Matthew 5:37

Look, just say what is properly true. When yes is the true answer, just say, ‘Yes.’ And when no is the true answer, just say, ‘No.’ The devil, the boss over the bad spirits, he tries to get you to say more than that, but don’t do it. Don’t say anything more to try to get people to believe you.”

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

In Context

36And don’t say, ‘by my head’, when you promise something. You can’t change the colour of even one hair on your head, to turn it black or turn it white.

38Jesus kept on talking to them. He said, “You know, the teachers of God’s law tell you this, ‘If somebody hits your eye and blinds it, then this is the payback, you have to hit one of that person’s eyes and blind it.’ And the teachers of God’s law say, ‘If somebody knocks out your tooth, then this is the payback, you have to knock out one of that person’s teeth.’ That’s what they say.

Read all of Matthew 5

Cross References

Matthew 6:13Don’t let anything push us to do bad things. And keep us safe from the devil, the boss over the bad spirits.’”

Matthew 13:38That garden is like the world. The good food seeds are like the people that belong to God. The rubbish plant seeds are like the people that belong to the devil, the boss over the bad spirits.

John 8:44So, really, your father is the devil, the boss over the bad spirits, and you do anything he wants you to do. He was always a murderer and a liar, and nothing he says is true. Whenever he tells lies, he is just doing what he likes to do. All lies come from him. It is like he is the father of all lies.

Colossians 3:9Don’t lie to each other. You see, you believed in Jesus, and you stopped living that old way. You stopped doing bad things.

2 Thessalonians 3:3But Jesus, our leader, is always good to us, and he always does what he promised to do. He will help you to keep on trusting him strongly. He will keep you safe from that really bad one, the boss over the bad spirits, so that he can’t touch you.

Matthew Henry on Matthew 5:34-38

The Sermon on the Mount. 33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: 34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: 35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. 36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. 37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for… Read the whole commentary →

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Study Matthew 5:37