the Week of Proper 25 / Ordinary 30
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King James Version
Matthew 5:40
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If anyone wants to sue you in court and take your shirt, let them have your coat too.
And yf eny man will sue the at the lawe and take awaye thy coote let hym have thy cloocke also.
If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat as well.
"And if anyone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak also.
If someone wants to sue you in court and take your shirt, let him have your coat also.
And if any man would go to law with you, and take away your coat, let him have your cloak also.
And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have [thy] cloke also.
"If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also [for the Lord repays the offender].
And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
If any man would go to law with you and take away your coat, let him have your cloak also.
And if a man will sue thee and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
If any one wishes to go to law with you and to deprive you of your under garment, let him take your outer one also.
and to hym that wole stryue with thee in doom, and take awey thi coote, leeue thou `to him also thi mantil;
And if any man would go to law with thee, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well;
If someone sues you for your shirt, give up your coat as well.
And if any man would go to law with thee, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
And if any man goes to law with you and takes away your coat, do not keep back your robe from him.
If someone wants to sue you for your shirt, let him have your coat as well!
and to him that would go to law with thee and take thy body coat, leave him thy cloak also.
And if any one will contend with thee to take away thy tunic, leave him thy mantle also;
And if one is disposed to sue thee and get away thy coat, relinquish to him also thy cloak.
And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coate, let him haue thy cloake also.
If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too.
If any person takes you to court to get your shirt, give him your coat also.
and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well;
And if any man wil sue thee at the law, and take away thy coate, let him haue thy cloke also.
And if anyone wishes to sue you at the court and take away your shirt, let him have your robe also.
And, him who is desiring thee to be judged, and to take, thy tunic, let him have, thy mantle also.
And if a man will contend with thee in judgment, and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him.
and if any one would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well;
And yf any man wyll sue thee at the lawe, and take away thy coate, let him haue thy cloke also.
And if someone takes you to court to sue you for your shirt, let him have your coat as well.
As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well.
If any man would go to law with you and take away your coat, let him have your cloak also.
And the one who wants to go to court with you and take your tunic, let him have your outer garment also.
And to him desiring to sue you, and to take your tunic, allow him also to have the coat.
and whoever is willing to take thee to law, and thy coat to take -- suffer to him also the cloak.
And yf eny man will sue the at the lawe, & take awaye thy coate, let him haue thy cloake also.
and if any man will go to law with you, to have your coat, let him have your cloke too.
And if someone wants to sue you and to take your tunic, give him your coat also.
If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.
If someone wants to steal your vest, give 'em your coat too.
"If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also.
And if anyone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your garment also.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Luke 6:29, 1 Corinthians 6:7
Gill's Notes on the Bible
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 Luke 6:29. The "coat", is the same with טלית, "the upper garment": and what we render a "cloak", answers to חלוק, "the inward garment"; by which words Sangari expresses the passage in the place before cited: and the sense is, if a wrangling, quarrelsome man, insists upon having thy coat, or upper garment, let him take the next; and rather suffer thyself to be stripped naked than engage in a litigious broil with him. This also is contrary to the above canon of the Jews i, which says;
"If a man should pull another by his ear, or pluck off his hair, or spit, and his spittle should come to him,
העביר טליתו ממנו or "should take his coat from him", or uncover a woman's head in the street, he shall pay four hundred "zuzim", and all this is according to his dignity; says R. Akiba; even the poor in Israel, they consider them as if they were noblemen, who are fallen from their estates, for they are the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.''
i Misn. Bava Kama, c. 8. sect. 6.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
An eye for an eye ... - This command is found in Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20, and Deuteronomy 19:21. In these places it was given as a rule to regulate the decisions of judges. They were to take eye for eye, and tooth for tooth, and to inflict burning for burning. As a judicial rule it is not unjust. Christ finds no fault with the rule as applied to magistrates, and does not take upon himself to repeal it. But instead of confining it to magistrates, the Jews had extended it to private conduct, and made it the rule by which to take revenge. They considered themselves justified by this rule to inflict the same injury on others that they had received. Our Saviour remonstrates against this. He declares that the law had no reference to private revenge, that it was given only to regulate the magistrate, and that their private conduct was to be governed by different principles.
