The Gospel of

MATTHEW
part of

The Holy Bible

A New Translation From the Greek
by

David Robert Palmer

available from:
http://bibletranslation.ws/palmer-translation/
You can also download a free e-Sword module containing this translation of the gospels.
To use the module, you will first need this module installer.

April 2015 Edition

(First Edition was April 2003)

The textual variant data in my footnote apparatus are gathered from the United Bible Societies Greek New Testament 3 rd Edition
(making adjustments for outdated data therein); the 4 th Edition UBS GNT, the UBS Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament,
ed. Metzger; the NA27 GNT; Swansons Gospels apparatus; the online Mnster Institute transcripts, and from Wieland Willkers
excellent online textual commentary on the Gospels. NOTE about the manuscripts and other witnesses cited in this footnote apparatus:
people have criticized this and other TC apparatuses for "cherry-picking" which manuscripts they cite. There is some truth to that, so to
remedy that situation, I have decided to use only one criterion and it is an objective one, and that is, I now cite ALL witnesses 8th
century and earlier, (ones I have access to) and I cite NO witnesses later than the 8th century. That is fair, and indisputable. This saves
space, and document size and download time as well. There certainly are enough witnesses to Matthew before the 9th century such that
we can get an accurate picture of the text. A table of these witnesses may be found after the gospel.
You do not need anyone's permission to quote from, store, print, photocopy, re-format or publish this document.
Just do not change the text. If you quote it, you might put (DRP) after your quotation if you like.

1
The Good News According to

MATTHEW
Chapter 1
The Genealogy of Jesus
A record of the genealogy of Jesus1 the Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Abraham begot Isaac,

and Isaac begot Jacob,

and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers,
and Judah begot Perez and Zerah,
by Tamar,
and Perez begot Hezron,
and Hezron begot Ram,
and Ram begot Amminadab,
and Amminadab begot Nahshon,
and Nahshon begot Salmon,
and Salmon begot Boaz, by Rahab,
and Boaz begot Obed, by Ruth,
and Obed begot Jesse,
and Jesse begot David the King.
David2 begot Solomon, by her who belonged to Uriah,
and Solomon begot Rehoboam,

and Rehoboam begot Abijah,

and Abijah begot Asa,3

NOTE about the manuscripts and other witnesses cited in this footnote apparatus: people have criticized this and other TC
apparatuses for "cherry-picking" which manuscripts they cite. There is some truth to that, so to remedy that situation, I have
decided to use only one criterion and it is an objective one, and that is, I now cite ALL witnesses 8th century and earlier, (ones I
have access to) and I cite NO witnesses later than the 8th century. That is fair, and indisputable. This saves space, and document
size and download time as well. There certainly are enough witnesses to Matthew before the 9th century such that we can get an
accurate picture of the text. A table of these witnesses may be found after the gospel.
1 1:1 Greek, (Isos), "Yaysoos," from the Hebrew( ya) "Yayshua," which was a later form of the Hebrew name of
Joshua, ( yha) "Y'hoshua." Y'hoshua in turn had developed by vowel dissimilation from the original Yhoshua, "Yah
is salvation."
1:6 txt B itk vgmss syrs,c,p copsa,bo arm Did NA27 {\} C E L W lat syrh geo (TR ) RP lac A D
N P.
2

1:7-8 txt L W it(a),f vg syrc,s,p,h,pal Ps-Eustathius (Epiphanius) TR HF RP B C* (DLuke) itaur,(dLuke),k,q vgmss (syrhmg)
copsa,meg,bo arm eth geo (Epiphanius); Ambrose NA27 {B} lac A D N P . In the genealogy in I Chronicles 3:10 most Greek
manuscripts read , though MS 60 reads . In Antiquities VIII.XI.3xii.6 Josephus uses , though in the Latin
translation Asaph appears. The man's name, of course, was Asa. Is it not written in the annals of the kings of Israel and Judah?
This variant is not a big deal, since Asaph appears to be just a variant spelling of Asa; probably as a result of passing through
different languages. The New Testament has many examples of this phenomenon. A Hebrew word cannot end in a vowel, so I
suspect that the glottal stop consonant which ends the Hebrew name was substituted with some other consonant in other
3

languages. In Hebrew, the name Asa begins and ends with the letter (Aleph), which is a consonant, a glottal stop. Other
languages, (including Greek) which do not have a letter for the glottal stop, substituted other consonants for it. The confusion of
terminal glottal stops with other unvoiced consonants happens often in English as well, since English has no letter for the glottal
stop. (Though in transliteration schemes, the single straight apostrophe is used to represent the glottal stop.) In very ancient
Greek, the letter was pronounced like our letter p, it was not an "f." In English today, words ending in p often sound like they

2
and Asa begot Jehoshaphat,

and Jehoshaphat begot Joram,

and Joram begot Uzziah,
and Uzziah begot Jotham,
and Jotham begot Ahaz,
and Ahaz begot Hezekiah,
and Hezekiah begot Manasseh,
and Manasseh begot Amon,4
and Amon begot Josiah,
and Josiah begot Jeconiah
and his brothers at the time of
the exile to Babylon.
After the exile to Babylon:

Jeconiah begot Shealtiel,

and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel,
and Zerubbabel begot Abiud,
and Abiud begot Eliakim,
and Eliakim begot Azor,
and Azor begot Zadok,
and Zadok begot Akim,
and Akim begot Eliud,
and Eliud begot Eleazar,
and Eleazar begot Matthan,
and Matthan begot Jacob,
and Jacob begot Joseph,
the husband5 of Mary,
of whom6 was born Jesus,
the one called the Christ.
Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to
Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Anointed One.7

end in a glottal stop. That is, we do not aspirate the p as we would if the p was in the middle of a word, but simply shut off the
exhaled air by closing our lips.
4 1:10 txt , E L W it(a) vg(mss) syrc,s,p,h,pal copmeg (Ps-Eustathius); Augustine TR HF RP , itaur,f ,
B* , Bc C (DLuke) itc,dLuke),ff,k,q vgmss (syrhmg) copsa,bo,fay arm eth geo Epiphanius; Ambrose NA27 {B} lac A D
N P . In the LXX of 1 Chron. 3:14, most manuscripts read , but A Bc read , and B* and one minuscule read .
Further, in 2 Kings 21:18, 19, 23-25 and 2 Chronicles 33:20-25, several Greek manuscripts read . It is admitted by almost all
that is an error, whether by LXX scribes, Matthew, or another scribe.
5 1:16a See the endnote at the end of this document comparing this genealogy to Luke's genealogy.
6 1:16b , is the reading of B C E P L W vid itaur,f vg syrp,h,pal copsa
(arm) (eth) geo TR HF RP NA27 {A} lac A D N . Other witnesses, 547 and some Italic, Syriac and Coptic versions add
various words and phrases in order to clarify the ambiguity of whether Matthew was saying that Jesus was begotten of Joseph, or
of Mary. But the original wording can be properly understood as meaning born of Mary.
7 1:17 Matthew skips after Josiah, Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin (2 Kings 23:34 - 24:6). And his last set of generations are only 13, not
14. So this arrangement must be a teaching or memorization aid. Another interesting thing is that fourteen plus fourteen plus
fourteen equals six groups of seven generations, 42 in all (6 sevens). In Hebrew, in the Old Testament, a group of seven of
something is called a week of something. There were six weeks of generations prior to the Messiah, and the Messiah ushered in
the seventh week, the Sabbath week of generations. The Messiah brought in another rest from creation. As God took six days to
create the First Adam, and then he ceased, so God also took six weeks of generations to create the Second Adam, and then he
ceased.

3
The Birth of Jesus
This is how the birth8 of Jesus Christ came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph,
but before they consummated, she was found to be pregnant, from the Holy Spirit. But her husband Joseph,

being a righteous man, did not want to make an example of her, and planned to divorce her secretly.
But while he was mulling these things over, an angel of the Lord appeared to him by means of a dream,
and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, for what is conceived in her
is by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to call his name Jesus, because he will save
his people from their sins."9
All this took place in order that what was said by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled, which
says: "Behold, the virgin shall be pregnant, and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel,"10
which when translated is, "God with us."
And when Joseph awoke from his sleep, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and he
took his bride home. But he did not know her11 until she gave birth to her firstborn son.12 And he called his
name Jesus.

