23 [a]If then thou bring thy gift to the [b]altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee,

24 Leave there thine offering before the altar, and go thy way: first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

25 (A)[c]Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him, lest thine adversary deliver thee to the Judge, and the Judge deliver thee to the sergeant, and thou be cast into prison.

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Footnotes

  1. Matthew 5:23 The covetous Pharisees taught that God was appeased by the sacrifices appointed in the Law, which they themselves devoured. But Christ on the contrary side denieth that God accepteth any man’s offering, unless he maketh satisfaction to his brother whom he hath offended: and saith moreover, that these stubborn and stiffnecked despisers of their brethren, shall never escape the wrath and curse of God, before they have made full satisfaction to their brethren.
  2. Matthew 5:23 He applieth all this speech to the state of his time, when as there was an altar standing in Jerusalem, and therefore they are very foolish, that gather hereupon, that we must build altars, and use sacrifices: but they are more fools, which draw that to purgatory, which is spoken of peacemaking and atonement one with another.
  3. Matthew 5:25 Cut off all cause for enmity.

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