Matthew 5:4

Matthew 5:4 depicted in the window of a Trittenheim church

Matthew 5:4 is the fourth verse of the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. It is the second verse of the Sermon on the Mount, and second of what are known as the Beatitudes.

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

Blessed are they that mourn:

for they shall be comforted.

The World English Bible translates the passage as:

Blessed are those who mourn,

for they shall be comforted.

For additional translations see here: Matthew 5:4

This is often considered to be a version of Luke 6:21, part of the Sermon on the Plain, which has weepers being able to laugh. Gundry feels that Matthew modified the verse to better match Isaiah 61:2.^[1] Albright and Mann note that in a number of early versions the order of 5:4 and 5:5 are reversed.^[2] Schweizer feels the current order was implemented to better reflect Isaiah 61:1-2.^[3]

The word mourn does not refer to mourning for the dead, the most common English use of the term. Most scholars feel mourners should be read as "the oppressed." Schweizer notes that the view that it refers to those mourning their sinfulness is wrong. The theology of the period, and in the Gospel of Matthew, is that sins must be hated, not mourned. Schweizer also notes that an early Christian document interprets this verse as referring to the mourning of the unbelievers who will be damned.^[4]

References