Chapter 2
The Visit of the Magi
Now after Jesus had been born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, Magi13 from out
of the east showed up in Jerusalem, saying, "Where is the one born king of the Jews? For we saw his star in

the east14 and have come to worship him."

Upon hearing this, King Herod was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. And having assembled all the
chief priests and Torah scholars of the people, he inquired of them as to where the Messiah was to be born.

1:18 txt B (C W ) L (P ) Z arm Euseb Ps-Ath NA27 {B} E L ita,aur,b,d,f,k,q vg IrenGr Or Didydub
Epiphan Chrysost Theodotus-Ancyra Nestorius; Chromat Jer Aug TR HF RP lac A D N .
8

1:21 The Greek name, (Isos), came from the Hebrew( ya)"Yayshua," which was a later form of the Hebrew

name of Joshua, ( yha) "Y'hoshua," which in turn was a later form of Yhoshua, which means, "Yah is salvation."
10 1:23 Isaiah 7:14
11 1:25a "Did not know her" is a euphemism meaning, "he did not have sex with her."
12 1:25b txt C Dc (D* L itd,q omit ) E N W 087 itaur,f,ff vg syrp,h,palmss arm eth Diatesaron
Cyril-Jerusalem Didymus Didymusdub Epiphanius Chrysostom Proclus; Jerome Augustine R HF RP B Z 071vid (copsa
) itb,k syrs,c,palmss (copbo ) copmeg geo Ambrose Chromatius NA27 {A} lac A P . Adding the words before the
word , "son," and "her firstborn son," as all manuscripts have in Luke 2:7, would help clarify that sexual intercourse, brought
up here, did not take place before Mary's firstborn. Yet, adding firstborn son still does not make it clear that she had not already had a
daughter. It is much easier to explain why the words "her firstborn son" might have been added, than to explain why they might
have been deleted. The story, regardless, still makes clear that Jesus was her firstborn, and that Mary was a virgin prior to the
time of Jesus being born.
13 2:1 Plural of Magus, one trained in astrology and dream interpretation, probably in a tradition based on Zoroastrianism, founded by
the Persian prophet Zarathustra or Zoroaster.
14 2:2 Or in the rising. Also in verse 9. The same Greek word, is used for both "east" and "rising," since because of the direction of
the rotation of the earth, heavenly bodies "rise" in the east. The word star does not necessarily mean a far off sun. It could have
meant any heavenly body or sign. This star or sign was something only the trained astrologers saw, and not the king of Israel or the
general public. In near-eastern astrology of that era, a conjuction was very significant, and the constellation Aries represented
Herod's kingdom in palestine. Furthermore, signs involving the planet Jupiter (Zeus) represented royalty and kings. So if there was a
sign or conjunction involving Jupiter,the Magi would take note. Jupiter was in retrograde motion in April of the year 6 B.C. Thus,
that star would "stand still." We know from the gospel of Luke that the shepherds were "keeping watch over their flocks by night."
They only did that during birthing time, to protect the ewes and newborn lambs. In other words, they did that during Spring time.
Furthermore, Luke says in Luke 2:42 that Jesus turned 12 years old around Passover time. Astronomer Michael Molnar
(http:www.eclipse.net/~molnar/ ) has found that there was a conjunction of Jupiter (while retrograde and "standing still') with the
moon, in Aries, on April 17, 6 B.C. This would harmonize with Luke's spring timing, and also with the fact that both Matthew and
Luke say Jesus was born during the reign of Herod, who died in 4 B.C. Thus I say it is practically certain that Jesus was born in
spring time, and that April 17, 6 B.C. is the best theory put forth yet as to his exact day of birth. One thing we know for certain is
that his birthday was not December 25th, or any time in the winter, when the sheep in Judea would be in pens, and not in the field in
the cold.

4
And they told him, "In Bethlehem in Judea, for this is what has been written through the prophet:
" 'And you, Bethlehem, in the land

of Judah,
are by no means least among
the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of
my people Israel.'15"
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he
sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search diligently for the child. And when you have found him,
bring word back to me, so I may come and worship him also."
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and lo, the star, the one they had seen in the east,
kept moving on in front of them, until it arrived and stopped over where the child was. When they saw the
star, they rejoiced with a surpassingly great joy. And upon coming to the house, they saw the child with his
mother Mary, and they fell prostrate and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures, and presented
him with gifts of gold, and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to
Herod, they went back to their country by another route.

The Escape to Egypt

And when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appears in a dream to Joseph, saying, "Get up,

take the child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be there until I tell you, for Herod intends to search for
the child to destroy him."
So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and escaped into Egypt, and was there until
the death of Herod, in order that the thing spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled, which
says: "Out of Egypt I called my son."16
When Herod realized that he had been fooled by the Magi, he was extremely enraged, and sent orders
and did away with all the male children17 in Bethlehem and all its environs who were two years old or under,
in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet
Jeremiah was fulfilled, which says:
"A voice heard in Ramah,

a weeping and loud wailing,

Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more."18

The Return to Nazareth

And after Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appears by a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, "Get
up, take the child and his mother and go into the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child's life are
dead."
So he got up, took the child and his mother and entered the land of Israel. But when he heard that
Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And having been

15

2:6 Micah 5:2

2:15 Hosea 11:1
17 2:16 Greek: - padas. It is the masculine form of the word. If Matthew had intended to include girls, he could have added
the feminine form, (paidskas), like Luke did in Luke 12:45; Diatessaron 19:26.
18 2:18 Jeremiah 31:15
16

5
warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and went and lived in a town called Nazareth, so
that what was spoken through the prophets would be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.19

Chapter 3
John the Baptizer Prepares the Way
In those days John the Baptizer appears, preaching in the desert, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of
heaven has drawn near." This is the one spoken of through Isaiah the prophet:

"A voice calling in the wilderness,

'Prepare the way for the Lord,
make the paths straight for him.20
This man21 John had clothing of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts
and wild honey. At that time Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan went out to him.
And confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to the baptism, he said to them, "You
spawn of snakes! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Then produce fruit characteristic of
repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you
that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. And the ax is already set to the root of the
trees. Every tree therefore not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
"I baptize you in water for repentance, but after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose
sandals I am not worthy to remove. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire:22 his winnowing fork
is in his hand, and he will clear out his threshing floor, gathering the wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will
burn up with fire unquenchable."

The Baptism of Jesus

At that time Jesus arrives at the Jordan, out of Galilee, to John, to be baptized by him. But John tried to
deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and you are coming to me?"
In reply, Jesus said to him, "Permit it now; it is proper for us to complete all righteousness this way."
Then John consented.
As soon as he was baptized, Jesus came up out of the water, and behold, the heavens were opened, and he
saw the Holy Spirit of God coming down like a dove, coming onto him. And behold, a voice from the
heavens, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with whom I am well pleased."

Chapter 4
The Temptation of Jesus
Then Jesus was led up into the desert by the Spirit, to be tempted by the devil. And he fasted forty days
and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of
God, command that these stones become loaves of bread."

