Matius 5:20

5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law ¹  and the Pharisees, ²  you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matius 6:26

6:26 Look at the birds in the sky: ³  They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds ⁴  them. Aren’t you more valuable ⁵  than they are?

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. ⁶ 

Matius 11:29

11:29 Take my yoke ⁷  on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Matius 12:11

12:11 He said to them, “Would not any one of you, if he had one sheep that fell into a pit on the Sabbath, take hold of it and lift it out?

Matius 17:20

17:20 He told them, “It was because of your little faith. I tell you the truth, ⁸  if you have faith the size of ⁹  a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing ¹⁰  will be impossible for you.”

Matius 18:19

18:19 Again, I tell you the truth, ¹¹  if two of you on earth agree about whatever you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. ¹² 

Matius 23:15

23:15 “Woe to you, experts in the law ¹³  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You cross land and sea to make one convert, ¹⁴  and when you get one, ¹⁵  you make him twice as much a child of hell ¹⁶  as yourselves!

Matius 23:34

23:34 “For this reason I ¹⁷  am sending you prophets and wise men and experts in the law, ¹⁸  some of whom you will kill and crucify, ¹⁹  and some you will flog ²⁰  in your synagogues ²¹  and pursue from town to town,

Matius 26:29

26:29 I ²²  tell you, from now on I will not drink of this fruit ²³  of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

[5:20]  ¹ tn Or “that of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[5:20]  ² sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[6:26]  ³ 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).

[6:26]  ⁴ tn Or “God gives them food to eat.” L&N 23.6 has both “to provide food for” and “to give food to someone to eat.”

[6:26]  ⁵ tn Grk “of more value.”

[7:6]  ⁶ 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”).

[11:29]  ⁷ sn A yoke is a wooden bar or frame that joins two animals like oxen or horses so that they can pull a wagon, plow, etc. together. Here it is used figuratively of the restrictions that a teacher or rabbi would place on his followers.

[17:20]  ⁸ tn Grk “For truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.” Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated.

[17:20]  ⁹ tn Grk “faith as,” “faith like.”

[17:20]  ¹⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[18:19]  ¹¹ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[18:19]  ¹² tn Grk “if two of you…agree about whatever they ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.” The passive construction has been translated as an active one in keeping with contemporary English style, and the pronouns, which change from second person plural to third person plural in the Greek text, have been consistently translated as second person plural.

[23:15]  ¹³ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:15]  ¹⁴ tn Or “one proselyte.”

[23:15]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “when he becomes [one].”

[23:15]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “a son of Gehenna.” Expressions constructed with υἱός (Juios) followed by a genitive of class or kind denote a person belonging to the class or kind specified by the following genitive (L&N 9.4). Thus the phrase here means “a person who belongs to hell.”

[23:15]  sn See the note on the word hell in 5:22.

[23:34]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “behold I am sending.” 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).

[23:34]  ¹⁸ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:34]  ¹⁹ sn See the note on crucified in 20:19.

[23:34]  ²⁰ tn BDAG 620 s.v. μαστιγόω 1.a states, “of flogging as a punishment decreed by the synagogue (Dt 25:2f; s. the Mishna Tractate Sanhedrin-Makkoth, edited w. notes by SKrauss ’33) w. acc. of pers. Mt 10:17; 23:34.”

[23:34]  ²¹ sn See the note on synagogues in 4:23.

[26:29]  ²² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[26:29]  ²³ tn Grk “produce” (“the produce of the vine” is a figurative expression for wine).