Matthew 5:5
New International Version
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

New Living Translation
God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.

English Standard Version
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Berean Standard Bible
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Berean Literal Bible
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

King James Bible
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

New King James Version
Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.

New American Standard Bible
“Blessed are the gentle, for they will inherit the earth.

NASB 1995
“Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

NASB 1977
“Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

Legacy Standard Bible
Blessed are the lowly, for they shall inherit the earth.

Amplified Bible
“Blessed [inwardly peaceful, spiritually secure, worthy of respect] are the gentle [the kind-hearted, the sweet-spirited, the self-controlled], for they will inherit the earth.

Christian Standard Bible
Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The gentle are blessed, for they will inherit the earth.

American Standard Version
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Blessed are they who are meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Contemporary English Version
God blesses those people who are humble. The earth will belong to them!

Douay-Rheims Bible
Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land.

English Revised Version
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Blessed are those who are gentle. They will inherit the earth.

Good News Translation
"Happy are those who are humble; they will receive what God has promised!

International Standard Version
"How blessed are those who are humble, because it is they who will inherit the earth!

Literal Standard Version
Blessed the meek—because they will inherit the land.

Majority Standard Bible
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

New American Bible
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.

NET Bible
"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

New Revised Standard Version
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

New Heart English Bible
Blessed are the gentle, for they will inherit the earth.

Webster's Bible Translation
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Weymouth New Testament
"Blessed are the meek, for they as heirs shall obtain possession of the earth.

World English Bible
Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

Young's Literal Translation
'Happy the meek -- because they shall inherit the land.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Beatitudes
4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.…

Cross References
Psalm 25:13
His soul will dwell in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land.

Psalm 37:9
For the evildoers will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.

Psalm 37:11
But the meek will inherit the land and delight in abundant prosperity.

Isaiah 29:19
The humble will increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.


Treasury of Scripture

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

the meek.

Matthew 11:29
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

Matthew 21:5
Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.

Numbers 12:3
(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)

they.

Psalm 25:13
His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth.

Psalm 37:9,11,22,29,34
For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth…

Isaiah 60:21
Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.

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Matthew 5
1. Jesus' sermon on the mount:
3. The Beattitudes;
13. the salt of the earth;
14. the light of the world.
17. He came to fulfill the law.
21. What it is to kill;
27. to commit adultery;
33. to swear.
38. He exhorts to forgive wrong,
43. to love our enemies;
48. and to labor after perfection.














(5) The meek.--The word so rendered was probably used by St. Matthew in its popular meaning, without any reference to the definition which ethical writers had given of it, but it may be worth while to recall Aristotle's account of it (Eth. Nicom. v. 5) as the character of one who has the passion of resentment under control, and who is therefore tranquil and untroubled, as in part determining the popular use of the word, and in part also explaining the beatitude.

They shall inherit the earth.--The words may be partly allusive to the "kingdom of the saints of the Most High" in that prophecy of Daniel (Daniel 7:27) which had done so much to fashion the Messianic expectations of the time. They have, however, a wider and continuous fulfilment. The influence of the meek and self-controlled is in the long-run greater than that of the impulsive and passionate. Their serenity helps them to find the maximum of true joy in all conditions of life; for to them the earth is not a stage for self-assertion and the graspings of desire, but an "inheritance" which they have received from their Father.

Many of the best MSS. invert the order of Matthew 5:4-5, and this arrangement has, at all events, the merit of bringing out the latent antithesis between the kingdom of heaven in its unseen greatness and the visible inheritance of the earth.

