Matius 5:17

Fulfillment of the Law and Prophets

5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them. ¹ 

Matius 6:20

6:20 But accumulate for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.

Matius 6:34

6:34 So then, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own. ² 

Matius 7:6

7:6 Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs; otherwise they will trample them under their feet and turn around and tear you to pieces. ³ 

Matius 7:16

7:16 You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes are not gathered ⁴  from thorns or figs from thistles, are they? ⁵ 

Matius 7:18

7:18 A good tree is not able to bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree to bear good fruit.

Matius 7:21

Judgment of Pretenders

7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ ⁶  will enter into the kingdom of heaven – only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

Matius 8:12

8:12 but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” ⁷ 

Matius 9:5

9:5 Which is easier, ⁸  to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’?

Matius 9:13

9:13 Go and learn what this saying means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ ⁹  For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Matius 10:10

10:10 no bag ¹⁰  for the journey, or an extra tunic, ¹¹  or sandals or staff, ¹²  for the worker deserves his provisions.

Matius 10:16

Persecution of Disciples

10:16 “I ¹³  am sending you out like sheep surrounded by wolves, ¹⁴  so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

Matius 11:11

11:11 “I tell you the truth, ¹⁵  among those born of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least ¹⁶  in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is.

Matius 11:16

11:16 “To ¹⁷  what should I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to one another, ¹⁸ 

Matius 12:3

12:3 He ¹⁹  said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry –

Matius 12:7

12:7 If ²⁰  you had known what this means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice,’ ²¹  you would not have condemned the innocent.

Matius 12:31

12:31 For this reason I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, ²²  but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

Matius 13:32

13:32 It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest garden plant and becomes a tree, ²³  so that the wild birds ²⁴  come and nest in its branches.” ²⁵ 

Matius 13:35

13:35 This fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet: ²⁶ 

“I will open my mouth in parables,

I will announce what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.” ²⁷ 

Matius 15:12

15:12 Then the disciples came to him and said, “Do you know that when the Pharisees ²⁸  heard this saying they were offended?”

Matius 16:25

16:25 For whoever wants to save his life ²⁹  will lose it, ³⁰  but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Matius 16:28

16:28 I tell you the truth, ³¹  there are some standing here who will not ³²  experience ³³  death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” ³⁴ 

Matius 18:7

18:7 Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! It ³⁵  is necessary that stumbling blocks come, but woe to the person through whom they come.

Matius 18:10

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

18:10 “See that you do not disdain one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

Matius 18:18

18:18 “I tell you the truth, ³⁶  whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.

Matius 19:14

19:14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” ³⁷ 

Matius 21:43

21:43 For this reason I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people ³⁸  who will produce its fruit.

Matius 23:28

23:28 In the same way, on the outside you look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Matius 24:39

24:39 And they knew nothing until the flood came and took them all away. ³⁹  It will be the same at the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰ 

Matius 24:45

The Faithful and Wise Slave

24:45 “Who then is the faithful and wise slave, ⁴¹  whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves ⁴²  their food at the proper time?

Matius 25:38

25:38 When ⁴³  did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you?

[5:17]  ¹ tn Grk “not come to abolish but to fulfill.” Direct objects (“these things,” “them”) were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but have been supplied here to conform to contemporary English style.

[6:34]  ² tn Grk “Sufficient for the day is its evil.”

[7:6]  ³ tn Or “otherwise the latter will trample them under their feet and the former will turn around and tear you to pieces.” This verse is sometimes understood as a chiasm of the pattern a-b-b-a, in which the first and last clauses belong together (“dogs…turn around and tear you to pieces”) and the second and third clauses belong together (“pigs…trample them under their feet”).

[7:16]  ⁴ tn Grk “They do not gather.” This has been simplified to the passive voice in the translation since the subject “they” is not specified further in the context.

[7:16]  ⁵ sn The statement illustrates the principle: That which cannot produce fruit does not produce fruit.

[7:21]  ⁶ sn The double use of the vocative is normally used in situations of high emotion or emphasis. Even an emphatic confession without action means little.

[8:12]  ⁷ sn Weeping and gnashing of teeth is a figure for remorse and trauma, which occurs here because of exclusion from God’s promise.

[9:5]  ⁸ 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.

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

[10:10]  ¹⁰ tn Or “no traveler’s bag”; or possibly “no beggar’s bag” (L&N 6.145; BDAG 811 s.v. πήρα).

[10:10]  ¹¹ tn Grk “two tunics.” See the note on the word “tunic” in Matt 5:40.

[10:10]  ¹² sn Mark 6:8 allows one staff. It might be that Matthew’s summary (cf. Luke 9:3) means not taking an extra staff or that the expression is merely rhetorical for “traveling light” which has been rendered in two slightly different ways.