2:23 Greek: - Nazraios A Nazarene is someone from the town of Nazareth, just as a Houstonian is someone from the
city of Houston. A Nazarene is not to be confused with a Nazirite, which is someone who took a time-limited vow not to cut his hair
or to eat grapes or drink wine. We know Jesus was not a Nazirite, because he drank wine. But what Old Testament prophecies was
Matthew referring to? See the endnote at the end of this document, which addresses this question at length.
20 3:3 Isaiah 40:3
21 3:4 From the demonstrative use o
man dressed in hairs, with a leather belt around his waist." "It is Elijah." II Kings 1:7-9 A garment of hair was a mark of a prophet,
Zechariah 13:4. "What kind of man did you go out to see?" Matthew 11:7-14
22 3:11 txt {C} vid B C L W latt syrc,p,h copsa,bo Origen Basil TR NA27 SBL {\} E syrpal RP
syrs lac A D N P . Codex B has an umlaut. The addition of may be a harmonization to Luke.
19

6
But he in answer said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word23 coming out of
the mouth of God.'24"
Then the devil takes him into the holy city and had him stand on the gable of the temple, and he says to
him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written:

'He will command his angels

concerning you;
and they will lift you up on their hands,
so you will not strike your
foot against a stone.'25"
Jesus said to him, "It is also written: 'You shall not put Yahweh your God to a test.'26"
Again, the devil led him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their
splendor, and said to Jesus, "These I will give to you, if you will fall down and worship me."
Then Jesus said to him, "Go away, Satan!27 For it is written: 'You shall worship Yahweh your God, and

him only shall you serve.'28"

Then the devil left him alone, and lo, angels had come and were attending him.

Jesus Begins to Preach

And when he heard that John had been arrested, he went away to Galilee. And forsaking Nazareth, he
went and lived in Capernaum, beside the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that the thing
spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which says:
"Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,

the road by the sea,

on the other end of the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles
the people sitting in darkness
have seen a great light;
and on those sitting in the land of the
shadow of death29
a light has dawned."30
From that time on Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

The Calling of Simon, Andrew, James, and John

And walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew,

casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers.

23 4:4a Upon every - hreema that proceeds from the mouth of God. In Hebraistic Greek, was used not only for words or

statements, but when combined with the Greek word "pan" it means "every matter" or "every thing." See for example how
some translations rendered Deuteronomy 8:3 as "everything that comes from the mouth of God."
24 4:4b Deuteronomy 8:3
25 4:6 Psalm 91:11,12
26 4:7 Deuteronomy 6:16
27 4:10a The Textus Receptus has here after the word , "go away," the words - "behind me." Those are the words
Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 16:23 and Mark 8:33. The UBS editorial committee gives the reading here without the words
"behind me" an A rating of certainty.
28 4:10 Deuteronomy 6:13
29 4:16a Compare Isaiah 9:1 in the LXX: , , where the "kai" is not
present between "region" and "shadow." Compare also Luke 1:79: . Compare
also Psalm 22:4 in the LXX: ; Job 12:22: .
30 4:16 Isaiah 9:1, 2

7
And he says to them, "Come you two, follow me, and I will make you fishers of people." And they
followed him immediately, leaving the nets.
And going on from there, he saw another set of two brothers, James the son of Zebedee and his brother
John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. And they immediately
followed him, leaving the boat and their father.

Jesus Heals the Sick

And he went around through all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news
of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. And news about him spread all

over Syria, and they brought to him all who were ill with various diseases and severe pain, the demonpossessed, and epileptics and the paralyzed, and he healed them. And many crowds followed him, from
Galilee and the Ten Cities, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

Chapter 5
The Beatitudes
And seeing the crowds, he went up to the mountainside. And when he sat down his disciples came to him,
and opening his mouth, he began to teach them, saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,31

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst
for righteousness,
for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called
offspring of God.32
Blessed are those who are persecuted
because of righteousness,

5:3 The meaning of the expression poor in spirit is difficult to determine with certainty. Bauer says the sense is probably those
who are poor in their inner life, not having a Pharisaic confidence in their own spiritual adequacy. But I think the meaning is that we
should, even if we are materially rich, live as though we were poor. As the apostle Paul says also in I Cor. 7:30-31: "those who buy,
should live as though they did not possess, and those who use this world, as though they did not make full use of it."
32 5:9 The Greek word here is , "sons." The word children can sound like it emphasizes the immaturity of the subjects. I also
considered the word "offspring," because that would convey part of what is emphasized here. What is emphasized by this passage
is two-fold: the fact that offspring of a father bear resemblance in personality, values, and quality of the "faith of their fathers,"
and two, that these sons are heirs of their father, heirs of a future kingdom. The word "sons" is said to have been a legal term, and
was gender inclusive. It included daughters. Today, the word "son" legally means, according to Black's Law Dictionary, 6th Ed.,
"Male offspring. An immediate male descendant. The word may be applied also to a distant male descendant. In a broad use,
term may be employed as designating any young male person, as a pupil, a ward, an adopted male child or dependent." This
current legal definition greatly limits the acceptability of this word. "Children" is defined as: Progeny, offspring of parentage.
Unborn or recently born human being. At common law one who had not attained the age of fourteen years, though the meaning
now varies in different statutes." This definition, which includes the idea of being offspring, and is gender-inclusive as well, makes
the word "children" perhaps the best choice. This is also the word that Tyndale used, and the King James Version as well. Black's
Law Dictionary, Copyright 1990, West Publishing Co., St. Paul, Minnesota, All Rights Reserved.
31

8
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you
because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they

persecuted the prophets before you."

Salt and Light

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt is blanded down, with what will it be made salty? It is no
longer potent enough for anything except to be thrown outside and trampled underfoot of people.
"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do they light a lamp to
put it under a basket, but rather on the stand, so it enlightens all those in the house. In the same way, let
your light shine in the view of people, such that they will see your good works and give glory to your Father
who is in heaven.

The Fulfillment of the Law

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to
fulfill them. For truly I say to you, until the sky and the earth pass away, not one iota,33 not one serif,34 will
by any means pass away from the Law until everything is carried out. Therefore, whoever looses one of the

least of these commandments, and teaches people the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but
whoever practices them and teaches them, this one will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell
you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Torah scholars and Pharisees, you will by no means
enter the kingdom of heaven.

Adversaries
"You have heard that it was said to the people of long ago, 'Do not murder, 35 and anyone who murders
will be subject to judgment.'36 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother37 will be subject to

5:18a The Greek says (ita), which is the spelling out of the name of the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet. It is the smallest
letter of that alphabet, and even smaller when it is "subscript." When the iota is subscript, it is placed under another vowel and in
even smaller size, and the difference it makes is the part of speech of the word, or the "case." But now, an objection may arise:
"But the Law was given in Hebrew, not Greek." The spoken names of the Greek letters "iota" and the Hebrew letter "yodh"
sounded more similar then than they do now. They even look similar in written form. And both are the smallest letters of their
respective alphabets. Now there was a very important Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, called the Septuagint,
which was widely used by Jesus' time, whereas the Hebrew language was in danger of dying as a spoken language.
34 5:18b In the Hebrew language, sometimes the only difference between two different Hebrew letters is a "serif" or a little horn
attached, just a slight little appendage.
35 5:21a Exodus 20:13. This word - phoneuw did not mean just murder, but homicide in general, including by carelessness
or negligence, and manslaughter. See for example Deuteronomy 19:6; Joshua 21:13. And the word phoneuw did NOT include in its
meaning the killing of non-human life. It was not used for the killing of animals. Perhaps this verse would be better rendered, "Do
not murder a human."
36 5:21b This is because the judgment, a trial, was necessary for the purpose of deciding whether the homicide was justifiable or
not. Not all homicide was punishable. The Law of Moses was full of discussion as to which killings of a human being were
punishable, and which were not. In the same way, later in verse 22, if you are angry with your brother, you are subject to
judgment. This is because not all anger is punishable; some anger is righteous. Note that Jesus does not forbid anger here. He
says that if you are angry, you are subject to a trial. Quite a difference. The trial may find that your anger was justified. Paul said,
"In your anger do not sin..." (Ephesians 4:26, Psalm 4:4)
33

5:22a txt with his brother * B itaur vg ethms Origenmssacc to Apollinarus; Tertullianvid Chromatius Jerome
Augustine Greek mssacc, to Augustine NA27 {B} with his brother without a cause c D E L W ita,b,d,f,h,k,l,q
vgmss syrc,s,p,h,pal copsa,meg,bo arm ethTH geo Irenaeuslat mssacc. to Origen Eusebius Basil Apostolic Constitutions mssacc. to Apollinaris PsJustin Chrysostom Cyril Theodoret; Cyprian Hilary Lucifer mssacc. to Jerome Augustine Speculum TR HF RP lacuna A C N P .
Note, Papyrus 64 is also called Papyrus 67, and it definitely does not include without a cause. This papyrus is one of the oldest
New Testament papyri we have, dated between the years 60 to 200. Jerome states that in the majority of ancient manuscripts,
without a cause is not added. The fact that a majority of Greek mss in Jeromes time did not contain it, is far more significant than
whether a majority of manuscripts today contain it. Opponents of the UBS Greek text object to this omission, because they say
that it forbids all anger, even righteous anger. Not so; it only says that if you are angry, you are in danger of judgment. On the
37

9
judgment. And anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,38' is answerable to the council.39 But anyone who
says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of Gehenna.40
"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there you remember that your brother has
something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar, and first go be reconciled to your brother,
and then come and offer your gift.
"Get on good terms with your legal adversary quickly, while you are with him on the way, or your
adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown in
prison. Truly I tell you, by no means will you come out of there until you have paid the last penny.

