Matius 23:3

23:3 Therefore pay attention to what they tell you and do it. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they teach. ¹ 

Matius 23:27

23:27 “Woe to you, experts in the law ²  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean. ³ 

Matius 23:37

Judgment on Israel

23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ⁴  you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! ⁵  How often I have longed ⁶  to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but ⁷  you would have none of it! ⁸ 

Matius 23:39

23:39 For I tell you, you will not see me from now until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’” ⁹ 

[23:3]  ¹ tn Grk “for they say and do not do.”

[23:27]  ² tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:27]  ³ sn This was an idiom for hypocrisy – just as the wall was painted on the outside but something different on the inside, so this person was not what he appeared or pretended to be (for discussion of a similar metaphor, see L&N 88.234; BDAG 1010 s.v. τοῖχος). See Deut 28:22; Ezek 13:10-16; Acts 23:3.

[23:37]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[23:37]  ⁸ tn Grk “you were not willing.”

[23:39]  ⁹ sn A quotation from Ps 118:26.