21 days · About 12 minutes a day

The Sermon on the Mount: A 21-Day Bible Study in Matthew 5–7

This is a free 21-day Bible study through the Sermon on the Mount for women: all of Matthew 5–7, one passage a morning, about twelve minutes a day. It begins with the Beatitudes — read not as a ladder of virtues to climb but as a map of where God is: near the poor in spirit, close to those who mourn. Then salt and light; the "you have heard it said… but I tell you" sayings on anger, attention, oaths, the other cheek and loving your enemies; giving, praying and fasting in secret, with the Lord's Prayer at the centre; treasure, and why the heart follows it rather than the other way round; the birds and the lilies and "today has enough trouble of its own"; the plank and the speck; ask, seek, knock; the narrow gate; fruit; "Lord, Lord"; and the two houses in the same storm. It ends where Matthew does, with the crowd astonished not at the teaching but at the teacher — because taken only as a set of instructions, the Sermon on the Mount would crush anyone. The hard passages on lust and divorce are handled with care: nothing here is carried in a way that would shame, and nothing is applied to anybody's marriage.

Length
21 days — Matthew 5, 6 and 7, in order
Time per day
About 12 minutes
Passages
Matthew 5:1–7:29, plus Psalm 51 on day 5
Translation
Berean Standard Bible (BSB)
Format
Read here, or listen in the app
Best for
Jesus's teaching in full; three-week small groups; anyone who knows the famous lines and not the rest

The 21-day Sermon on the Mount schedule

Three chapters, three weeks: Matthew 5 on days 1–8, Matthew 6 on days 9–14, Matthew 7 on days 15–21.

DayPassageThemeLine to carry
1Matthew 5:1–12Blessed Are (the Beatitudes)Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
2Matthew 5:13–16Salt and LightLet your light shine before men.
3Matthew 5:17–20Not to Abolish, but to FulfilI have not come to abolish them, but to fulfil them.
4Matthew 5:21–26Anger, and the Road to the AltarFirst go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
5Matthew 5:27–30 · Psalm 51:10The Eye and the HeartCreate in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
6Matthew 5:31–37Let Your Yes Be YesSimply let your yes be yes, and your no, no.
7Matthew 5:38–42The Other CheekIf someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.
8Matthew 5:43–48Love Your EnemiesHe causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good.
9Matthew 6:1–4Giving in SecretYour Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
10Matthew 6:5–8Praying in SecretYour Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
11Matthew 6:9–15Pray, Then, Like ThisYour kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
12Matthew 6:16–18Fasting with a Washed FaceWhen you fast, anoint your head and wash your face.
13Matthew 6:19–24Where Your Treasure IsFor where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
14Matthew 6:25–34Look at the BirdsToday has enough trouble of its own.
15Matthew 7:1–6The Plank and the SpeckFirst take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly.
16Matthew 7:7–12Ask, Seek, KnockHow much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him.
17Matthew 7:13–14The Narrow GateEnter through the narrow gate.
18Matthew 7:15–20Known by Their FruitBy their fruit you will recognise them.
19Matthew 7:21–23Lord, LordOnly he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
20Matthew 7:24–27Rock and SandEveryone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them.
21Matthew 7:28–29As One Who Had AuthorityHe taught as one who had authority.

What this plan covers

The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5–7 is the longest single block of Jesus's teaching, and this study reads every verse of it in order. Matthew 5 opens with the Beatitudes (5:1–12) as gift before instruction, then "you are the salt of the earth… the light of the world" — stated as fact, not aspiration. Jesus says He came not to abolish the law but to fulfil it, and then moves each command from the act to the heart: anger and the road back from the altar (5:21–26), attention and the eye (5:27–30, carried with Psalm 51), oaths and "let your yes be yes" (5:33–37), "an eye for an eye" and the other cheek (5:38–42), and "love your enemies" because the sun rises on them too (5:43–48). Matthew 6 is about who you're performing for: giving, praying and fasting in secret, the Lord's Prayer as a complete prayer covering present, past and future (6:9–15), "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (6:19–24), and "look at the birds… consider the lilies… do not worry about tomorrow" (6:25–34). Matthew 7 is about discernment and foundations: the plank and the speck (7:1–6), ask, seek, knock (7:7–12), the narrow gate (7:13–14), known by their fruit (7:15–20), "Lord, Lord… I never knew you" (7:21–23), the wise and foolish builders (7:24–27), and the crowd astonished at His authority (7:28–29). Every day follows the same seven movements — Arrive, Set out, Hear, Hear again, Consider, Pray, Carry — and ends with one line to take into the day.