Verse 5. - Blessed are the meek. In this Beatitude our Lord still quotes Old Testament expressions. The phrase, "shall inherit the earth," comes even in Isaiah 60:21, only two verses before Isaiah 61:1, 2, to which he has already referred. In the present copies of the LXX. it is found also in Isaiah 61:7, but there it is evidently a corruption. It occurs also in Psalm 37:9, 11, 22, 29, 34; and since in the eleventh verse of the psalm it is directly said of the meek: "But the meek shall inherit the land (LXX., οἱ δὲ πραεῖς κληρονομήσουσιν γῆν)," it is, doubtless, from this latter passage that our Lord borrows the phrase. The meaning attributed by our Lord to the word meek is not clear. The ordinary use of the words πραυ'´ς, πραυ'´της, in the New Testament refers solely to the relation of men to men, and this is the sense in which οἱ πραεῖς is taken by most commentators here. But with this sense, taken barely and solely, there seems to be no satisfactory explanation of the position of the Beatitude. Vers. 3 and 4 refer to men in their relation to God; ver. 6, to say the least, includes the relation of men to God; what has ver. 5 to do here if it refers solely to the relation of men to men? It would have come very naturally either before or after ver. 9 ("the peacemakers"); but why here? The reason, however, for the position of the Beatitude lies in the true conception of meekness. While the thought is here primarily that of meekness exhibited towards men (as is evident from the implied contrast in they shall inherit the earth), yet meekness towards men is closely connected with, and is the result of, meekness towards God. This is not exactly humility (ταπεινοφροσύνη, which, as regards God, is equivalent to a sense of creatureliness or dependence; cf. Trench, 'Syn.,' § 42.). Meekness is rather the attitude of the soul towards another when that other is in a state of activity towards it. It is the attitude of the disciple to the teacher when teaching; of the son to the father when exercising his paternal authority; of the servant to the master when giving him orders. It is therefore essentially as applicable to the relation of man to God as to that of man to man. It is for this reason that we find ענוה ענוvery frequently used of man's relation to God, in fact, more often than of man's relation to man; and this common meaning of ענו must be specially remembered here, where the phrase is taken directly from the Old Testament. Weiss ('Matthaus-ev.') objects to Tholuck adducing the evidence of the Hebrew words, on the ground that the Greek terms are used solely of the relation to man, and that this usage is kept to throughout the New Testament. But the latter statement is hardly true. For, not to mention Matthew 11:29, in which the reference is doubtful, James 1:21 certainly refers to the meekness shown towards God in receiving his word. "The Scriptural πραότης," says Trench, loc. cit.," is not in a man's outward behaviour only; nor yet in his relations to his fellow-men; as little in his mere natural disposition. Rather is it an inwrought grace of the soul; and the exercises of it are first and chiefly towards God (Matthew 11:29; James 1:21). It is that temper of spirit in which we accept his dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting; and it is closely linked with the ταπεωοφροσύνη, and follows directly upon it (Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:12; cf. Zephaniah 3:12), because it is only the humble heart which is also the meek; and which, as such, does not fight against God, and more or less struggle and contend with him." Yet, as this meekness must be felt towards God not only in his direct dealings with the soul, but also in his indirect dealings (i.e. by secondary means and agents), it must also be exhibited towards men. Meekness towards God necessarily issues in meekness towards men. Our Lord's concise teaching seizes, therefore, on this furthest expression of meekness. Thus it is not meekness in the relation of man to man barely staled, of which Christ here speaks, but meekness in the relation of man to man, with its prior and presupposed fact of meekness in the relation of man to God. Shall inherit the earth. In the Psalm this is equivalent to the land of Palestine, and the psalmist means that, though the wicked may have temporary power, yet God's true servants shall really and finally have dominion in the land. But what is intended here? Probably our Lord's audience understood the phrase on his lips as a Messianic adaptation of the original meaning, and as therefore implying that those who manifested a meek reception of his will would obtain that full possession of the land of Palestine which was now denied to the Israelites through the conquest of the Romans. But to our Lord, and to the evangelist who, years after, recorded them, the meaning of the words must have been much fuller, corresponding, in fact, to the true meaning of the "kingdom of heaven," viz. that the meek shall inherit - shall receive, as their rightful possession from their Father, the whole earth; renewed, it may be (Isaiah 11:6-9; Isaiah 65:25; Revelation 21:1), but still the earth (Romans 8:21), with all the powers of nature therein implied. Of this the conquest of nature already gained through the civilization produced under Christianity is at once the promise and, though but in a small degree, the firstfruits.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
Blessed [are]
Μακάριοι (Makarioi)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3107: Happy, blessed, to be envied. A prolonged form of the poetical makar; supremely blest; by extension, fortunate, well off.

the
οἱ (hoi)
Article - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

meek,
πραεῖς (praeis)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 4239: Mild, gentle. Apparently a primary word; mild, i.e. humble.

for
Ὅτι (Hoti)
Conjunction
Strong's 3754: Neuter of hostis as conjunction; demonstrative, that; causative, because.

they
αὐτοὶ (autoi)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Nominative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

will inherit
κληρονομήσουσιν (klēronomēsousin)
Verb - Future Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 2816: To inherit, obtain (possess) by inheritance, acquire. From kleronomos; to be an heir to.

the
τὴν (tēn)
Article - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

earth.
γῆν (gēn)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1093: Contracted from a primary word; soil; by extension a region, or the solid part or the whole of the terrene globe.


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NT Gospels: Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the gentle for they shall (Matt. Mat Mt)
Matthew 5:4
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