Adultery
"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.41' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a
woman42 to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So if your right eye causes

you to fall, rip it out and cast it away from you. For it is expedient for you that one of your parts be
destroyed and not your whole body be cast into Gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to fall, cut it
off and cast it away from you. For it is expedient for you that one of your parts be destroyed and not your
whole body go away into Gehenna.
"And it has been said, 'Anyone who releases43 his wife must give her a "release of interest form".'44 But
I tell you that anyone who releases his wife, except for grounds of fornication, 45 causes her to commit
adultery, and anyone who marries a released woman commits adultery.
other hand, if the text reads "Do not be angry with your brother without a cause," that is so easy to get around. Practically
everyone who is angry with his brother believes he has cause to be angry. The end result of adding without a cause is that there
is no meaningful prohibition, no truly solemn warning here. Plus, it misses the whole point of the phrase "will be subject to
judgment". The whole point of the judgment is to decide if there is a cause. It makes no sense to say that if you are angry with
your brother without a cause, you will be tried, to see if there is a cause. Often the argument is made, that the UBS reading, the
one without the phrase, "without a cause," makes Jesus look like a sinner, since he was angry sometimes. Then what do the people
who argue this, do with the phrase later in this same verse, where the Majority Text says that someone who says "You fool," is in
danger of the fire of Gehenna? For Jesus did say to someone "You fool" in the Majority Text, in Matthew 23:17. There is much
more reason to be found for the word meaning without a cause to be added later, than for it to have been deleted later. I
consider the text of the NA27 here to be certain.
38 5:22b An Aramaic term of contempt
39 5:22c The council of elders at the town gate was a common scene in the life of an ancient Israelite. By the time of Jesus, there
were three sizes of council, or religious court, in Judea. A local religious court (Bet Din) was composed of three judges, at least one
a Rabbi. This council would hear disputes and accusations and try cases like a court. For higher cases, however, such as involving
offenses punishable by death, as in Deuteronomy 21:18-21 and 22:13-21, a court of twenty-three or more judges was required.
Finally, the supreme Sanhedrin in Jerusalem was composed of seventy men, plus the High Priest who presided over it. The
seventy was made up of three kinds of members: (1) high priests- the current high priest and former high priests; (2) the Elders:
tribal and family representatives of the lay aristocracy; and (3) and the Scribes, the experts in the law from the Torah. The
Sanhedrin's authority in civil matters was subject to the Romans' limits, but in Jewish religious matters, it had complete authority,
including a body of police and guards under its command, by which to enforce its rulings. The Sanhedrin was abolished with the
destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The scribes later codified its accumulated conclusions, however, in the form of the written
Mishnah.
40 5:29 From Gey-Hinnom, the name of a ravine south of Jerusalem, The Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which was the trash
heap or landfill for the city. The garbage was perpetually on fire; the fire never went out. See II Chron. 28:3; II Kings 23:10;
Jeremiah 7:31-32; Joshua 15:8, 18:16. According to Jewish popular belief, the Last Judgment was to take place there. Thus in the
New Testament Gehenna means a place of perpetual fire, further described as a lake of burning sulfur, whose fire can never be put
out, and in which a person never loses his being, but forever loses his well-being that is, is forever separated from God and thus
anything good. At the present time, anyone who dies while out of God's favor goes to Hades (see chapter 21:27-33), which is a
temporary storage hell. But later, at the end of Christ's kingdom on earth, Hades and everyone in it will be thrown permanently
into Gehenna (Revelation 20:5,10-15). This is called the Second Death. There is no remedy for the Second Death. Jesus mentions
Gehenna eleven times (nine times in my harmony / Diatessaron). James uses the word once, in 3:6.
41 5:27 Exodus 20:13
42 5:28 That is, a woman not one's own wife.
43 5:31a "Releasing" is the opposite of "cleaving" or "joining."
44 5:31b Deuteronomy 24:1; but note that in the same passage in Deuteronomy, in verse 4, it says that such a release defiles her.
This word - apostsion, "release of interest form," was used to signify the relinquishment of property. A quit-claim, if
you will. In the culture of ancient Israel there was never any provision for a wife to quit her property claim in her husband, since
the wife was considered property of her husband, and never the other way around. The apostle Paul in the New Testament,
however, states in I Corinthians 7:4, "The wife has not authority over her own body, but rather the husband: and likewise also the
husband has not authority over his own body, but rather the wife." This is a consequence of being "one flesh."

10
Oaths
"Again, you have heard that it was said to the people of long ago, 'Do not break your oath, 46 but pay out
to the Lord your oaths.'47 But I tell you not to promise with an oath at all: neither by heaven, because it is
God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet, nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of
the Great King. Neither swear by your head, since you have not the power to make a single hair white or
black. But let your word be 'Yes' for 'Yes,' 'No' for 'No,' and beyond these is from evil.

An Eye For an Eye

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' 48 But I tell you not to
resist the evil. On the contrary, whoever strikes you on the49 right cheek, turn to him the other also. And
the one wanting to sue and take your shirt, surrender to him your jacket as well. And whoever conscripts
you for one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one

who wants to borrow from you.

Love For Enemies

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor50 and hate your enemy.' But I say to you: Love

your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who insult you
and are persecuting you, so that you be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he causes his sun to
rise upon the evil and the good, and rains upon the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love the ones
who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the revenue agents do the same? And if you greet
your own kind51 only, what are you doing beyond the ordinary? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be
perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

