Matthew 5 · Verse 6

Matthew 5:6

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Matthew 5:6, King James Version

Matthew 5:6 in other translations

BSBBlessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
WEBBlessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
ASVBlessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
YLT‘Happy those hungering and thirsting for righteousness--because they shall be filled.
DARBYBlessed they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
BBEHappy are those whose heart's desire is for righteousness: for they will have their desire.
WebsterBlessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they shall be filled.

What does Matthew 5:6 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
6. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled--"shall be saturated." "From this verse," says Tholuck, "the reference to the Old Testament background ceases." Surprising! On the contrary, none of these beatitudes is more manifestly dug out of the rich mine of the Old Testament. Indeed, how could any one who found in the Old Testament "the poor in spirit," and "the mourners in Zion," doubt that he would also find those same characters also craving that righteousness which they feel and mourn their want of? But what is the precise meaning of "righteousness" here? Lutheran expositors, and some of our own, seem to have a hankering after that more restricted sense of the term in which it is used with reference to the sinner's justification before God. (See Jr 23:6; Is 45:24; Ro 4:6; 2Co 5:21). But, in so comprehensive a saying as this, it is clearly to be taken--as in Mt 5:10 also--in a much wider sense, as denoting that spiritual and entire conformity to the law of God, under the want of which the saints groan, and the possession of which constitutes the only true saintship. The Old Testament dwells much on this righteousness, as that which alone God regards with approbation (Psa 11:7; 23:3; 106:3; Pr 12:28; 16:31; Is 64:5, &c.). As hunger and thirst are the keenest of our appetites, our Lord, by employing this figure here, plainly means "those whose deepest cravings are after spiritual blessings." And in the Old Testament we find this craving variously expressed: "Hearken unto Me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord" (Is 51:1); "I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord," exclaimed dying Jacob (Ge 49:18); "My soul," says the sweet Psalmist, "breaketh for the longing that it hath unto Thy judgments at all times" (Psa 119:20): and in similar breathings does he give vent to his deepest longings in that and other Psalms. Well, our Lord just takes up here--this blessed frame of mind, representing it as--the surest pledge of the coveted supplies, as it is the best preparative, and indeed itself the beginning of them. "They shall be saturated," He says; they shall not only have what they so highly value and long to possess, but they shall have their fill of it. Not here, however. Even in the Old Testament this was well understood. "Deliver me," says the Psalmist, in language which, beyond all doubt, stretches beyond the present scene, "from men of the world, which have their portion in this life: as for me, I shall behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness" (Psa 17:13-15). The foregoing beatitudes--the first four--represent the saints rather as conscious of their need of salvation, and acting suitably to that character, than as possessed of it. The next three are of a different kind--representing the saints as having now found salvation, and conducting themselves accordingly.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes
Verse 6. Blessed are they that hunger, etc. Hunger and thirst, here, are expressive of strong desire. Nothing would better express the strong desire which we ought to feel to obtain righteousness, than hunger and thirst. No wants are so keen, none so imperiously demand supply as these. They occur daily; and when long continued, as in case of those shipwrecked, and doomed to wander months or years over burning sands, with scarcely any drink or food, nothing is more distressing. An ardent desire for anything is often represented in the Scriptures by hunger and thirst, Ps 42:1,2, 63:1,2. A desire for the blessings of pardon and peace; a deep sense of sin, and want, and wretchedness, is also represented by thirsting, Is 55:1,2. Those that are perishing for want of righteousness; that feel that they are lost sinners, and strongly desire to be holy, shall be filled. Never was there a desire to be holy, which God was not willing to gratify. And the gospel of Christ has made provision to satisfy all who truly desire to be holy. See Is 55:1-13, 65:13, Jn 4:14, 6:35, 7:37,38, Ps 17:15.