Day 1 in full: Blessed Are (Matthew 5:1–12)

This is the complete first session, exactly as it's read in the app. Every day of the plan follows this shape.

Arrive

Welcome.

Wherever you are — a kitchen, a car, the edge of the bed — this is a good place to begin.

Let your breath slow down a little. In. And out.

For the next twenty-one mornings we're going to sit on a hillside and listen to Jesus talk. It's the longest stretch of His teaching we have, and people have been arguing about it and being changed by it ever since.

You won't be asked to master any of it. Only to listen.

Set out

Matthew chapter five begins with a small detail that's easy to walk past.

Jesus sees the crowds, goes up the mountain — and sits down.

In His world a teacher stood up to read the Scriptures and sat down to teach. Sitting meant: settle in, this is going to take a while.

There's something else in the setting that His first listeners would have caught immediately. A mountain. A man going up it. Teaching coming down from it.

The last time that happened in their story, it was Moses on Sinai, and what came down was the law. Matthew is not being subtle about what he wants you to think.

And the first word out of His mouth, opening the most demanding sermon ever preached, is not do. It isn't you must. It isn't a warning.

It's blessed.

Hold on to that. Whatever the next three weeks ask of you — and they will ask a great deal — all of it begins with a gift rather than a demand.

Hear: Matthew 5:1–12

Matthew, chapter five, beginning at verse one.

When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain and sat down. His disciples came to Him, and He began to teach them, saying:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.

Hear again

Listen to the first one again — the one that opens the door for all the rest.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Not the rich in spirit. Not the confident, the sorted, the ones who have their house in order. The poor. The ones who know they've run out.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Here's a question to sit with, and it isn't the obvious one.

Of those eight — poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungry, merciful, pure in heart, peacemaker, persecuted — which do you find hardest to believe is blessed? Not hardest to do. Hardest to believe.

Consider

If you'd walked up that hill and asked the crowd who the blessed people were, they'd have pointed where we would point. The healthy. The comfortable. The ones whose prayers seemed to get answered.

Nobody would have pointed at the person grieving in the back row.

Jesus does.

We often read the Beatitudes as a ladder. Eight rungs. Be poorer in spirit, then mourn better, get meeker, and eventually arrive somewhere.

But He isn't describing a ladder. He's describing a location. He's telling you where God is.

God is near the poor in spirit. Close to those who mourn. His favour rests on the meek — the people who have stopped grabbing.

And blessed doesn't quite mean happy. It means something more like: God's face is turned towards you. You are standing in the place where His kingdom shows up.

Then notice something about the tenses, because it's doing real work. The mourners will be comforted. The meek will inherit. Those are promises about later.

But the first one and the eighth one share a promise, and it's in the present. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Not will be. Is.

So the door into everything Jesus is about to say is not effort. It's honesty. You come in by admitting you haven't got enough — and finding, to your considerable surprise, that this was the ticket.

Two of the eight are worth a second look, because we've softened both.

Meek does not mean mild. The word was used of strength that has been brought under control — and it's the word Jesus later uses about Himself. Not the people with no fight in them. The people who have stopped grabbing.

And hunger and thirst for righteousness is not a preference for tidiness. It's the ache of somebody who cannot bear that things are wrong — the kind of person who reads the news and doesn't get over it.

There's one more thing, in the last of them. Seven are about they. The eighth turns and says you. Blessed are you when they insult you. He looks up from the general truth and speaks to the room, which is where this sermon is going to live for the next three weeks.

Which means everything in the next three weeks — the anger, the worry, the enemies, the money — is spoken to people who have already been called blessed. You are not being told off. You are being trusted with a way of living.

Pray

Lord Jesus, You sat down and began with blessed. Thank You for the order You put things in.

