Matthew 5 · Verse 14

Matthew 5:14

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Matthew 5:14, King James Version

Matthew 5:14 in other translations

BSBYou are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
WEB“You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden.
ASVYe are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid.
YLT‘Ye are the light of the world, a city set upon a mount is not able to be hid;
DARBYYe are the light of the world: a city situated on the top of a mountain cannot be hid.
BBEYou are the light of the world. A town put on a hill may be seen by all.
WebsterYe are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

What does Matthew 5:14 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 5:13-16

13-16. We have here the practical application of the foregoing principles to those disciples who sat listening to them, and to their successors in all time. Our Lord, though He began by pronouncing certain characters to be blessed--without express reference to any of His hearers--does not close the beatitudes without intimating that such characters were in existence, and that already they were before Him…

Read the full comment on Matthew 5:13-16 →

Barnes' Notes
Verse 14. The light of the world. The light of the world often denotes the sun, Jn 11:9. The sun renders objects visible, shows their form their nature, their beauties, and deformities. The term light is often applied to religious teachers. See Jn 1:4, 8:12, Is 49:6. It is pre-eminently applied to Jesus in these places; because he is, in the moral world, what the sun is in the natural world. The apostles, and Christian ministers, and all Christians, are lights of the world, because they, by their instructions and examples, show what God requires, what is the condition of man, what is the way of duty, peace, and happiness--the way that leads to heaven.

A city that is set on an hill, etc. Many of the cities of Judea were placed on the summits or sides of mountains, and could be seen from afar. This was the case with Jerusalem; and it is said by Maundrell, that near the place where our Saviour is supposed to have delivered his sermon, there is still such a town, called Saphat, anciently This can Bethesda. be seen far and near. Perhaps Jesus pointed to such a city, and told his disciples that they were like it. They were seen from far. Their actions could not be hid. The eyes of the World were upon them. They must be seen; and as this was the case, they ought to be holy, harmless, and undefiled.

(i) "light" Php 2:15

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 14 Ye are the light of the world - That is, the instruments which God chooses to make use of to illuminate the minds of men; as he uses the sun (to which probably he pointed) to enlighten the world. Light of the world, נר עולם ner olam, was a title applied to the most eminent rabbins. Christ transfers the title from these, and gives it to his own disciples, who, by the doctrines that he taught them, were to be the means of diffusing the light of life throughout the universe. A city that is set on a hill - This place may receive light from the following passage in Maundrell's Travels. "A few points toward the north (of Tabor) appears that which they call the Mount of Beatitudes, a small rising, from which our blessed Savior delivered his sermon in the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of Matthew. (See the note on Mat 5:5). Not far from this little hill is the city Saphet, supposed to be the ancient Bethulia. It stands upon a very eminent and conspicuous mountain, and is Seen Far and Near. May we not suppose that Christ alludes to this city, in these words of his, A city set on a hill cannot be hid?" p. 115. Quesnell remarks here: "The Christian life is something very high and sublime, to which we cannot arrive without pains: while it withdraws us from the earth, and carries us nearer heaven, it places us in view, and as a mark, to the malice of carnal men."

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Matthew 5:13-16

Ye are the salt of the earth. Mankind, lying in ignorance and wickedness, were as a vast heap, ready to putrify; but Christ sent forth his disciples, by their lives and doctrines to season it with knowledge and grace. If they are not such as they should be, they are as salt that has lost its savour. If a man can take up the profession of Christ, and yet remain graceless, no other doctrine, no other means, can make…

Read the full comment on Matthew 5:13-16 →

Matthew 5:14 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

ὙμεῖςHumeisYou yourselvesG4771
ἐστεesteareG1510
τὸtotheG3588
φῶςphōslightG5457
τοῦtouof theG3588
κόσμου·kosmouworld;G2889
οὐouNotG3756
δύναταιdunataiis ableG1410
πόλιςpolisa cityG4172
κρυβῆναιkrubēnaito be hiddenG2928
ἐπάνωepanōonG1883
ὄρουςorousa hillG3735
κειμένη·keimenēlying;G2749

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Matthew 5:14

  • Philippians 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;

  • John 8:12

    Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

  • Ephesians 5:8-14

    For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. …

  • 1 Thessalonians 5:5

    Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

  • Proverbs 4:18

    But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

  • John 12:36

    While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

  • Romans 2:19-20

    And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.

  • 2 Corinthians 6:14

    Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

  • John 5:35

    He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.

  • Revelation 21:14-27

    And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. …

  • Revelation 1:20-2:1

    The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
the light.
Pr 4:18; Joh 5:35; 12:36; Ro 2:19,20; 2Co 6:14; Eph 5:8-14
Php 2:15; 1Th 5:5; Re 1:20; 2:1
a city.
Ge 11:4-8; Re 21:14-27

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Matthew 5:13

    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.

  • Matthew 5:14

    Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

  • Matthew 5:15

    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.

Read all of Matthew 5

Matthew 5:14 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Vosotros sois la luz del mundo: una ciudad asentada sobre un monte no se puede esconder.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Vous êtes la lumière du monde: une ville située sur une montagne ne peut être cachée.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Ihr seid das Licht der Welt; eine Stadt, die oben auf einem Berge liegt, kann nicht verborgen sein.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Vos estis lux mundi. Non potest civitas abscondi supra montem posita,