(b) "for they shall be filled" Ps 34:19, Is 65:13

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 6 They which do hunger and thirst - As the body has its natural appetites of hunger and thirst for the food and drink suited to its nourishment, so has the soul. No being is indestructible or unfailing in its nature but God; no being is independent but him: as the body depends for its nourishment, health, and strength upon the earth, so does the soul upon heaven. Heavenly things cannot support the body; they are not suited to its nature: earthly things cannot support the soul, for the same reason. When the uneasy sensation termed hunger takes place in the stomach, we know we must get food or perish. When the soul is awakened to a tense of its wants, and begins to hunger and thirst after righteousness or holiness, which is its proper food, we know that it must be purified by the Holy Spirit, and be made a partaker of that living bread, Joh 8:48, or perish everlastingly. Now, as God never inspires a prayer but with a design to answer it, he who hungers and thirsts after the full salvation of God, may depend on being speedily and effectually blessed or satisfied, well-fed, as the word χορτασθησονται implies. Strong and intense desire after any object has been, both by poets and orators, represented metaphorically by hunger and thirst. See the well-known words of Virgil, Aeneid iii. 55. - Quid non mortalia pectora cogis, Auri sacra Fames! "O cursed hunger after gold! what canst thou not influence the hearts of men to perpetrate?" How frequently do we find, inexplebilis honorum Fames-Sitiens virtutis-famae Situs, the insatiable hunger after honor, a thirst for virtue, thirst after fame, and such like! Righteousness here is taken for all the blessings of the new covenant - all the graces of the Messiah's kingdom - a full restoration to the image of God!

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Matthew 5:3-12

Our Saviour here gives eight characters of blessed people, which represent to us the principal graces of a Christian. 1. The poor in spirit are happy. These bring their minds to their condition, when it is a low condition. They are humble and lowly in their own eyes. They see their want, bewail their guilt, and thirst after a Redeemer. The kingdom of grace is of such; the kingdom of glory is for them. 2. Those that…

Read the full comment on Matthew 5:3-12 →

Matthew 5:6 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.

ΜακάριοιMakarioiBlessed [are]G3107
οἱhoithoseG3588
πεινῶντεςpeinōnteshungeringG3983
καὶkaiandG2532
διψῶντεςdipsōntesthirsting forG1372
τὴνtēn<the>G3588
δικαιοσύνην,dikaiosunēnrighteousness,G1343
ὅτιhotiforG3754
αὐτοὶautoithey themselvesG846
χορτασθήσονται.¶chortasthēsontaiwill be filled.G5526

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

Cross references for Matthew 5:6

  • Psalms 107:9

    For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

  • John 4:14

    But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

  • John 6:27

    Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

  • John 6:48-58

    I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. …

  • Psalms 145:19

    He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.

  • Isaiah 55:1-3

    Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

  • John 7:37

    In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

  • Luke 6:21

    Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.

  • Revelation 7:16

    They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.

  • Psalms 42:1-2

    To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

  • Isaiah 44:3

    For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:

  • Psalms 63:1-2

    A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
are.
Ps 42:1,2; 63:1,2; 84:2; 107:9; Am 8:11-13; Lu 1:53; 6:21,25
Joh 6:27
for.
Ps 4:6,7; 17:15; 63:5; 65:4; 145:19; So 5:1; Isa 25:6; 41:17; 44:3
Isa 49:9,10; 55:1-3; 65:13; 66:11; Joh 4:14; 6:48-58; 7:37; Re 7:16

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

Context

  • Matthew 5:5

    Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

  • Matthew 5:6

    Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

  • Matthew 5:7

    Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Read all of Matthew 5

Matthew 5:6 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Bienaventurados los que tienen hambre y sed de justicia: porque ellos serán hartos.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		bienheureux ceux qui ont faim et soif de la justice, car c’est eux qui seront rassasiés;
German
Elberfelder 1871		Glückselig die nach der Gerechtigkeit hungern und dürsten, denn sie werden gesättigt werden.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Beati qui esuriunt et sitiunt justitiam: quoniam ipsi saturabuntur.