I bring You the part of me that is poor. The place where I've run out — of patience, of certainty, of energy, of belief. Name it to Him now, as plainly as you can.

You say the kingdom is mine. Help me believe it before I've earned it, because I'm not going to earn it.

And whichever of the eight was hardest to believe — tell Him which, and why.

Ask Him to show you what He sees when He looks at that kind of person.

Turn Your face towards me today, and towards the people I'll meet. Especially the ones in the back row.

Amen.

Carry

The line to carry today.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Say it once. Slowly.

You will see somebody today who looks like they've run out. You'll know them — there's usually something in the face. Remember where Jesus said God was standing.

And if you find yourself in one of the other seven today — mourning, or hungry for something to be put right, or trying to make peace between two people who won't move — you're not outside the list. You're in the middle of it.

Tomorrow: salt and light, and a sentence about you that you may not believe.

For now — you have been called blessed. Go and live like somebody who has been.

Listen to Day 1 and the whole Sermon on the Mount in the app. Every session is read aloud, softly, over quiet music — about twelve minutes a day for three weeks.

Get the HER Hallow app

Days 2–21: Matthew 5–7, one passage each morning

Short summaries of the remaining sessions. Each full session is around 1,100 words and takes about twelve minutes to listen to.

Day 2 · Salt and Light (Matthew 5:13–16)

“Let your light shine before men.”

You are the salt of the earth — not become, not try to be — said to fishermen and farmers who had done nothing whatsoever. Gift first, instruction second, the same order as yesterday. And salt and light have one thing in common: neither exists for itself. Salt in a heap and light in a cupboard are both useless. So whatever this is, it happens where you are — the office, the school run, the group chat, the difficult family. Contact is the mechanism.

Day 3 · Not to Abolish, but to Fulfil (Matthew 5:17–20)

“I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfil them.”

To that crowd the Pharisees were the most serious religious people they'd ever met — they tithed their herb gardens. So unless your righteousness exceeds theirs should produce despair, and He knows it. He isn't asking for more of the same. He's about to spend two chapters moving the whole thing somewhere else: you have heard it said, do not murder — but I tell you, do not be contemptuous.

Day 4 · Anger, and the Road to the Altar (Matthew 5:21–26)

“First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”

Look at the direction: not if you have something against your brother but if your brother has something against you. The case where you think you're owed the apology — and it's still your job to go. And the altar was only in Jerusalem, three or four days' walk from Galilee. Leave the animal standing there, walk back, put it right, then make the journey again. Nobody on that hillside heard it as a metaphor.

Day 5 · The Eye and the Heart (Matthew 5:27–30 · Psalm 51:10)

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

The eye and the hand are hyperbole — something enormous said so the size registers. If a surgeon told you part of your body would kill you, you'd let it go and grieve it. Treat this like that: not because desire is dirty, but because attention is the most valuable thing you own. And He locates the problem in the looker, not the woman — the opposite of every system around Him. The line to carry comes from Psalm 51, deliberately: create in me a clean heart.

Day 6 · Let Your Yes Be Yes (Matthew 5:31–37)

“Simply let your yes be yes, and your no, no.”

Why swear an oath at all? Because we grade our own truthfulness — I promise, honestly — a small confession that ordinary speech runs lower. People then had made the grading into a tool: swear by the temple and you could wriggle out; by its gold and you couldn't. Jesus abolishes the apparatus by levelling everything up. The divorce saying in this passage is handled briefly and historically, without application to anybody's marriage.

Day 7 · The Other Cheek (Matthew 5:38–42)

“If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.”

Eye for eye was a restraint in its own world — the first ceiling on revenge. Jesus pushes it further. You've been backhanded, struck as an inferior; you turn the other cheek, which a right-handed man can only reach with his fist — how you hit an equal. You've said nothing and not hit back, and made it impossible to repeat the insult in the same terms. Not passivity: a refusal to accept the terms.

Day 8 · Love Your Enemies (Matthew 5:43–48)

“He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good.”

He doesn't say love your enemies because it'll change them, or because bitterness will eat you alive — which is true, and makes forgiveness a form of self-care. He says: that you may be sons of your Father. The reason is family resemblance. And the evidence is out of the window: the sun came up this morning on every person you can't stand. God has been feeding them all the years you've hoped something would go wrong for them.

