Matthew 5:40

40 Suppose someone takes you to court to get your shirt. Let him have your coat also.

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 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye must be put out for an eye. A tooth must be knocked out for a tooth.'(Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20; Deuteronomy 19:21)

39 But here is what I tell you. Do not fight against an evil person. "Suppose someone hits you on your right cheek. Turn your other cheek to him also.

40 Suppose someone takes you to court to get your shirt. Let him have your coat also.

41 Suppose someone forces you to go one mile. Go two miles with him.

42 "Give to the one who asks you for something. Don't turn away from the one who wants to borrow something from you.