Matius 12:7

12:7 If ¹  you had known what this means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice,’ ²  you would not have condemned the innocent.

Matius 12:14

12:14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted against him, as to how they could assassinate ³  him.

Matius 12:24

12:24 But when the Pharisees ⁴  heard this they said, “He does not cast out demons except by the power of Beelzebul, ⁵  the ruler ⁶  of demons!”

Matius 12:32

12:32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. ⁷  But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, ⁸  either in this age or in the age to come.

Matius 12:34

12:34 Offspring of vipers! How are you able to say anything good, since you are evil? For the mouth speaks from what fills the heart.

Matius 12:39

12:39 But he answered them, ⁹  “An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

Matius 12:45

12:45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so ¹⁰  the last state of that person is worse than the first. It will be that way for this evil generation as well!”

[12:7]  ¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[12:7]  ² sn A quotation from Hos 6:6 (see also Matt 9:13).

[12:14]  ³ tn Grk “destroy.”

[12:24]  ⁴ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[12:24]  ⁵ tn Grk “except by Beelzebul.”

[12:24]  sn Beelzebul is another name for Satan. So some people recognized Jesus’ work as supernatural, but called it diabolical.

[12:24]  ⁶ tn Or “prince.”

[12:32]  ⁷ tn Grk “it will be forgiven him.”

[12:32]  ⁸ 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.

[12:39]  ⁹ tn Grk “But answering, he said to them.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.

[12:45]  ¹⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the concluding point of the story.