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Matthew 5:45

That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

KJV

ὅπως γένησθε υἱοὶ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς, ὅτι τὸν ἥλιον αὐτοῦ ἀνατέλλει ἐπὶ πονηροὺς καὶ ἀγαθοὺς καὶ βρέχει ἐπὶ δικαίους καὶ ἀδίκους.

Greek NT

ut sitis filii Patris vestri, qui in cælis est : qui solem suum oriri facit super bonos et malos : et pluit super justos et injustos.

Vulgate

that ye may be sons of your Father who is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust.

ASV

That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust.

Douay-Rheims

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In this verse

Symbols Rain

In the original Greek

19 distinct Greek words appear in this verse.

αὐτός
autos
pronoun · 5564×
βρέχω
brecho
verb · 7×
γίνομαι
ginomai
verb · 667×
δίκαιος
dikaios
adjective · 79×
καί
kai
conjunction · 8973×
οὐρανός
ouranos
noun · 274×
πατήρ
pater
noun · 412×
πονηρός
poneros
adjective · 77×
υἱός
uios
noun · 375×
ἀγαθός
agathos
adjective · 102×
ἀνατέλλω
anatello
verb · 9×
ἄδικος
adikos
adjective · 12×
ἐν
en
preposition · 2743×
ἐπί
epi
preposition · 888×
ἥλιος
elios
noun · 32×
o
article · 19778×
ὅπως
opos
adverb · 53×
ὅτι
oti
conjunction · 1299×
ὑμεῖς
umeis
pronoun · 1828×

Textual variants

1 variant unit attested by manuscript witnesses and modern critical editions.

notable
SBLGNT: ἐν | WH/Treg/NIV: ἐν | RP: + τοῖς
  • ἐνSBLGNT
  • ἐνWestcott-Hort, Tregelles, Reader's GNT (NA27)
  • + τοῖςRobinson-Pierpont
source: sblgnt-apparatus

Themes

Historic Christian voices

26 passages from patristic writers, Reformers, and church catechisms citing this verse.

