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20 I tell you this: You must always do what is right. You must live in a way that is better than the teachers of God's Law and the Pharisees.[a] You will never come into the kingdom of heaven if you do not do better than them.’

Jesus teaches about angry people

21 Jesus then said, ‘You know the rule that God gave to your ancestors: “You must not kill anyone. Any person who does kill someone will stand in front of a judge.[b] The judge will punish him because he has done a wrong thing.” 22 But what I now say to you is this: Anybody who is angry with his brother will have to stand in front of a judge. Or someone might call his brother by a bad name. Then he will have to stand in front of the Jewish leaders. They will judge him. But someone may say to his brother, “You are a fool.”[c] God will judge that person. God may punish him in the fires of hell.

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Footnotes

  1. 5:20 The teachers of God's Law and the Pharisees thought that they obeyed every rule in the Law. But they did not do it because they loved God. They wanted other people to think well of them.
  2. 5:21 At the time when Jesus said this, there were 71 important rulers in Jerusalem. And they met together to judge a bad person. The leader of the priests was their leader. These men had great power. God is the most powerful judge. Only he can send a person to hell.
  3. 5:22 When Jesus used the word brother, he was also talking about any special friend.