Matius 5:22

5:22 But I say to you that anyone who is angry with a brother ¹  will be subjected to judgment. And whoever insults ²  a brother will be brought before ³  the council, ⁴  and whoever says ‘Fool’ ⁵  will be sent ⁶  to fiery hell. ⁷ 

Matius 12:32

12:32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. ⁸  But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, ⁹  either in this age or in the age to come.

Matius 15:5

15:5 But you say, ‘If someone tells his father or mother, “Whatever help you would have received from me is given to God,” ¹⁰ 

Matius 21:3

21:3 If anyone says anything to you, you are to say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ ¹¹  and he will send them at once.”

Matius 24:23

24:23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ ¹²  or ‘There he is!’ do not believe him.

Matius 24:48

24:48 But if ¹³  that evil slave should say to himself, ¹⁴  ‘My master is staying away a long time,’

[5:22]  ¹ tc The majority of mss read the word εἰκῇ (eikh, “without cause”) here after “brother.” This insertion has support from א² D L W Θ 0233 Ë^1,13 33 Ï it sy co Ir^lat Or^mss Cyp Cyr. Thus the Western, Caesarean, and Byzantine texttypes all include the word, while the best Alexandrian and some other witnesses (Ì⁶⁴ א* B 1424^mg pc aur vg Or Hier^mss) lack it. The ms evidence favors its exclusion, though there is a remote possibility that εἰκῇ could have been accidentally omitted from these witnesses by way of homoioarcton (the next word, ἔνοχος [enocos, “guilty”], begins with the same letter). An intentional change would likely arise from the desire to qualify “angry,” especially in light of the absolute tone of Jesus’ words. While “without cause” makes good practical sense in this context, and must surely be a true interpretation of Jesus’ meaning (cf. Mark 3:5), it does not commend itself as original.

[5:22]  ² tn Grk “whoever says to his brother ‘Raca,’” an Aramaic word of contempt or abuse meaning “fool” or “empty head.”

[5:22]  ³ tn Grk “subjected,” “guilty,” “liable.”

[5:22]  ⁴ tn Grk “the Sanhedrin.”

[5:22]  ⁵ tn The meaning of the term μωρός (mwros) is somewhat disputed. Most take it to mean, following the Syriac versions, “you fool,” although some have argued that it represents a transliteration into Greek of the Hebrew term מוֹרֵה (moreh) “rebel” (Deut 21:18, 20; cf. BDAG 663 s.v. μωρός c).

[5:22]  ⁶ tn Grk “subjected,” “guilty,” “liable.”

[5:22]  ⁷ tn Grk “the Gehenna of fire.”

[5:22]  sn The word translated hell is “Gehenna” (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36).

[12:32]  ⁸ tn Grk “it will be forgiven him.”

[12:32]  ⁹ tn Grk “it will not be forgiven him.”

[12:32]  sn Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. This passage has troubled many people, who have wondered whether or not they have committed this sin. Three things must be kept in mind: (1) the nature of the sin is to ascribe what is the obvious work of the Holy Spirit (e.g., releasing people from Satan’s power) to Satan himself; (2) it is not simply a momentary doubt or sinful attitude, but is indeed a settled condition which opposes the Spirit’s work, as typified by the religious leaders who opposed Jesus; and (3) a person who is concerned about it has probably never committed this sin, for those who commit it here (i.e., the religious leaders) are not in the least concerned about Jesus’ warning.

[15:5]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “is a gift,” that is, something dedicated to God.

[21:3]  ¹¹ sn The custom called angaria allowed the impressment of animals for service to a significant figure.

[24:23]  ¹² tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[24:23]  sn See the note on Christ in 1:16.

[24:48]  ¹³ tn In the Greek text this is a third class condition that for all practical purposes is a hypothetical condition (note the translation of the following verb “should say”).

[24:48]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “should say in his heart.”