Matthew 6:18 is the eighteenth verse of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew

Gospel of Matthew

The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...

 in the New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

 and is part of the Sermon on the Mount

Sermon on the Mount

The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew...

. This verse concludes the discussion of fasting

Fasting

Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. An absolute fast is normally defined as abstinence from all food and liquid for a defined period, usually a single day , or several days. Other fasts may be only partially restrictive,...

.

In the King James Version of the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 the text reads:

That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto

thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father,

which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

The World English Bible

World English Bible

The World English Bible is a public domain translation of the Bible that is currently in draft form. Work on the World English Bible began in 1997 and was known as the American Standard Version 1997...

 translates the passage as:

So that you are not seen by men to be fasting,

but by your Father who is in secret, and your

Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

For a collection of other versions see BibRef Matthew 6:18

The previous verse stated that, unlike the hypocrites, Jesus followers should present a clean and normal appearance even when fasting. This verse closely parallels Matthew 6:4

Matthew 6:4

Matthew 6:4 is the fourth verse of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and is part of the Sermon on the Mount. This is the final verse of the Sermon's discussion of alms giving....

 and Matthew 6:6

Matthew 6:6

Matthew 6:6 is the sixth verse of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and is part of the Sermon on the Mount. This verse continues the discussion on the proper procedure for praying....

, and like them the message is that even if one's piety is kept secret from those around you, that God will still know about it and reward you. Davies and Allison note that William Law

William Law

William Law was an English cleric, divine and theological writer.-Early life:Law was born at Kings Cliffe, Northamptonshire in 1686. In 1705 he entered as a sizar at Emmanuel College, Cambridge; in 1711 he was elected fellow of his college and was ordained...

commented on this verse. Law noted that it is impossible to keep ones fasting completely secret, disguising such an activity from one's family and friends is almost impossible. Law thus reads this verse as calling for keeping the notion private from general onlookers.