[10:16]  ¹³ tn Grk “Behold I.” 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).

[10:16]  ¹⁴ sn This imagery of wolves is found in intertestamental Judaism; see Pss. Sol. 8:23, 30.

[11:11]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[11:11]  ¹⁶ sn After John comes a shift of eras. The new era is so great that the lowest member of it (the one who is least in the kingdom of God) is greater than the greatest one of the previous era.

[11:16]  ¹⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[11:16]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “who call out to one another, saying.” The participle λέγουσιν (legousin) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[12:3]  ¹⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[12:7]  ²⁰ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[12:7]  ²¹ sn A quotation from Hos 6:6 (see also Matt 9:13).

[12:31]  ²² tn Grk “every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men.”

[13:32]  ²³ sn This is rhetorical hyperbole, since technically a mustard plant is not a tree. This could refer to one of two types of mustard plant popular in Palestine and would be either ten or twenty-five ft (3 or 7.5 m) tall.

[13:32]  ²⁴ tn Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).

[13:32]  ²⁵ sn The point of the parable seems to be that while the kingdom of God may appear to have insignificant and unnoticeable beginnings (i.e., in the ministry of Jesus), it will someday (i.e., at the second advent) be great and quite expansive. The kingdom, however, is not to be equated with the church, but rather the church is an expression of the kingdom. Also, there is important OT background in the image of the mustard seed that grew and became a tree: Ezek 17:22-24 pictures the reemergence of the Davidic house where people can find calm and shelter. Like the mustard seed, it would start out small but grow to significant size.

[13:35]  ²⁶ tc A few important mss (א* Θ Ë^1,13 33) identify the prophet as Isaiah, a reading that is significantly harder than the generic “prophet” because the source of this prophecy is not Isaiah but Asaph in Ps 78. Jerome mentioned some mss that had “Asaph” here, though none are known to exist today. This problem is difficult because of the temptation for scribes to delete the reference to Isaiah in order to clear up a discrepancy. Indeed, the vast majority of witnesses have only “the prophet” here (א¹ B C D L W 0233 0242 Ï lat sy co). However, as B. M. Metzger points out, “if no prophet were originally named, more than one scribe might have been prompted to insert the name of the best known prophet – something which has, in fact, happened elsewhere more than once” (TCGNT 27). In light of the paucity of evidence for the reading ᾿Ησαΐου, as well as the proclivity of scribes to add his name, it is probably best to consider the shorter reading as authentic.

[13:35]  tn Grk “was spoken by the prophet, saying.” The participle λέγοντος (legontos) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[13:35]  ²⁷ sn A quotation from Ps 78:2.

[15:12]  ²⁸ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[16:25]  ²⁹ tn Or “soul” (throughout vv. 25-26).

[16:25]  ³⁰ sn The point of the saying whoever wants to save his life will lose it is that if one comes to Jesus then rejection by many will certainly follow. If self-protection is a key motivation, then one will not respond to Jesus and will not be saved. One who is willing to risk rejection will respond and find true life.

[16:28]  ³¹ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[16:28]  ³² tn The Greek negative here (οὐ μή, ou mh) is the strongest possible.

[16:28]  ³³ tn Grk “will not taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).

[16:28]  ³⁴ sn Several suggestions have been made as to the referent for the phrase the Son of Man coming in his kingdom: (1) the transfiguration itself, which immediately follows in the narrative; (2) Jesus’ resurrection and ascension; (3) the coming of the Spirit; (4) Christ’s role in the Church; (5) the destruction of Jerusalem; (6) Jesus’ second coming and the establishment of the kingdom. The reference to six days later in 17:1 seems to indicate that Matthew had the transfiguration in mind insofar as it was a substantial prefiguring of the consummation of the kingdom (although this interpretation is not without its problems). As such, the transfiguration would be a tremendous confirmation to the disciples that even though Jesus had just finished speaking of his death (in vv. 21-23), he was nonetheless the promised Messiah and things were proceeding according to God’s plan.

[18:7]  ³⁵ tn Grk “For it.” Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated.

[18:18]  ³⁶ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[19:14]  ³⁷ sn The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Children are a picture of those whose simple trust illustrates what faith is all about. The remark illustrates how everyone is important to God, even those whom others regard as insignificant.

[21:43]  ³⁸ tn Or “to a nation” (so KJV, NASB, NLT).

[24:39]  ³⁹ sn Like the flood that came and took them all away, the coming judgment associated with the Son of Man will condemn many.

[24:39]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “So also will be the coming of the Son of Man.”

[24:45]  ⁴¹ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 8:9.

[24:45]  ⁴² tn Grk “give them.”

[25:38]  ⁴³ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.