Day 9 · Giving in Secret (Matthew 6:1–4)

“Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

Day 2 said let your light shine before men; today says don't do good deeds before men. The resolution is in the purpose clause: that they may glorify your Father, versus to be seen by them. Both assume you'll be seen — you can't feed somebody invisibly. The question is who the performance is for. One lamp lights a room; the other asks to be admired. And the trumpet is almost certainly a joke.

Day 10 · Praying in Secret (Matthew 6:5–8)

“Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”

Two failures in opposite directions. The hypocrite prays to be heard by people, and gets exactly that. The pagan genuinely talks to God but thinks He has to be worn down — piling up words, getting the formula right. A religion of leverage, and exhausting, because every unanswered prayer becomes your fault. One sentence dismantles it: your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Then the honest objection: so why ask?

Day 11 · Pray, Then, Like This (Matthew 6:9–15)

“Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

The Lord's Prayer, from a different angle than the seven-day study. The three requests about you cover everything: daily bread is now, forgive us is the past, deliver us is the future. Present, past, future — there's no fourth category. Whatever is weighing on you this morning is in one of them. It isn't a starting point you're expected to expand into something more thorough. It's already complete.

Day 12 · Fasting with a Washed Face (Matthew 6:16–18)

“When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face.”

When you fast, not if. And the instruction is harder than the fast: go hungry, and while you're hungry oil your hair and wash your face and look like someone on the way to a wedding, and let everyone assume you had breakfast. The concealing is done in front of people, all day, when you'd quite like credit. Giving, praying and fasting are all private acts that leak.

Day 13 · Where Your Treasure Is (Matthew 6:19–24)

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Usually quoted backwards. We hear: your treasure follows your heart, so examine what you love. He says the heart follows the treasure. Put it somewhere, and your affections migrate there afterwards — which makes the heart something you can steer from outside. You don't have to feel differently first. You move the money, and the heart comes along behind it, eventually. Anyone who gives regularly to something knows this is true.

Day 14 · Look at the Birds (Matthew 6:25–34)

“Today has enough trouble of its own.”

He never says don't worry, it'll probably be fine. He says today has trouble in it. His first argument is about your value — the birds are fed, and you're worth more — not your prospects. His second is futility: worry feels like preparation and produces nothing measurable. And the lilies were probably wild anemones, scarlet across the hills in spring and dead in weeks. Today has enough trouble of its own.

Day 15 · The Plank and the Speck (Matthew 7:1–6)

“First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly.”

He was a builder. The speck is a wood chip; the beam is a roof timber, the largest piece of wood in a house. A man with a load-bearing joist sticking out of his face, leaning in to help with your eyelash. It's absurd on purpose. What's forbidden isn't assessment — noticing is unavoidable and often loving. It's the verdict, which needs knowing why somebody did it and what they were carrying. Which you can't, ever.

Day 16 · Ask, Seek, Knock (Matthew 7:7–12)

“How much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him.”

An argument, not a slogan. A father whose child asks for bread doesn't hand over a stone. Then, as an aside in a warm sentence: if you, who are evil. At your worst, you still feed your children. That instinct isn't the ceiling of goodness, it's the floor, and your Father is further above it than you can measure. Then the honest problem: you asked and the door didn't open. The promise is more careful than it sounds.

Day 17 · The Narrow Gate (Matthew 7:13–14)

“Enter through the narrow gate.”

Only a few find it has been used to frighten people and to make them smug, and both are misreadings. He was talking to a crowd of religious people who'd all have said they were on the right road. The warning isn't aimed outside the tent; it's aimed inside it. And when someone in Luke asks will only a few be saved? — a question about other people — Jesus doesn't answer it. He says: you make every effort.

Day 18 · Known by Their Fruit (Matthew 7:15–20)

“By their fruit you will recognise them.”

The danger isn't someone who looks dangerous; it's someone who looks like one of the flock, using your words. So the test has to be something other than appearance, because appearance is what's been arranged. Fruit can't be faked or hurried. You can borrow a personality for an evening. You can't produce, over ten years, a trail of people who are kinder, freer and less frightened than when they met you, unless something real is going on.

