right relationships belong together; God is not honored by gifts from an unreconciled heart. This reflects the gospel ethic of peacemaking and points to the reconciliation God Himself accomplishes in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Jas 5:16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.
- Rom 12:17–18Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Carefully consider what is right in the eyes of everybody.
- Matt 18:15–17If your brother sins against you, go and confront him privately. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.
- 1 Pet 3:7–8Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as a delicate vessel, and with honor as fellow heirs of the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.
- Job 42:8So now, take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken accurately about Me, as My servant Job has.”
- Prov 25:9Argue your case with your neighbor without betraying another’s confidence,
- 1 Cor 6:7–8The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means that you are thoroughly defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?
- 1 Tim 2:8Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or dissension.
- Matt 23:23Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. But you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
- Jas 3:13–18Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good conduct, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
- 1 Cor 11:28Each one must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.
- Mark 9:50Salt is good, but if the salt loses its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 5:24 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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