Matthew 5:40

40 If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it.

Matthew 5:40 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 5:40

And if any man will sue thee at the law
Or "will contend with thee", or as the Syriac renders it, (Kme Nwdnd) , "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 (tylj) , "the upper garment": and what we render a "cloak", answers to (qwlx) , "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 ^F9, 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, (wnmm wtylj rybeh) 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.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 Misn. Bava Kama, c. 8. sect. 6.

Matthew 5:40 In-Context

38 "Here's another old saying that deserves a second look: 'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.'

39 Is that going to get us anywhere? Here's what I propose: 'Don't hit back at all.' If someone strikes you, stand there and take it.

40 If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it.

41 And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life.

42 No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.