The general principle which he laid down was, that we are not to resist evil; that is, as it is in the Greek, nor to set ourselves against an evil person who is injuring us. But even this general direction is not to be pressed too strictly. Christ did not intend to teach that we are to see our families murdered, or be murdered ourselves; rather than to make resistance. The law of nature, and all laws, human and divine, justify self-defense when life is in danger. It cannot surely be the intention to teach that a father should sit by coolly and see his family butchered by savages, and not be allowed to defend them. Neither natural nor revealed religion ever did, or ever can, inculcate this doctrine. Our Saviour immediately explains what he means by it. Had he intended to refer it to a case where life is in danger, he would most surely have mentioned it. Such a case was far more worthy of statement than those which he did mention.
A doctrine so unusual, so unlike all that the world had believed. and that the best people had acted on, deserved to be formally stated. Instead of doing this, however, he confines himself to smaller matters, to things of comparatively trivial interest, and says that in these we had better take wrong than to enter into strife and lawsuits. The first case is where we are smitten on the cheek. Rather than contend and fight, we should take it patiently, and turn the other cheek. This does not, however, prevent our remonstrating firmly yet mildly on the injustice of the thing, and insisting that justice should be done us, as is evident from the example of the Saviour himself. See John 18:23. The second evil mentioned is where a man is litigious and determined to take all the advantage the law can give him, following us with vexatious and expensive lawsuits. Our Saviour directs us, rather than to imitate him rather than to contend with a revengeful spirit in courts of justice to take a trifling injury, and yield to him. This is merely a question about property, and not about conscience and life.
Coat - The Jews wore two principal garments, an interior and an exterior. The interior, here called the “coat,” or the tunic, was made commonly of linen, and encircled the whole body, extending down to the knees. Sometimes beneath this garment, as in the case of the priests, there was another garment corresponding to pantaloons. The coat, or tunic, was extended to the neck. and had long or short sleeves. Over this was commonly worn an upper garment, here called “cloak,” or mantle. It was made commonly nearly square, of different sizes, 5 or 6 cubits long and as many broad, and was wrapped around the body, and was thrown off when labor was performed. If, said Christ, an adversary wished to obtain, at law, one of these garments, rather than contend with him let him have the other also. A reference to various articles of apparel occurs frequently in the New Testament, and it is desirable to have a correct view of the ancient mode of dress. in order to a proper understanding of the Bible. The Asiatic modes of dress are nearly the same from age to age, and hence it is not difficult to illustrate the passages where such a reference occurs. The ordinary dress consisted of the inner garment, the outer garment, the girdle (belt), and the sandals. In regard to the sandals, see the notes at Matthew 3:11.
In the girdle (belt) was the place of the pouch Matthew 10:9, and to it the sword and dirk were commonly attached. Compare 2 Samuel 20:8. In modern times the pistols are also fastened to the belt. It is the usual place for the handkerchief, smoking materials, inkhorn, and, in general, the implements of one’s profession. The belt served to confine the loose-flowing robe or outer garment to the body. It held the garment when it was tucked up, as it was usually in walking or in labor. Hence, “to gird up the loins” became a significant figurative expression, denoting readiness for service, activity, labor, and watchfulness; and “to loosen the loins” denoted the giving way to repose and indolence, 2 Kings 4:29; Job 38:3; Isaiah 5:27; Luke 12:35; John 21:7.
Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile - The word translated “shall compel” is of Persian origin. Post-offices were then unknown. In order that the royal commands might be delivered with safety and despatch in different parts of the empire, Cyrus stationed horsemen at proper intervals on all the great public highways. One of those delivered the message to another, and intelligence was thus rapidly and safely communicated. These heralds were permitted to compel any person, or to press any horse, boat, ship, or other vehicle that they might need for the quick transmission of the king’s commandments. It was to this custom that our Saviour refers. Rather, says he, than resist a public authority requiring your attendance and aid for a certain distance, go peaceably twice the distance.
A mile - A Roman mile was 1,000 paces.
Twain - Two.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse 40. 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. We are great gainers when we lose only our money, or other property, and risk not the loss of our souls, by losing the love of God and man.
Coat — χιτωνα, upper garment.-Cloke, ιματιον, under garment. What we call strait coat, and great coat. - See on Luke 6:29.
