Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy 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.
- BSB leave your gift there before the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your 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 5:16Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
- Rom 12:17–18Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
- Matt 18:15–17Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
- 1 Pet 3:7–8Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.
- Job 42:8Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.
- Prov 25:9Debate thy cause with thy neighbour himself; and discover not a secret to another:
- 1 Cor 6:7–8Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?
- 1 Tim 2:8I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
- Matt 23:23Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
- Jas 3:13–18Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
- 1 Cor 11:28But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
- Mark 9:50Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.