Matthew 6:1 is the first verse of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and is part of the Sermon on the Mount. This verse begins the discussion of how even good deeds can be done for the wrong reasons. Content In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads: Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. The World English Bible translates the passage as: "Be careful that you don't do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. The Novum Testamentum Graece text is: Προσέχετε δὲ τὴν δικαιοσύνην ὑμῶν μὴ ποιεῖν ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων πρὸς τὸ θεαθῆναι αὐτοῖς εἰ δὲ μήγε, μισθὸν οὐκ ἔχετε παρὰ τῷ Πατρὶ ὑμῶν τῷ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. For a collection of other versions see BibleHub Matthew 6:1 δικαιοσυνην or ἐλεημοσύνην There is some debate over the term translated as "charitable giving" in the World English Bible. In the ancient manuscripts there are two different versions of this verse. One has , tēn dikaisunēn, iustitiam in the Vulgate. This term may be translated as charitable giving, but it can also be much more broadly translated as referring to "righteousness" or to any act of piety. By this translation this verse can be read as a condemnation of all overt religiosity. Other manuscripts have , tēn eleemosunēn, which explicitly refers to alms giving. This restricts what this verse is condemning to the more specific practice of overt generosity. According to the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary, "The external authority for both readings is pretty nearly equal; but internal evidence is decidedly in favor of "righteousness". This commentary suggests that ελεημοσυνην may have been introduced here through a copyist's mistake, as the same word is also under in Matthew 6:2. Jack Lewis also argues that dikaisune was the original wording as eleemosune appears in Matthew 6:2, and that that verse would be redundant if the two words are the same. Filson also notes that it is likely that the word eleemosune was inserted into this verse as a copying error. Analysis How this verse relates to Matthew 5:13-16 has long been of some discussion. Those verses exhort Jesus' disciples to be public symbols of proper piety, while