But as for you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
Parallel translations
- WEB But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face;
- KJV But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
- BSB But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
- NKJV But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
- NLT But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face.
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
When you fast, groom yourself normally so it stays between you and God. Don't parade your devotion before others.
Overview
Rather than displaying signs of fasting, the disciple should wash and anoint as usual, keeping the practice hidden from public view. Jesus does not abolish fasting but purifies its motive, freeing it from the corruption of self-display. The instruction assumes fasting remains a healthy part of the disciple's life, undertaken as private, sincere seeking of God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Ruth 3:3Therefore wash yourself, anoint yourself, get dressed, and go down to the threshing floor, but don’t make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.
- Eccl 9:8Let your garments be always white, and don’t let your head lack oil.
- Dan 10:2–3In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three whole weeks.
- 2 Sam 12:20Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his clothing; and he came into Yahweh’s house, and worshiped. Then he came to his own house; and when he requested, they set bread before him, and he ate.
- 2 Sam 14:2Joab sent to Tekoa, and brought a wise woman from there, and said to her, “Please act like a mourner, and put on mourning clothing, please, and don’t anoint yourself with oil, but be as a woman who has mourned a long time for the dead.
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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.'
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Original language
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