Matius 2:15

2:15 He stayed there until Herod ¹  died. In this way what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet was fulfilled: “I called my Son out of Egypt.” ² 

Matius 5:13

Salt and Light

5:13 “You are the salt ³  of the earth. But if salt loses its flavor, ⁴  how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on by people.

Matius 6:2

6:2 Thus whenever you do charitable giving, ⁵  do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in synagogues ⁶  and on streets so that people will praise them. I tell you the truth, ⁷  they have their reward.

Matius 8:8-9

8:8 But the centurion replied, ⁸  “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Instead, just say the word and my servant will be healed. 8:9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. ⁹  I say to this one, ‘Go’ and he goes, ¹⁰  and to another ‘Come’ and he comes, and to my slave ¹¹  ‘Do this’ and he does it.” ¹² 

Matius 11:27

11:27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father. ¹³  No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son decides ¹⁴  to reveal him.

Matius 20:23

20:23 He told them, “You will drink my cup, ¹⁵  but to sit at my right and at my left is not mine to give. Rather, it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

Matius 23:37

Judgment on Israel

23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ¹⁶  you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! ¹⁷  How often I have longed ¹⁸  to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but ¹⁹  you would have none of it! ²⁰ 

[2:15]  ¹ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.

[2:15]  ² sn A quotation from Hos 11:1.

[5:13]  ³ sn Salt was used as seasoning or fertilizer (BDAG 41 s.v. ἅλας a), or as a preservative. If salt ceased to be useful, it was thrown away. With this illustration Jesus warned about a disciple who ceased to follow him.

[5:13]  ⁴ sn The difficulty of this saying is understanding how salt could lose its flavor since its chemical properties cannot change. It is thus often assumed that Jesus was referring to chemically impure salt, perhaps a natural salt which, when exposed to the elements, had all the genuine salt leached out, leaving only the sediment or impurities behind. Others have suggested that the background of the saying is the use of salt blocks by Arab bakers to line the floor of their ovens; under the intense heat these blocks would eventually crystallize and undergo a change in chemical composition, finally being thrown out as unserviceable. A saying in the Talmud (b. Bekhorot 8b) attributed to R. Joshua ben Chananja (ca. a.d. 90), when asked the question “When salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again?” is said to have replied, “By salting it with the afterbirth of a mule.” He was then asked, “Then does the mule (being sterile) bear young?” to which he replied: “Can salt lose its flavor?” The point appears to be that both are impossible. The saying, while admittedly late, suggests that culturally the loss of flavor by salt was regarded as an impossibility. Genuine salt can never lose its flavor. In this case the saying by Jesus here may be similar to Matt 19:24, where it is likewise impossible for the camel to go through the eye of a sewing needle.

[6:2]  ⁵ tn Grk “give alms,” but this term is not in common use today. The giving of alms was highly regarded in the ancient world (Deut 15:7-11).

[6:2]  ⁶ sn See the note on synagogues in 4:23.

[6:2]  ⁷ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[8:8]  ⁸ tn Grk “But answering, the centurion replied.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant and has not been translated.

[8:9]  ⁹ tn Grk “having soldiers under me.”

[8:9]  ¹⁰ sn I say to this one ‘Go’ and he goes. The illustrations highlight the view of authority the soldier sees in the word of one who has authority. Since the centurion was a commander of a hundred soldiers, he understood what it was both to command others and to be obeyed.

[8:9]  ¹¹ tn Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times… in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v. 1). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος) in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[8:9]  ¹² tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[11:27]  ¹³ sn This verse has been noted for its conceptual similarity to teaching in John’s Gospel (10:15; 17:2). The authority of the Son and the Father are totally intertwined.

[11:27]  ¹⁴ tn Or “wishes”; or “intends”; or “plans” (cf. BDAG 182 s.v. βούλομαι 2.b). Here it is the Son who has sovereignty.

[20:23]  ¹⁵ tc See the tc note on “about to drink” in v. 22.

[23:37]  ¹⁶ sn The double use of the city’s name betrays intense emotion.

[23:37]  map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[23:37]  ¹⁷ tn Although the opening address (“Jerusalem, Jerusalem”) is direct (second person), the remainder of this sentence in the Greek text is third person (“who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her”). The following sentences then revert to second person (“your… you”), so to keep all this consistent in English, the third person pronouns in the present verse were translated as second person (“you who kill… sent to you”).

[23:37]  ¹⁸ sn How often I have longed to gather your children. Jesus, like a lamenting prophet, speaks for God here, who longed to care tenderly for Israel and protect her.

[23:37]  ¹⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[23:37]  ²⁰ tn Grk “you were not willing.”