§2303Deliberate hatred is contrary to charity. Hatred of the neighbor is a sin when one deliberately wishes him evil. Hatred of the neighbor is a grave sin when one deliberately desires him grave harm. "But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven."96
§2608From the Sermon on the Mount onwards, Jesus insists on conversion of heart: reconciliation with one's brother before presenting an offering on the altar, love of enemies, and prayer for persecutors, prayer to the Father in secret, not heaping up empty phrases, prayerful forgiveness from the depths of the heart, purity of heart, and seeking the Kingdom before all else.64 This fi…
§2828"Give us": the trust of children who look to their Father for everything is beautiful. "He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."113 He gives to all the living "their food in due season."114 Jesus teaches us this petition, because it glorifies our Father by acknowledging how good he is, beyond all goodness.
The thirty æons are not typified by the fact that Christ was baptized in His thirtieth year: He did not suffer in the twelfth month after His baptism, but was more than fifty years old when He died. 1. I have shown that the number thirty fails them in every respect; too few æons, as they represent them, being at one time found within the Pleroma, and then again too many [to cor…
This world is ruled by the providence of one God, who is both endowed with infinite justice to punish the wicked, and with infinite goodness to bless the pious, and impart to them salvation. 1. God does, however, exercise a providence over all things, and therefore He also gives counsel; and when giving counsel, He is present with those who attend to moral discipline. It follow…
Christ did not abrogate the natural precepts of the law, but rather fulfilled and extended them. He removed the yoke and bondage of the old law, so that mankind, being now set free, might serve God with that trustful piety which becomes sons. 1. And that the Lord did not abrogate the natural [precepts] of the law, by which man is justified, which also those who were justified b…
…and 3 more from this source.
Homilies on Matthew · 4 passages
2. And if any man will sue you at the law, and take away your coat, let him have your cloak also. Matthew 5:40 For not in the matter of blows only, but of our goods also, He would have such forbearance exhibited. Wherefore He again employs the same strong figure. That is, as in the other case He commands to overcome in suffering, so here again, by allowing ourselves to be depri…
2. And when He had said, not to do it before men, He added, to be seen of them. And though it seems as if the same thing were said a second time, yet if any one give particular attention, it is not the same thing, but one is different from the other; and it has great security, and unspeakable care and tenderness. For it may be, both that one doing alms before men may not do it …
2. Now when, as you see, He had demonstrated the greatness of God's providential care, and they were in what follows to be rebuked also, even in this He was sparing, laying to their charge not want, but poverty, of faith. Thus, if God, says He, so clothe the grass of the field, much more you, O you of little faith. Matthew 6:30 And yet surely all these things He Himself works. …
…and 1 more from this source.
1. A fearful thing is sin, fearful, and the ruin of the soul, and the mischief oftentimes through its excess has overflowed and attacked men's bodies also. For since for the most part when the soul is diseased we feel no pain, but if the body receive though but a little hurt, we use every exertion to free it from its infirmity, because we are sensible of the infirmity, therefor…
1. A great matter, beloved, a great matter it is to preside over a Church: a matter needing wisdom and courage as great as that of which Christ speaks, that a man should lay down his life for the sheep, and never leave them deserted or naked; that he should stand against the wolf nobly. For in this the shepherd differs from the hireling; the one always looks to his own safety, …
Source. Translated by J. Walker, J. Sheppard and H. Browne, and revised by George B. Stevens. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 11. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1889.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/210209.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Adven…
Source. Translated by J. Walker, J. Sheppard and H. Browne, and revised by George B. Stevens. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 11. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1889.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/210210.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Adven…
City of God · 3 passages
Chapter 8.—Of the Advantages and Disadvantages Which Often Indiscriminately Accrue to Good and Wicked Men. Will some one say, Why, then, was this divine compassion extended even to the ungodly and ungrateful? Why, but because it was the mercy of Him who daily “maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”4848 Matt. v. 45. F…
Chapter 2.—Of Those Things Which are Contained in Books Second and Third. We had promised, then, that we would say 65 something against those who attribute the calamities of the Roman republic to our religion, and that we would recount the evils, as many and great as we could remember or might deem sufficient, which that city, or the provinces belonging to its empire, had suffe…
Chapter 24.—Against Those Who Fancy that in the Judgment of God All the Accused Will Be Spared in Virtue of the Prayers of the Saints. And this reasoning is equally conclusive against those who, in their own interest, but under the guise of a greater tenderness of spirit, attempt to invalidate the words of God, and who assert that these words are true, not because men shall suf…
§96And first of all let us imitate the breadth of His love. For the Church, the Bride of Christ, is one; and yet so vast is the love of the divine Spouse that it embraces in His Bride the whole human race without exception. Our Savior shed His Blood precisely in order that He might reconcile men to God through the Cross, and might constrain them to unite in one body, however widel…
1. How Christians are the Spiritual Israel. That people which was called of old the people of God was divided into twelve tribes, and over and above the other tribes it had the levitical order, which itself again carried on the service of God in various priestly and levitical suborders. In the same manner, it appears to me that the whole people of Christ, when we regard it in t…
Heidelberg Catechism · 2 passages
Q. What is God's will for you in the sixth commandment? A. I am not to belittle, insult, hate, or kill my neighbor — not by my thoughts, my words, my look or gesture, and certainly not by actual deeds — and I am not to be party to this in others; rather, I am to put away all desire for revenge. I am not to harm or recklessly endanger myself either. Prevention of murder is also …
Q. Is it enough then that we do not kill our neighbor in any such way? A. No. By condemning envy, hatred, and anger God tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves, to be patient, peace-loving, gentle, merciful, and friendly to them, to protect them from harm as much as we can, and to do good even to our enemies.

Cross-references

  • 1Pet 3:11 — Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.
  • Acts 14:17 — Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.
  • Deut 4:19 — And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD
  • Deut 10:18 — He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.
  • Eccl 11:7 — Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun:
  • Eph 5:1 — Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
  • Eph 5:1 — Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
  • Gen 2:5 — And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the grou
  • Jer 5:24 — Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
  • Jer 31:35 — Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of host
  • Job 25:3 — Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise?
  • Job 25:3 — Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise?
  • Job 38:28 — Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
  • John 8:39 — They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
  • John 13:35 — By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
  • Josh 10:13 — And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and
  • Lev 26:4 — Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
  • Luke 6:35 — But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the ev
  • Luke 11:13 — If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
  • Mark 7:28 — And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.
  • Matt 5:9 — Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
  • Matt 5:9 — Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
  • Matt 5:16 — Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
  • Matt 5:48 — Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
  • Matt 15:27 — And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.
  • Phil 2:15 — That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
  • Prov 4:18 — But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
  • Prov 29:13 — The poor and the deceitful man meet together: the LORD lighteneth both their eyes.
  • Ps 33:5 — He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.
  • Ps 74:16 — The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
  • Ps 104:13 — He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.
  • Ps 119:68 — Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes.
  • Ps 145:9 — The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.
  • Ps 145:9 — The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.
  • Ps 147:8 — Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.