16. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven.
17. Do not think that I have come to do away with or undo the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them.
18. For truly I tell you, until the sky and earth pass away and perish, not one smallest letter nor one little hook [identifying certain Hebrew letters] will pass from the Law until all things [it foreshadows] are accomplished.
19. Whoever then breaks or does away with or relaxes one of the least [important] of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least [important] in the kingdom of heaven, but he who practices them and teaches others to do so shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20. For I tell you, unless your righteousness (your uprightness and your right standing with God) is more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
21. You have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not kill, and whoever kills shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court. [Exod. 20:13; Deut. 5:17; 16:18.]
22. But I say to you that everyone who continues to be angry with his brother or harbors malice (enmity of heart) against him shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court; and whoever speaks contemptuously and insultingly to his brother shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, You cursed fool! [You empty-headed idiot!] shall be liable to and unable to escape the hell (Gehenna) of fire.
23. So if when you are offering your gift at the altar you there remember that your brother has any [grievance] against you,
24. Leave your gift at the altar and go. First make peace with your brother, and then come back and present your gift.
25. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way traveling with him, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison.
26. Truly I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last fraction of a penny.
27. You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. [Exod. 20:14; Deut. 5:18.]
28. But I say to you that everyone who so much as looks at a woman with evil desire for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
29. If your right eye serves as a trap to ensnare you or is an occasion for you to stumble and sin, pluck it out and throw it away. It is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be cast into hell (Gehenna).
30. And if your right hand serves as a trap to ensnare you or is an occasion for you to stumble and sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better that you lose one of your members than that your entire body should be cast into hell (Gehenna).
31. It has also been said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.
32. But I tell you, Whoever dismisses and repudiates and divorces his wife, except on the grounds of unfaithfulness (sexual immorality), causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a woman who has been divorced commits adultery. [Deut. 24:1-4.]
33. Again, you have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not swear falsely, but you shall perform your oaths to the Lord [as a religious duty].
34. But I tell you, Do not bind yourselves by an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is the throne of God;
35. Or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. [Ps. 48:2; Isa. 66:1.]
36. And do not swear by your head, for you are not able to make a single hair white or black.