5:32 Greek, pornea. This word was used for generally any sexual intercourse that is not between a married person
and his or her spouse of the opposite sex. There was a different, more specific word for marital unfaithfulness in particular:
- moichea, and Jesus did not use it here. We know by the disciples' reaction in verse 26 that Jesus was saying something
more narrow and strict than what they had heard before. Some say that perhaps Jesus was limiting divorce to that situation
described in Deuteronomy 22:13-21, the situation Jesus' stepfather Joseph found himself in when he realized (or so it appeared to
him) that Mary was not a virgin, but had "fornicated while still under her father's authority." Or, others suggest that Jesus didn't
say this clause "if it is not on the basis of fornication" at all. This exception phrase is not found in Mark and Luke, or any of Paul's
rules for the church (cf I Cor. 7:10,11); but only in Matthew, the last of the three gospels written (I now quote Bruce Metzger)
"thus representing Jesus as siding with the view of Shammai. The addition of this 'excepting clause,' as it is called, reflects an
attempt in the early church [of which Matthew was a part] to adjust the high ideal of Jesus' interpretation of the indissolubility of
marriage to suit the exigencies of those whose hearts, like men's hearts in the days of Moses, were still hard! Such an adjustment
of Jesus' teaching fell within the power to bind and loose given to the apostles (of which Matthew was one) that is, power to adapt
laws and make exceptions (Matt. 16:19 and 18:18; Diatess. 14:45, 22:36) Two reasons, among others, why the Matthean form of
Jesus' saying on divorce must be regarded as a modification of this teaching are: (1) If it is original, then the report without the
excepting clause in Mark and Luke represents an advance made by the early church upon the standards set by Jesus and this is
not likely to have happened; and (2) the excepting clause does not harmonize with the context in Matthew. If Jesus sided with the
Shammites, why should the disciples be amazed at the strictness of his teaching and exclaim, "If this is the situation...it is not
advisable to marry" [Matt. 19:10]? And in the context of Matt. 5:32 Jesus is replacing the standard recognized by the Jews of his
day with the perfect standard of God [Matt. 5:17-48; Diatess. 9:10-20]; but if the exceptive clause is retained, his teaching is no
higher than Shammai's." From The New Testament, Its Background, Growth, and Content, Abingdon Press, p. 163, footnote
46 5:33a Or Do not make an oath not intending to keep it.
47 5:33b Numbers 30:2; Leviticus 5:4-6
48 5:38 Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20; Deuteronomy 19:21
49 5:39 txt omit RP TR HF [27] {\}.
50 5:43 Leviticus 19:18
51 5:47 (adelphs), in the plural. This word can mean one of the same mother, or one of the same blood in a broader
sense, like cousin or clansman, or broader yet, one of the same country or race; or one of the same rank or club, like associate. Or
it could mean simply "your friends, your neighbors, your acquaintances." But the context here is the issue of enemies. To the
natural man, other political nations and races are enemies. Moses also had to remind the Israelites to be kind to aliens; had to
remind them what it was like to have themselves been aliens in Egypt.
45

11

Chapter 6
Giving to the Needy
"Be careful not to do your acts of tzedakah52 in front of people, trying to be seen by them, for in that case

you have no reward with your Father in heaven.

"So when you do your charitable giving, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the
synagogues and in the lanes, so they may be esteemed by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward in
full. But you, when you do your giving to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is
doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

Prayer
"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and

on the corners of the boulevards, so they will be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward in
full. But you when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your
Father who is in secret. Then your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
But when you pray, do not speak thoughtless repetition53 like the Gentiles do. For they suppose that
because of the greater number of their words they will be heard. Do not be like them therefore. You see,
your Father knows what you need before you ever ask him.
"This, then, is how you should pray:
" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven54
our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.'' 55

6:1 txt *, B D 0250 vg ita,aur,b,d,e,ff,h,l NA27 {\} (e) syrc copbo E L W Z itf,k syrp,h mae TR
HF RP. "Tzedakah" are acts of philanthropy, charity, righteousness.
53 6:7 Greek, - . Following is what BDF 40 says about this word. All uses of it except one are in Christian
literature or dependent on Christian literature. Because of the doubling of the t consonant, which is incorrect for Greek, we know
this is a word imported or adapted in hybrid form from some other language(s), most likely Semitic. According to Fredrich Blass,
it is a combination of a Semitic word, , Beth-Teth-Lamedh, for 'empty, inane, idle,' with appended. According to
Delling, it is a remodeling of - 'stammer,' in connection with . Also, it looks similar to the Latin bat(t)ulus =
, that is, speaking with difficulty or having an impediment in one's speech. And see also Corp. Gloss. Lat. II 32.17,
garrulus- - fond of talking endlessly, prattling, given to prosy, rambling, or tedious loquacity. In the only use of
in non-Christian literature, it had the idea of prattling foolishly. So I say that in the context here, it means speaking
mindlessly with the goal of quantity of words in mind, rather than thoughtful or heartfelt speech. Therefore we should avoid
possibly even short prayers, if the prayers are formulaic. And consider what this says about 'speaking in tongues' when you don't
even know the meaning of what you are saying. "What therefore does this conclude? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also
pray with the mind." I Cor. 14:15 When you pray, let not your mind be unfruitful, but still pray with your spirit. I Cor. 14:14. If
your mind is idle when you are praying, it is prayer.
52

54
55

6:12 txt * Z vgst syrp,h NA27 {\} D E L W cop? itf,k syrp,h cop? mae TR HF RP
6:13b txt . E L W itf,k,q syrh,pal cop(sa),bopt arm eth geo

Didache TR RP omit B D Z 0170 ita,aur,b,ff,h,l vg copmeg,bopt Diatessaronsyr Origen Cyril-Jerusalemdub Gregory-Nyssa Cyril; Tertullian
Cyprian Ambrose Chromatius Jerome5/6 Augustine NA27 {A} lac A C N P. The UBS textual commentary says that the words

12
For if you forgive people their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you are not

forgiving to people,56 neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses.

Fasting
"And when you fast, do not become of somber countenance like the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their
faces so that they will appear to people as fasting. Truly I tell you, they have their reward in full. But you
when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to people as fasting, but
rather to your Father, who is in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

Treasures in Heaven
"Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and corrosion 57 eat away, and where
thieves break through and steal. But accumulate for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor
corrosion eat away, and where thieves do not break through and steal. For where your treasure is, there

your heart will be also.

"The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is open and generous,58 your whole body will be bright.
But if your eye is suspicious and stingy,59 your whole body will be dark. If then darkness is the light in
you, how great the darkness!
"No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one
and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammon.60

Do Not Worry
"Considering this, I tell you, do not worry for your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or for
your body, what you will put on. Does not life mean more than food, and the body more than clothes?
Look at the birds of the sky, that they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father

For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever. Amen. were added probably for the sake of liturgy, adapted
from 1 Chronicles 29:11-13. There are several other variants: some witnesses without "the kingdom and;" some without "the
power and;" and the Old Latin k reads only "for yours is the power for ever and ever." Some Greek manuscripts expand "for ever"
to "for ever and ever," and several late manuscripts, 157, 225, and 418, add a Trinitarian ascription, "for yours is the kingdom and
the power and the glory of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit for ever. Amen." There is no previous instance in
Scripture of the exact words "for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." Some claim these exact
words are found in Hebrew in the Cabala and the Golden Dawn. And that therefore, they are part of some Wicca initiation rites.
But Jesus may have modeled these words loosely after King David's blessing of Yahweh, on the occasion of the dedication of the
beginning of the building of the temple, in I Chronicles 29:11-13.
56 6:15 txt omit D ita,aur,c,ff,g,h,k,l vg syrp copmeg,bopt Diatess Euseb Chromlem Aug NA27 {C} add B E L W
itf,q vgmss syrc,h,pal copsa,bopt arm eth geo Basil; Chromcom TR HF RP lac A C N P.
57 6:19 , "the devourer," which in the Greek Old Testament was used for the locust. However, the same word has also been
used for the corrosion process of metals. There does seem to be some allusion here to Malachi 3:10, 11. If that were the case, an
alternative translation would speak more of agricultural wealth, as follows: "Do not accumulate for yourselves stores on earth,
where moth and locust eat away..." James 5:2-3 speaks of both; moths eating at clothing wealth, and corrosion eating at metal
weath.
58 6:22 Greek, haplous, which means literally, single. But it is from a Semitic idiom, not to be translated literally. Compare Proverbs
11:25 in the Septuagint, where haplous means "generous."
59 6:23 Literally, "if your eye is evil." From the Hebrew, - rh ayin; see endnote for a full discussion of this concept.
60 6:24 A common Aramaic word for wealth and property, which meant literally, a fortress to rely on. The sin of serving Mammon
involves thinking that there is security in wealth and property, and with that mentality to store up wealth for the future, as the
Rich Fool did in Luke chapter 12. Jesus taught us not to worry even about food or clothes. He also said to pray: "Give us this day
our DAILY bread." That means that to work so that you have more than enough stores for just one day at a time, that is serving
mammon. The apostle Paul said that with food and clothes we should be content. Worldly wealth is very insecure, especially the
theoretical kinds such as stocks, bonds, Federal Reserve Notes, negotiable instruments. And stored up food reserves are perishable
and subject to vermin. But if we store up treasure in heaven, where there are no thieves, rust, or moths, or taxes, that is real
security, real estate. There is a secure inheritance that is non-negotiable. If you do not think this is what Mammon means, then
look at the context before and after: it is all against storing up more food and clothes than you need for one day. Your retirement
is in heaven. You cannot serve both God and Financial Security.

