Matius 5:11

5:11 “Blessed are you when people ¹  insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things about you falsely ²  on account of me.

Matius 5:37

5:37 Let your word be ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no.’ More than this is from the evil one. ³ 

Matius 5:39

5:39 But I say to you, do not resist the evildoer. ⁴  But whoever strikes you on the ⁵  right cheek, turn the other to him as well.

Matius 5:45

5:45 so that you may be like ⁶  your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Matius 6:13

6:13 And do not lead us into temptation, ⁷  but deliver us from the evil one. ⁸ 

Matius 6:23

6:23 But if your eye is diseased, ⁹  your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Matius 7:17-18

7:17 In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad ¹⁰  tree bears bad fruit. 7:18 A good tree is not able to bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree to bear good fruit.

[5:11]  ¹ tn Grk “when they insult you.” The third person pronoun (here implied in the verb ὀνειδίσωσιν [ojneidiswsin]) has no specific referent, but refers to people in general.

[5:11]  ² tc Although ψευδόμενοι (yeudomenoi, “bearing witness falsely”) could be a motivated reading, clarifying that the disciples are unjustly persecuted, its lack in only D it sy^s Tert does not help its case. Since the Western text is known for numerous free alterations, without corroborative evidence the shorter reading must be judged as secondary.

[5:37]  ³ tn The term πονηροῦ (ponhrou) may be understood as specific and personified, referring to the devil, or possibly as a general reference to evil. It is most likely personified, however, since it is articular (τοῦ πονηροῦ, tou ponhrou). Cf. also “the evildoer” in v. 39, which is the same construction.

[5:39]  ⁴ tn The articular πονηρός (ponhro", “the evildoer”) cannot be translated simply as “evil” for then the command would be “do not resist evil.” Every instance of this construction in Matthew is most likely personified, referring either to an evildoer (13:49) or, more often, “the evil one” (as in 5:37; 6:13; 13:19, 38).

[5:39]  ⁵ tc ‡ Many mss (B D K L Δ Θ Ë¹³ 565 579 700 1424 pm) have σου (sou) here (“your right cheek”), but many others lack the pronoun (א W ˹ 33 892 1241 pm). The pronoun was probably added by way of clarification. NA²⁷ has σου in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.

[5:45]  ⁶ tn Grk “be sons of your Father in heaven.” Here, however, the focus is not on attaining a relationship (becoming a child of God) but rather on being the kind of person who shares the characteristics of God himself (a frequent meaning of the Semitic idiom “son of”). See L&N 58.26.

[6:13]  ⁷ tn Or “into a time of testing.”

[6:13]  sn The request do not lead us into temptation is not to suggest God causes temptation, but is a rhetorical way to ask for his protection from sin.

[6:13]  ⁸ tc Most mss (L W Θ 0233 ˹³ 33 Ï sy sa Didache) read (though some with slight variation) ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, ἀμήν (“for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen”) here. The reading without this sentence, though, is attested by generally better witnesses (א B D Z 0170 ˹ pc lat mae Or). The phrase was probably composed for the liturgy of the early church and most likely was based on 1 Chr 29:11-13; a scribe probably added the phrase at this point in the text for use in public scripture reading (see TCGNT 13-14). Both external and internal evidence argue for the shorter reading.

[6:13]  tn The term πονηροῦ (ponhrou) may be understood as specific and personified, referring to the devil, or possibly as a general reference to evil. It is most likely personified since it is articular (τοῦ πονηροῦ, tou ponhrou). Cf. also “the evildoer” in 5:39, which is the same construction.

[6:23]  ⁹ tn Or “if your eye is sick” (L&N 23.149).

[6:23]  sn There may be a slight wordplay here, as this term can also mean “evil,” so the figure uses a term that points to the real meaning of being careful as to what one pays attention to or looks at.

[7:17]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “rotten.” The word σαπρός, modifying “tree” in both v. 17 and 18, can also mean “diseased” (L&N 65.28).