Matthew 5:38 records Jesus correcting a rule of justice that many people had taken as permission for personal revenge. The old law limited retaliation to a matching injury, and Jesus says his followers should not insist even on that measure. He spoke these words in the Sermon on the Mount to the crowds gathered on the hillside and to his disciples who had come close to hear him teach.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’
Matthew 5:38 (WEB)
What Matthew 5:38 Means
Jesus begins with “You have heard that it was said,” which points to the way Israelites had learned the law in synagogues and from teachers. The phrase “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” comes from the Torah, where it set a limit on punishment: the penalty should match the harm and no more. Courts in ancient Israel used this principle to keep retribution proportionate, so it was originally a restraint on violence rather than a license for it.
Jesus does not say the old law was wrong. In the verses that follow he moves from what courts might do to how a person should respond to an insult or injury in daily life. The verse does not promise that people will always treat you fairly, nor that wrongs will go unanswered. It describes how a follower of Jesus is to hold personal grievances: loosely, without grasping for payback.
The Context of Matthew 5:38
Matthew wrote this Gospel for a Jewish-Christian community, probably in the later first century, and he presents Jesus as the teacher who fulfills the Law and the Prophets. The Sermon on the Mount opens with the Beatitudes and then sets out a series of contrasts, beginning with “You have heard it said… but I say to you” in verses 21 and 27. Verse 38 is one of these contrasts, and each one raises the standard of the heart above the minimum the law required.
The verses just before it, about swearing oaths and letting your yes be yes, show the same pattern of simple honesty without elaborate protection. The verses after it, about turning the other cheek and going the second mile, give concrete examples. Read in that setting, verse 38 is less a legal ruling and more an invitation to a different way of living with people who wrong us.
Key Phrases in Matthew 5:38
Romans 12:19
Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.”
(WEB)
Paul builds on the same theme by telling believers not to avenge themselves and to leave justice in God’s hands. Where Matthew 5:38 shows Jesus setting aside personal retaliation, Romans 12:19 explains why we can do so: God is the one who judges rightly. Together the two passages show that letting go of revenge is an act of trust.
Proverbs 20:22
Don’t say, “I will pay back evil.” Wait for the LORD, and he will save you.
(WEB)
This proverb warns against saying you will repay an evil deed and asks the reader to wait on the Lord. It echoes the shift in Matthew 5:38 from answering harm with harm to trusting God to act. Reading it alongside Jesus’ teaching helps show that patience and restraint have deep roots in Scripture.
A Short Prayer From Matthew 5:38
Lord, you know the hurts I carry and the wrongs I have replayed in my mind. Teach me to loosen my grip on payback and to trust you with what I cannot repair myself. Give me wisdom to speak honestly when I must and courage to stop keeping score. Shape my heart to be more like Jesus, who entrusted himself to you when he was treated unjustly. Amen.