13
feeds them. Do you not matter more than they? And who of you by worrying is able to add onto his life
span one foot?61
"And about dress, why do you worry? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither labor
nor weave. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. Now if
God so dresses the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow thrown into the stove, how much
more would he rather dress you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What would we
eat?' or 'What would we drink?' or 'What would we wear?' For the Gentiles are pursuing all those things,
and your heavenly Father knows that you need all those things. But pursue first rather the kingdom of God
and his righteousness, and all those things will be included for you as well.
"Do not worry, then, for the next day, because the next day will have worries of itself. Today's trouble is
enough for the day.62

Chapter 7
Correcting Others
"Do not judge, so that you will not be judged. For with what judgment you are judging, you will be
judged, and with what measure you are measuring out, it will be measured to you.
"Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but the log in your own eye you do not consider?
Or how will you say to your brother, 'Let me pluck the speck out of your eye,' and behold, in your own eye
is a log? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to pluck the speck
out of your brother's eye.
"Do not give to curs what is sacred, and do not toss your pearls before swine, lest they trample them with
their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

Ask, Seek, Knock

"Keep asking, and it will be given to you; keep seeking, and you will find; keep knocking, and it will be
opened to you. For everyone who keeps asking receives, and the one who keeps seeking finds, and to the

one who keeps knocking, it will be opened.

"Or is there a man among you whose child will ask him for a loaf, who will give him a rock? Or again,
if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you therefore, though you are evil, know how to give good
gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him?
"In all things, then, whatever you would want people to do to you, this you also should do to them, for
this is the meaning of the Law and the Prophets.

False Prophets
"Enter through the narrow gate. How wide the gate and broad the road that leads to destruction, and how

many are the ones going through it!

How narrow the gate and troubled the road that leads to life, and how few the ones that are finding it!
"Be on your guard against false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous
wolves. By their fruits you will find them out. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or sweet figs
from thistles? In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but the weed tree produces evil fruit.
A good tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor a weed tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not produce good
fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus by their fruits you will find them out.

6:27 Literally, one cubit. There was an expression in classical Greek, = "only one cubit of time." It is
legitimate therefore to translate this as "a single hour to his life."
62 6:34 There is no verb in the Greek text of this last sentence. Therefore, we cannot declare with certainty whether this sentence
is a command (imperative mood), or a statement (indicative mood). But from my experience, it is usually the simple copula that is
omitted, that is, the word "is."
61

14
The Wise and Foolish Builders
"Not everyone saying to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one doing the
will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in
your name, and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' And then I will
declare to them on record: 'I have never known you. Away from me, you workers of lawlessness!'
"Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine and practices them shall be likened to a prudent man
who built his house on the bedrock. And the rain came down, and the rivers came up, and the winds blew
and beat against that house, and it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.
"And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not practice them shall be likened to a foolish
man who built his house on the sand. And the rain came down and the rivers came up and the winds blew
and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was its fall."
And it came about that when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his
teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not like their Torah scholars.

Chapter 8
A Man With Leprosy
And when he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. And behold, a leper
approached and worshipped him, saying, "Lord, if you are willing, you are able to cleanse me."
And stretching out his hand, he touched him, saying, "I am willing. Be cleansed." And immediately his
leprosy63 was cleansed. And Jesus says to him, "See that you tell no one. But go instead and show yourself
to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

The Faith of the Centurion

And when he had entered Capernaum, a centurion64 came to him entreating him, and saying, "My servant

is laid up in the house a paralytic, being tormented terribly."

He says to him, "I will come and heal him."
But the centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that you enter under my roof. But just say a
word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, having soldiers under myself.
And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and
he does."
And Jesus was astonished hearing this, and he said to those following him, "Truly I tell you, I have not
found faith like this from anyone in Israel. And I tell you, many will come from east and west, and will
recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But natural heirs of the kingdom will
be cast into the outer darkness. Out there will be weeping, and gnashing of teeth."
Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go. As you believed let it be for you." And in that hour the servant
was healed.

Jesus Heals Many

And coming into Peter's house, Jesus saw Peter's mother-in-law bedridden and fever-stricken. And he

touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and began to wait on him.
And when evening came, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed, and he drove out the
spirits with a word. And all those who had an illness he healed, so that the thing spoken through the
prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled, which says:

8:3 The Greek word was used for various diseases of the skin not necessarily leprosy.
8:5 A Roman military officer commanding from 50 to 100 men, 100 if the cohort was a complete one. A full cohort 1,000 men,
would have ten centurions, each commanding 100 of the men.
63
64

15
"Our infirmities he picked up,
and our diseases he carried."65

The Cost of Following Jesus

But when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave the order to leave to the other side of the lake.
And one Torah scholar approached him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
And Jesus says to him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has

nowhere he can lay his head."

And another man,66 one of the disciples, said to him, "Lord, allow me first to leave and bury my father."
But Jesus says to him, "You follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead."

Jesus Calms the Storm

And his disciples followed him as he embarked in the boat. And behold a great storm arose in the sea,
such that the boat was getting covered over by the waves. But he himself was sleeping.
And coming up to him, they roused him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!"
And he says to them, "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?"
Then, once he was up, he rebuked the wind and the sea, and there came a complete calm.
And the men marvelled, saying, "What kind of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?"

The Legion of Demons Near Gadara

And when he came to the other side to the region of the Gadarenes, two men coming out of the tombs met
him, demon-possessed, extremely dangerous, such that no one was able to pass that way.
67
And behold they cried out saying, "What business do you have with us, O Jesus, you Son of God?
Have you come here to torture us before the time?"
Now some distance from them there was a herd of many pigs feeding. And the demons begged him
saying, "If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs."
And he said to them, "Go!" So coming out they went into the pigs; and behold, the whole herd rushed
down the steep bank into the sea, and died in the waters.
And the herders fled. And when they had gone into the town they reported all things, including the things
about the demon-possessed men. And behold all the town came out to have a meeting with Jesus. And
when they saw him they begged him that he would move out of their borders.

Chapter 9
Jesus Heals a Paralytic
And embarking in a boat, he crossed over and came into his own town. And behold they brought to him
a paralytic placed on a mat. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your
sins are forgiven."
And behold, some of the Torah scholars said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!"
And knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you think evil things in your hearts? For which is
easier: to say 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say: 'Get up and walk'? But so that you may know that the Son
of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins..." Then he says to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go
to your house." And he stood up and went away to his house. After seeing this, the crowd feared and
praised the God who had given such authority to humans.

65
66

8:17 Isaiah 53:4

8:21 Another, different kind of man; that is, not another scribe, but another of a different kind.

8:29 txt E W 0242vid it vgcl syrp,h copsa,bopt TR HF RP B C* L itff,k,l vgst syrs copmae,bopt NA27 {\} lac A D
N P.
67

16
The Calling of Matthew
And moving on from there, Jesus saw a man named Matthew sitting at the taxes post, and he says to him,
"Follow me." And he got up and followed him.
And it came about that Jesus and his disciples were reclining at table in the house of Matthew, and behold
a large crowd of revenue agents68 and sinners came and were eating with them. And seeing this the
Pharisees said to his disciples, "Why does your rabbi eat with revenue agents and sinners?"
But he heard, and said, "The healthy have no need of a doctor, but only those who have something bad
do. But go learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.'69 For I have not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Jesus Questioned About Fasting

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, "Why is it we and the Pharisees are fasting, but your
disciples are not fasting?"
And Jesus said to them, "Are the members of the bridegroom's party able to mourn while the bridegroom
is with them? But days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them; and then they will fast.
"Now no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth onto an old garment. For the patch of it tears away from the
garment, and a worse tear results. Neither do they put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the
wineskins will burst, the wine will spill out, and the wineskins will be ruined. Rather, they put new wine into
new wineskins, and both are preserved."

