HEBREW GOSPEL OF MATTHEW - CHAPTER 25

CHAPTER 6 (Part 5) — Section 025 [MT 6:24–34]

Note on Textual Divisions & Concordance Markers:
The section titles (פרק ראשון, פרק שני, etc.) follow the authentic internal layout of Shem-Tob's Hebrew text, which organizes the Gospel of Matthew into 116 structural pericopes. The traditional 28-chapter and verse divisions ([MT X:X–X]) did not exist in ancient manuscripts; they were devised centuries later by Western scholars (Stephen Langton in 1205 and Robert Estienne in 1551) to build Latin concordances. The standard chapter/verse citations are included in brackets solely as a concordance reference for readers navigating standard printed Bibles.

#	Shem-Tob Hebrew Text	Literal English Translation
24	בעת ההיא אמר יש״ו לתלמידיו לא יוכל איש לעבוד לשני אדונים כי אם האחד ישנא והא׳ יאהב או לאחד יכבד ולאחד יבזה לא תוכלו לעבוד האל והעולם׃	At that time Yeshu said to his disciples: "A man is not able to serve two masters, for either the one he shall hate and the other he shall love, or to the one he shall show honor and to the one he shall despise; you are not able to serve the El and the world.
25	לכן אני אומר לכם שלא תדאגו למאכל לנפשותיכם ולא במלבוש לגופכם שהנפש יקרה מהמזון והגוף מהמלבוש׃	Therefore I say to you that you shall not be anxious for food for your souls, nor for clothing for your body; for the soul is more precious than nourishment, and the body than the clothing.
26	הסתכלו בעוף השמים אשר לא יזרועו ולא יקצורו ולא יאספו אוצרות ואביכם העליון מכלכל אתכם הלא אתם יקרים מהם?	Look at the bird of the heavens, that they do not sow, and they do not reap, and they do not gather treasures, and your Most High Father sustains you; are you not more precious than they?
27	מי בכם מהדואגים שיוכל להוסיף בקומתו אמה אחת?	Who among you from being anxious is able to add to his stature one cubit?
28	א״כ על מה תדאגו בלבוש ראו חבצלת השרון לעז גיל״יון החומש׃	If so, concerning what are you anxious about clothing? Look at the rose of the Sharon—in an outside tongue, giliyon—the pentateuch.
29	ואני אומר לכם שהמלך שלמה בכל כבודו לא היה מלובש כמוהו׃	And I say to you that King Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like it.
30	ואם תבן הנשאר בקמות לעז פֿי״נן אשר היום לחה ומחר יבשה ומשימים אותה בתנור האל מלביש אותה כ״ש אנחנו מקטני אמנה׃	And if the straw that remains in the standing stalks—in an outside tongue, fēnan—which today is moist and tomorrow is dry, and they place it into the oven, the El clothes it, how much more so we of small faithfulness?
31	וא״כ שהאל יחשוב מכם אל תדאגו לומר מה נאכל ומה נשתה	And if so, that the El considers you, do not be anxious to say, 'What shall we eat, and what shall we drink?'
32	שכל אלה הגופים מבקשים. ויודע אביכם שכל אלה אתם צריכים׃	For all these the bodies seek; and your Father knows that all these you need.
33	בקשו קודם מלכות אלקים וצדקתו וכל אלה הדברים ינתנו לכם׃	Seek first the kingdom of Elohim and his righteousness, and all these matters shall be given to you.
34	אל תדאגו ליום מחר שיום מחר ידאגו ממנו די לו ליום בצרתו׃	Do not be anxious for the day of tomorrow, for the day of tomorrow they shall be anxious concerning it; sufficient for the day is its distress."

Consonantal & Paleographic Notes

• The Sovereign Demarcation (האל והעולם / Ha-El Ve-Ha-Olam):
  The text establishes an absolute confrontation between Ha-El (the El) and Ha-Olam (the world / the temporal age). This is not an abstract lecture on greed; it is an exposure of systemic allegiance. Earthly empires build elaborate canal networks, agricultural control systems, and taxation hierarchies, forcing the multitude to labor endlessly for bread while self-appointed rulers fare sumptuously. Serving Ha-Olam means bowing to a temporal order governed entirely by the terror of mortal lack.
• The Bodily Obsession (הגופים / Ha-Gufim):
  Where late Greek translations smoothed the reading to "the Gentiles seek," Shem-Tob preserves the raw physical diagnosis: kol elleh ha-gufim mevaqshim ("for all these the bodies seek"). The unredeemed physical frame, detached from the breath of the Father, operates on basic animal survival—panicking over food and clothing. Human governments harness this bodily fear to enslave men; covenant faith breaks this bondage.
• "THEY Shall Be Anxious" — The Indictment of Worldly Allegiance (Verse 34):
  Notice the exact grammatical construction of verse 34: she-yom maḥar yid’agu mimenu (שֶׁיּוֹם מָחָר יִדְאֲגוּ מִמֶּנּוּ). Standard translations obscure this by personifying the calendar day ("for tomorrow shall take thought for the things of itself"). But the Hebrew verb יִדְאֲגוּ (yid’agu) is an active, third-person plural: "THEY shall be anxious concerning it."
  
  The text does not say the day worries; it identifies a specific class of people: THEY. Who are "they"? They are the ones who serve Ha-Olam (the world)—those whose affections and trust are anchored in the arm of flesh, institutional securities, civil storehouses, and mortal preservation. Their entire identity is bound to time, calendars, and tomorrow's supplies. The disciple is commanded to refuse their panic. Those who love something other than the living El live in perpetual dread of tomorrow; those who seek the inward reign of Elohim are freed from their manufactured anxiety.
• The Scribe's Marginal Notation (גיל״יון החומש / Giliyon Ha-Ḥomesh):
  Verse 28 connects the wild bloom of the Sharon to giliyon ha-ḥomesh (an open scroll sheet of the Pentateuch). The imperial luxury of King Solomon—adorned through heavy state taxation and imported fabrics—is utterly eclipsed by the living, unmanufactured design bestowed directly by the Creator upon a fragile field blossom.

Core Diagnostic: True faith cannot coexist with the panic of the temporal empire. When verse 34 declares that "they shall be anxious concerning it," it exposes those who worship the systems of the world. The disciple of the kingdom rejects their fear, knowing that the Father provides outside the machinery of mortal statecraft.