Day 19 · Lord, Lord (Matthew 7:21–23)

“Only he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”

The verdict isn't you did wrong things. He doesn't dispute the prophecy or the miracles. He says I never knew you. The category tested is acquaintance, not performance — and it's apparently possible to do remarkable things in somebody's name without having met them. It's aimed at the platform, not the pew. And the remedy is written into the diagnosis: I know My sheep, and My sheep know Me.

Day 20 · Rock and Sand (Matthew 7:24–27)

“Everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them.”

Two men, two houses, and exactly the same words for the storm both times. Nobody gets milder weather for building well; the wise man isn't spared the storm, he's still standing afterwards. And from the street, the houses look the same. The only difference is underneath, invisible, and the one thing you can't add later. Both men hear these words. One acts on them. That's the entire distinction.

Day 21 · As One Who Had Authority (Matthew 7:28–29)

“He taught as one who had authority.”

Matthew's word for astonished means knocked out of yourself. And what astonished them wasn't the content — it was the authority. After three chapters about anger, money, worry and enemies, the crowd went home talking about the speaker. That's why this is the last day. Taken as a set of instructions, the Sermon on the Mount will crush you. It only works if the one who said it is who He seemed to be.

How to use this study

  • In order. Day 2 sets up a tension that Day 9 resolves; Day 3's "exceed the Pharisees" only makes sense once the "but I tell you" sayings begin on Day 4.
  • Gift before instruction. The sermon opens with blessing, not demand. On the days that feel impossible — Day 8, Day 14 — go back to Day 1.
  • With a friend. Send each other the line to carry. Day 4 (go and be reconciled first) is the one that tends to produce an actual phone call.
  • With a small group. One chapter a week for three weeks. Matthew 6 is the easiest place for a group to be honest.
  • Alongside. The Lord's Prayer study takes Day 11's passage a line at a time; Parables of Jesus is the natural next plan.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Sermon on the Mount?

It's the longest continuous block of Jesus's teaching in the Gospels, in Matthew chapters 5 to 7: the Beatitudes, salt and light, a series of 'you have heard it said… but I tell you', teaching on giving, prayer (including the Lord's Prayer) and fasting, worry and treasure, judging, asking, the narrow gate, and the house built on rock. This plan reads all of it in 21 days.

What do the Beatitudes mean?

Day 1 reads them not as a ladder of virtues to climb, but as a description of where God is: near the poor in spirit, close to those who mourn. 'Blessed' means something like 'God's face is turned toward you' rather than 'happy'.

How does the plan handle the passages on lust and divorce?

Carefully. Day 5 (Matthew 5:27–30) keeps the teaching on Matthew but carries a line from Psalm 51 — 'create in me a clean heart' — rather than the 'adultery in his heart' clause, because a line repeated all day should help, not shame. Day 6 handles the divorce saying briefly and historically, without applying it to anyone's marriage.

Doesn't 'let your light shine' contradict 'give in secret'?

It looks like it, and the plan sets that up on purpose. Day 2 raises it and Day 9 resolves it: both assume you'll be seen. The difference is who the performance is for — 'that they may glorify your Father' versus 'to be seen by them'.

Does 'turn the other cheek' mean letting people hurt you?

Day 7 reads it in its setting: a backhanded slap was how you struck an inferior, and turning the other cheek forced the striker either to stop or to hit you as an equal. It's a refusal to accept the terms of an insult, not an instruction to stay in harm's way.

How long is each day?

About twelve minutes. Each session is a guided reading of roughly 1,100 words: you arrive, hear the passage, sit with one line, consider it, pray, and carry one sentence into the day.

Which Bible translation is used?

The Berean Standard Bible (BSB). Every session works with any translation you already read.

Do I need the app?

No. The schedule and Day 1 are here in full. In the HER Hallow app each session is read aloud with music, about twelve minutes a day.

Can I do it with a small group?

Yes. Three weeks maps onto the three chapters: Matthew 5 (days 1–8), Matthew 6 (days 9–14), Matthew 7 (days 15–21).

Related

Three chapters, read aloud to you. The HER Hallow app has the Sermon on the Mount and twelve other walks — Bible reading plans for women you can listen to.

Download the app

Written by the HER Hallow team.