A Dead Damsel and a Sick Woman

While he was speaking these things to them, behold a certain ruler came, prostrating himself to him,
saying, "My daughter has just now died. But come and put your hand on her and she will revive." And
getting up Jesus followed him, including his disciples.
And behold a woman suffering a twelve year flow of blood came up behind and touched the tassel70 of
his cloak. For she was saying to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed."
And Jesus turning and seeing her said, "Take heart, daughter, your faith has healed you." And the woman
was healed from that time on.
And Jesus came into the ruler's house, and when he saw the flute players and the crowd in commotion,
he said, "Go your ways. For the maiden has not died but sleeps." And they laughed at him with scorn.
And when the crowd was put out, he went in and took hold of her hand, and the maiden was raised from
the dead. And this news went out into all that region.

Jesus Heals the Blind and Mute

And as Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, crying out and saying, "Have mercy on
us, O Son of David!"
And when he had come into the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus says to them, "Do you
believe that I am able to do this?"
They say to him, "Yes, Lord."

9:10 Greek telonai; The telones were not the holders of the 'tax farming' contracts themselves, (the actual holders were called
publicani), but were subordinates (Latin, portitores) hired by the publicani. The higher officials, the publicans, were usually
foreigners, but their underlings were taken, as a rule, from the native population, from the subjugated people. The prevailing
system of tax collection afforded the collector many opportunities to exercise his greed and unfairness. Moreover, since the "tax'
was a tribute forced upon the conquered by the conqueror, the collectors of the tribute were personal reminders to the populace
that they, the givers of the tribute, were conquered serfs. Hence the collectors of the tribute were particularly hated and despised
as a class. They were pre-judged to be both embezzlers, and traitors or collaborators with the occupying foreign power.
69 9:13 Hosea 6:6
70 9:20 See Numbers 15:38, Deut. 22:12; Malachi 4:2. The tassels or corners were also Jesus wings, because the Hebrew word
is the same. So, the prophecy of Malachi 4:2: But to you that fear my name the sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his
wings; and ye shall go forth, and gambol as calves from the stall.
68

17
Then he touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith let it be done for you." And their eyes
were opened. And Jesus warned them sternly, saying, "See that no one knows about this." But they went
out and spread the news about him throughout that whole region.
And as they were going out, behold a mute who was demon-possessed was brought to him. And when
the demon was expelled, the mute spoke. The crowd was amazed, and said, "Nothing like this has ever been
seen in Israel!"
But the Pharisees said, "By the prince of the demons he expels the demons."

The Workers Are Few

And Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the
good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness. And when he saw the crowds, he
was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd: harried and laid
down in resignation. Then he says to his disciples, "The harvest is truly plentiful, but the workers are few.
Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, that he send out workers into his harvest."

Chapter 10
Jesus Sends Out the Twelve
And calling forward his twelve disciples, he gave them authority over unclean spirits, so as to expel them,
and to heal every disease and every illness. And these are the names of the twelve apostles: First, Simon,
the one called Peter, and his brother Andrew; and James the son of Zebedee and John his brother; Philip and
Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the revenue agent; James son71 of Halphaeus and Thaddaeus; Simon

from Cana72 and Judas of Kerioth,73 the one who also betrayed him.
These Twelve Jesus sent out, giving orders to them, saying: "Do not go down a Gentile road, and do not
enter a town of Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach
saying: 'The kingdom of heaven has drawn near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead,74 cleanse the lepers, drive

10:3 Or brother
10:4a txt B C (D) L N latt copmeg TG SBL NA28 {/} E W TR RP lac A H P Q 69. BDAG: ,
, man from Cana, Cananite. Acc. to Strabo 14, 5, 14 one of the two Stoics named Athenodorus received this name to distinguish
him fr. the other Ath.; (Cana near Tarsus) was added. Numerous mss. replace the apparently unintelligible
with this term. Under it says the home of, according to many, also of Simon, Mt 10:4 (s. ). Heinz
Noetzel, Christus und Dionysus 60. EDNT.BBHW II 926. M-M. Note that the Textus Receptus and KJV read Zealot in Luke 6:15
and Acts 1:13. And Jesus said he came only to the lost sheep of Israel, and in 10:5 right here one verse later, he tells the twelve to
only go to the lost sheep of Israel, so very unlikely Jesus would have a Gentile as one of the 12, whose name is on one of the twelve
foundations of the New Jerusalem. The Zealots were a political faction of the Jews, so very unlikely Simon was a Gentile. Strongs
Concordance says (G2581) is derived from kan-naw', Jealous. Canaan in Greek consistently starts with the letter .
Canaan (Genesis 13:12) ; Canaanite: (Genesis 10:18) (Genesis 15:21). And in the NT, for the
Canaanite woman, Matt 15:22, . The KJV is incorrect rendering the word here as Canaanite. The bottom
line is that both Greek textual variants apparently mean somone from Cana, although the first listed variant, , is said
by some scholars to be from the Aramaic for zealot. Simon had been a member of the party of the Zealots, described by
Josephus as the "fourth philosophy" among the Jews (Jewish War, II. viii.1; Antiquities, XVIII.i.1 and 6; the first three being the
Pharisees, Sadducees and the Essenes) was founded by Judas the Galilean, who stirred up a rebellion against the Romans in A.D. 6
(Acts 5:37). The Zealots opposed the payment of tribute by Israel to a pagan emperor on the ground that this was treason against
God, Israel's true King. In religious beliefs they agreed with the Pharisees, and in spirit they revived the zeal shown by Mattathias
and his sons during the Maccabean uprising. Though the rebels were defeated and Judas was killed, members of his family
continued to keep alive the aspirations for liberty and independence. That Jesus had a Zealot in his apostolic band, as well as, in
contrast, another who had been a former tax collector for the hated Romans, is an illuminating commentary upon the breadth of
his appeal to persons of the most diverse backgrounds. (From THE NEW TESTAMENT, Its Background, Growth, and Content, by Bruce
M. Metzger; Abingdon Press, 1987; pp. 44-45)
73 10:4b This man's name is usually written Judas Iscariot. "Iscariot" is probably from the Hebrew words
,
qriyy ,
ish Qerioth, which mean a man from Kerioth. Kerioth was a town in southern Judea, which would make this Judas the only one in
the circle of thirteen (Jesus and the twelve disciples) that was not from Galilee.
74 10:8 txt , , *, B C* (D) N () 0281vid ita,b,h,k,l,q vg (syrs)
copsamss,mae,bo eth geoA; Euseb NA27 {\} , , P W syr h
71
72

