Matthew 5:7

Matthew 5:7 depicted in the window of a Trittenheim church

Matthew 5:7 is the seventh verse of the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. It is the fifth verse of the Sermon on the Mount, and also fifth of what are known as the Beatitudes.

In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:

Blessed are the merciful:

for they shall obtain mercy.

The World English Bible translates the passage as:

Blessed are the merciful,

for they shall obtain mercy.

For a collection of other versions see here: Matthew 5:7

Like Matthew 5:5 this verse has no parallel in Luke's Sermon on the Plain. Gundry feels that this fairly straightforward construction was probably thus a creation by the author of Matthew.^[1] The theme is an obvious one for Matthew to choose. Schweizer notes that "mercy is the focal point of Matthew's message."^[2]

This verse, according to Gundry, marks the beginning of the second quartet of Beatitudes. The first four are all about private attitudes and conditions, the second four are about relations between people. Gundry feels the first four show the persecuted nature of the disciples and the second four show the righteous behaviour that led to this persecution.^[3]

References

1. Gundry, Robert H. Matthew a Commentary on his Literary and Theological Art. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982.
2. Schweizer, Eduard. The Good News According to Matthew. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1975
3. Gundry, Robert H. Matthew a Commentary on his Literary and Theological Art. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982.