Passage
Matthew 5.14
14. Ye are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. (ASV)Book: Matthew · NASB95
Immediate context (±2 verses)
ASV
12. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you. 13. Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men.
14. Ye are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid.
- Neither do men light a lamp, and put it under the bushel, but on the stand; and it shineth unto all that are in the house. 16. Even so let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:12-16, ASV)
WEB
12. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 13. “You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men.
14. You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden.
- Neither do you light a lamp, and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand; and it shines to all who are in the house. 16. Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:12-16, WEB)
KJV
12. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. 13. Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
14. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
- Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. a bushel: the word in the original signifieth a measure containing about a pint less than a peck 16. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:12-16, KJV)
YLT
12. rejoice ye and be glad, because your reward [is] great in the heavens, for thus did they persecute the prophets who were before you. 13. 'Ye are the salt of the land, but if the salt may lose savour, in what shall it be salted? for nothing is it good henceforth, except to be cast without, and to be trodden down by men.
14. 'Ye are the light of the world, a city set upon a mount is not able to be hid;
- nor do they light a lamp, and put it under the measure, but on the lamp-stand, and it shineth to all those in the house; 16. so let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and may glorify your Father who [is] in the heavens. (Matthew 5:12-16, YLT)
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Setting
- Speaker: TBD
- Audience: TBD
- Location: TBD
- Time period: TBD
Theological reading
Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.
Key words
Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.
- None of the words in this verse has its own lexicon entry yet.
Quoted in
Concepts:
Notes
Your annotations.
Why these four translations
ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.
The four:
- ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
- WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
- KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
- YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.
See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.