Matius 9:5

9:5 Which is easier, ¹  to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’?

Matius 12:15

God’s Special Servant

12:15 Now when Jesus learned of this, he went away from there. Great ²  crowds ³  followed him, and he healed them all.

Matius 12:46

Jesus’ True Family

12:46 While Jesus ⁴  was still speaking to the crowds, ⁵  his mother and brothers ⁶  came and ⁷  stood outside, asking ⁸  to speak to him.

Matius 27:6

27:6 The ⁹  chief priests took the silver and said, “It is not lawful to put this into the temple treasury, since it is blood money.”

[9:5]  ¹ sn Which is easier is a reflective kind of question. On the one hand to declare sins are forgiven is easier, since one does not need to see it, unlike telling a paralyzed person to walk. On the other hand, it is harder, because for it to be true one must possess the authority to forgive the sin.

[12:15]  ² tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[12:15]  ³ tc א B pc lat read only πολλοί (polloi, “many”) here, the first hand of N reads ὄχλοι (ocloi, “crowds”), while virtually all the rest of the witnesses have ὄχλοι πολλοί (ocloi polloi, “great crowds”). In spite of the good quality of both א and B (especially in combination), and the testimony of the Latin witnesses, the longer reading is most likely correct; the shorter readings were probably due to homoioteleuton.

[12:46]  ⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:46]  ⁵ tn Grk “crowds, behold, his mother.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[12:46]  ⁶ sn The issue of whether Jesus had brothers (siblings) has had a long history in the church. Epiphanius, in the 4th century, argued that Mary was a perpetual virgin and had no offspring other than Jesus. Others argued that these brothers were really cousins. Nothing in the text suggests any of this. See also John 7:3.

[12:46]  ⁷ tn “His mother and brothers came and” is a translation of “behold, his mother and brothers came.”

[12:46]  ⁸ tn Grk “seeking.”

[27:6]  ⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.