Matthew 5:40

if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well;

BSB

Parallel translations

4 additional translations

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KJV

And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.

ASV

And if any man would go to law with thee, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.

YLT

and whoever is willing to take thee to law, and thy coat to take--suffer to him also the cloak.

DBT

and to him that would go to law with thee and take thy body coat, leave him thy cloak also.

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Commentary voices

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Voices4

On this verse

Else how will one, when he has two coats, give the one of them to the naked, unless he be a man likewise to offer to one who takes away his coat his cloak as well? How shall we fashion to us friends from mammon, if we love it so much as not to put up with its loss? We shall perish together with the lost mammon.

Tertullian· Of Patience, 220patristic

Related commentary

And if any man will sue thee at the law,.... Or "will contend with thee", or as the Syriac renders it, דנדון עמך, "will strive", or "litigate with thee"; not contest the matter, or try the cause in an open court of judicature, a sense our version inclines to; but will wrangle and quarrel in a private way, in order to take away thy coat, by force and violence, let him have thy cloak also; do not forbid, or hinder him from taking it; see Luk 6:

John Gill· Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748)reformed

And if any man will sue thee at the law - Every where our blessed Lord shows the utmost disapprobation of such litigations as tended to destroy brotherly kindness and charity. It is evident he would have his followers to suffer rather the loss of all their property than to have recourse to such modes of redress, at so great a risk. Having the mind averse from contentions, and preferring peace and concord to temporal advantages, is most solemnly recommended to all Christians.

Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832evangelical

And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat--the inner garment; in pledge for a debt (Ex 22:26, 27). let him have thy cloak also--the outer and more costly garment. This overcoat was not allowed to be retained over night as a pledge from the poor because they used it for a bed covering.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871reformed

Voices on this verse

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Rabbinic commentary

How the Hebraic tradition has read this verse — and Marcus Brown’s own reading of it.

Cross-references

2 linked verses

The verses this one reaches2

Luke 6:29
If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic as well.
1 Corinthians 6:7
The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means that you are thoroughly defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

Cross-references

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The quotation web

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The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first — the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
1 Corinthians 6:7
The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means that you are thoroughly defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?
leads to
- Romans 12:17–19
  Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Carefully consider what is right in the eyes of everybody.
- Proverbs 20:22
  Do not say, “I will avenge this evil!” Wait on the LORD, and He will save you.
- 1 Peter 2:19–23
  For if anyone endures the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God, this is to be commended.
- 1 Peter 3:9
  Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
- Matthew 5:39–41
  But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also;
Through
Luke 6:29
If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic as well.
leads to
- Matthew 5:39–42
  But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also;
- Hebrews 10:34
  You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, knowing that you yourselves had a better and permanent possession.
- 2 Corinthians 11:20
  In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or exalts himself or strikes you in the face.

The whole web at once: see the Arc.

Where the connections lead

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