Bible verses about "solitude" | Moffatt

¹⁵ But the God who had set me apart from my very birth called me by his grace, ¹⁶ and when he chose to reveal his Son to me, that I might preach him to the Gentiles, instead of consulting with any human being, ¹⁷ instead of going up to Jerusalem to see those who had been apostles before me, I went off at once to Arabia, and on my return I came back to Damascus.

³⁵ Then in the early morning, long before daylight, he got up and went away out to a lonely spot.

²³ after he had dismissed the crowds he went up the hill by himself to pray. When evening came he was there alone,

¹ Take care not to practise your charity before men in order to be noticed; otherwise you get no reward from your Father in heaven. No, ² When you give alms, make no flourish of trumpets like the hypocrites in the synagogues and the streets, so as to win applause from men; I tell you truly, they do get their reward. ³ When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so as to keep your alms secret; then your Father who sees what is secret will reward you openly. ⁵ Also, when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they like to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street-corners, so as to be seen by men; I tell you truly, they do get their reward. ⁶ When you pray, go into your room and shut the door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is secret will reward you. ⁷ Do not pray by idle rote like pagans, for they suppose they will be heard the more they say; ⁸ you must not copy them; your Father knows your needs before you ask him. ⁹ Let this be how you pray: 'our Father in heaven, thy name be revered, ¹⁰ thy Reign begin, thy will be done on earth as in heaven! ¹¹ give us to-day our bread for the morrow, ¹² and forgive us our debts as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors, ¹³ and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.' ¹⁴ For if you forgive men their trespasses, then your heavenly Father will forgive you; ¹⁵ but if you do not forgive men, your Father will not forgive your trespasses either. ¹⁶ When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they look woebegone to let men see they are fasting; I tell you truly, they do get their reward. ¹⁷ But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ so that your fast may be seen not by men but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is secret will reward you. ¹⁹ Store up no treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust corrode, where thieves break in and steal: ²⁰ store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrode, where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure lies, your heart will lie there too. ²² The eye is the lamp of the body: so, if your Eye is generous, the whole of your body will be illumined, ²³ but if your Eye is selfish, the whole of your body will be darkened. And if your very light turns dark, then — what a darkness it is! ²⁴ No one can serve two masters: either he will hate one and love the other, or else he will stand by the one and despise the other — you cannot serve both God and Mammon. ²⁵ Therefore I tell you, do not trouble about what you are to eat or drink in life, nor about what you are to put on your body; surely life means more than food, surely the body means more than clothes! ²⁶ Look at the wild birds; they sow not, they reap not, they gather nothing in granaries, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than birds? ²⁷ Which of you can add an ell to his height by troubling about it? ²⁸ And why should you trouble over clothing? Look how the lilies of the field grow; they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ and yet, I tell you, even Solomon in all his grandeur was never robed like one of them. ³⁰ Now if God so clothes the grass of the field which blooms to-day and is thrown to-morrow into the furnace, will not he much more clothe you? O men, how little you trust him! ³¹ Do not be troubled, then, and cry, 'What are we to eat?' or 'what are we to drink?' or 'how are we to be clothed?' ³² (pagans make all that their aim in life) for your heavenly Father knows quite well you need all that. ³³ Seek God's Realm and his goodness, and all that will be yours over and above. ³⁴ So do not be troubled about to-morrow; to-morrow will take care of itself. The day's own trouble is quite enough for the day.

³¹ And he said to them, "Come away to some lonely spot and get a little rest" (for there were many people coming and going, and they could get no time even to eat).

¹² It was in these days that he went off to the hillside to pray. He spent the whole night in prayer to God,

¹⁵ But the news of him spread abroad more and more; large crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their complaints, ¹⁶ while he kept in lonely places and prayed.

⁶ When you pray, go into your room and shut the door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is secret will reward you.