18
out the demons. Freely you have received; freely give. Pack neither gold nor silver nor copper in your
belts, neither a bag for the trip, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for the worker is worthy of his food.
"And whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave.
But when entering the house, greet it. And if indeed the house is worthy, let your peace arrive upon it.
But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whoever does not welcome you or listen to your
words, go outside that house or town and shake the dust off your feet. Truly I tell you, on the day of
judgment it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom and the land of Gomorrah, than for that town.
"Behold, I am sending you out like sheep in the midst of wolves. Be shrewd as snakes therefore, yet
innocent as doves. And be on your guard against people. For they will hand you over to councils, and they
will flog you in their synagogues. And also before governors and kings you will be brought, because of me,
to be a testimony to them and to the nations. But when they arrest you, do not worry how or what you
might say. For it will be given to you at that hour what you should say; because you are not the ones
speaking, but the Spirit of your Father is the one speaking, through you.
"And brother will betray brother to death, and a father a child; and children will rise up against parents
and put them to death. And you will be hated by all because of my name, but the one who holds out to the
end, this one will be rescued unharmed. But when they persecute you in this town, flee to a new one;75 for
truly I tell you, you will not finish all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man has come.
"A disciple is not above the rabbi, nor a servant above his lord. It is sufficient for the disciple that he
become like his rabbi, and the servant like his lord. If the head of the house has been called Baal-zibbul,76
how much more the members of his household.
"So do not fear them. For there is nothing veiled that will not be unveiled, or hidden that will not be
made known. What I say to you in the dark, you are to say in the light; and what you hear whispered into
your ear, you are to proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear because of those who kill the body but are
not able to kill the soul. But do fear on the other hand the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in
Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?77 Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from
your Father. And as for you, even the hairs of your heads are all numbered. So fear not; you matter more
than many sparrows.
"Everyone therefore who shall acknowledge me before people, I also shall acknowledge them before my
Father in heaven. And whoever disowns me before people, I also shall disown that person before my
Father in heaven.
"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a
sword. For I have come to turn
, , TR before vgms ,
()(omit ) E L itf syr(p),pal copsa arm ethmss geo,B HF RP lac A syrc.
10:23 txt B W Origen5/7 Peter-Alexandria Athanasius Apostolic Constitutionsmss Chrysostomlem Socrates Cyril
Theodoret NA27 {C} C E N Clement Origenmss Basil Apostolic Constitutions Socrates TR HF RP either or
itaur,f,l vg syrp,h copsa,meg,bo arm eth geo Ambrose Jerome Augustine , ,
D 0171vid (ith,k) Tatian? , , (L ) (Origen1/7)
, Or either ... or vice versa, or ... ita,b,q (vgmss) syrs
Diatessaron Petilianus lac A P syrc. Regarding the construction here, the presence of the article is said by
DeBrunner in BDF 306(2) to be "surprising." He goes on, "It probably means 'the next' is peculiar.'" By this I take him to mean,
'go to the next town, provided it is a different, previously unvisited town.
75

76

10:25 txt ( ) C N W it syrh copsa,bo Cyprian R HF RP NA27 {\} D L

itc,(ff1) vg syrs,p KJV lac

A P.

B Beelzebub

The spelling would represent the Hebrew - aal z as found in II Kings

1:2, and means "Baal (Lord) of flies." The spelling Beelzebol - aal z l would mean "lord of filth." 'Ba'al' means
Lord or Prince. Baal was a Canaanite god, the son of Dagon, the god of grain. Baal was the bull prince, the bull being a symbol of
fertility. Later the name Baalzebub became associated with the Aramaic Beeldebaba, 'enemy.' The conflation of Ba'alzebub and
Beeldebaba, as 'Beelzebub,' came to be a name for Satan.
77 10:29 Literally, "an assarion," which was a little fragment of brass coin. It is a saying or expression, not meant to be exact, which
means "a pittance, a trifle, a doit." This saying is used in a scoffing manner, and in American English, we say, "I sold it for peanuts."
We don't say exactly how many peanuts, like "I sold it for three peanuts." That is not the point. A farthing is one quarter of a penny.
A hay-penny is a half of a penny, a very small, light coin. In America we do not have any coins representing a fraction of a penny,
but the word penny itself would do, since a penny by itself will currently buy absolutely nothing. The American penny is, in fact,
only a fragment of copper, since it appears to be made mostly of aluminum, with a copper guilding!

19
" 'a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law
a man's enemies will be
members of his own household.78
"He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me; and the one who does not take up his cross and follow behind me is not
worthy of me. The person who finds his life will lose it, and the one who loses his life for my sake will find
it.
"He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. He who
receives a prophet because of the title of prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and he who receives a
righteous one because of the title of righteous one will receive a righteous one's reward. Truly I tell you,
whoever gives even just a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because of the title of disciple, will
certainly not lose his reward."

Chapter 11
Jesus and John the Baptizer
And it came about that when Jesus had finished giving orders to his twelve disciples, he removed himself
from there to teach and preach in their towns.
And when John was hearing in prison about the works of Christ, he, sending word through his disciples,
said to him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect another?"
And in answer, Jesus said to them, "Go and report back to John what things you are hearing and seeing:
The blind see again and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised and the
good news is preached to the poor. And tell him, 'Blessed be whoever is not offended on account of me.' "79
And as they were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: "What did you go out into the
desert to see? A reed being swayed to and fro by the wind? On the contrary, what did you go out to see?
Someone dressed in delicate finery? Behold, those wearing delicate finery are in kings' houses. On the
contrary, what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes indeed I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is
the one about whom it is written:

'Behold, I am sending my messenger

before your face,
who will prepare your way
before you.'80

78

10:36 Micah 7:6

11:6 Why did Jesus tell John this? Would John be offended by all the good works here recently listed? Not likely. It is more
likely that what John would be offended by was Jesus' non-abstentious lifestyle, or even what in John the ascetic's view might be
"shady" practices. John had already testified earlier, emphatically and with certainty, that Jesus was the Expected One. But now it
appears, John was having his doubts about him. Jesus was a contrast to John in the following: He did not worry too much about
ceremonial washing (Diatess 5:45, 14:1-10; 5:25; Matt. 15:1-20; Mark 7:1-23; John 3:25,26, John 2:6). He de-emphasized the
concept of clean v. unclean foods (Diatess 14:9; Matt. 15:11,17; Mark 7:15-19). He did not frequently fast, or at least did not teach
his disciples to frequently fast (Diatess. 7:24; Matt. 9:14; Mark 2:18; Luke 5:33). He drank alcohol, enabling Pharisees to dare call
him a "drunkard," (Diatess. 10:30; Matt. 11:18-19; Luke 7:33, 34). He associated with "shady" characters (Diatess 7:22, 10:30,
10:35-36, 21:1, 24:19; Matt. 9:11; Mark 2:16; Luke 5:30; Matt. 11:19; Luke 7:34, 7:39, 15:1-2, 19:7). He violated the Sabbath by
allowing his disciples to husk grain (Mark 2:23-28; Matt. 12:1-8; Lk 6:1-5). He did not pay the two-drachma tax, except for only the
two people who were discovered, out of the total of 13 in his party (Diatess. 17:22-26; Matt. 17:24-27. On this tax, which was
voluntary at best, and illegal at worst, see the endnote at the end of this document.) It remains today, that some who consider
themselves righteous are offended by these truths about Jesus' lifestyle. But "Blessed be whoever is not offended on account of me."
"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit." Romans
14:17
79

20
Truly I tell you: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptizer.
But the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the

Baptizer until now, the kingdom of heaven has been aggressively advancing, and the aggressive are seizing
it.81 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is the
Elijah who was to come. Let the one who has ears, hear."
"To what, then, shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplace, calling out
to the others, saying:
" 'We played the flute for you,

and you didn't dance;

we sang a dirge,
and you didn't mourn.'
For John the Baptizer came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man

came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Behold a glutton and a wino, a friend of revenue agents and sinners.'
Well, wisdom is vindicated by her works." 82

Woe on Unrepentant Cities

Then he began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had occurred, because they had not
repented: "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that happened in you had
taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Regardless, I tell
you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you,
Capernaum, will you be exalted to the skies? No, you will sink as far as Hades. Because if the miracles that
happened in you had taken place in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. Regardless, I tell you, it
will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."

80

11:10 This quote appears to be a blend of Exodus 23:20 and Malachi 3:1.
11:12 The Greek verb translated "aggressively advancing" is , but also possibly the deponent . The Greek
substantive translated "the aggressive" is , a derivative of the Greek verb just mentioned. The passage is difficult to translate
because in the New Testament this Greek substantive is found only here, and the verb is found only here and in a similar passage in
Luke 16:16. The verb could mean "forcing itself" or "suffering force," depending upon whether it is deponent or truly middle or
passive voice. The substantive, in other known instances, none in the Bible among them, bears in all three a negative connotation, of
a person characterized by violence or impetuosity. But this does not absolutely and conclusively mean that there did not exist a less
pejorative use for the word, one that Matthew could have intended. The appropriate connotation must therefore be gleaned from the
context, which concerns John the Baptizer. Jesus had just finished describing John. He was no wimp swayed back and forth by
wind. He wore rough and tough clothing, ate a rough and tough diet, lived in the rough and tough desert, and fearlessly rebuked
Herod. My impression is that, just as it was such a strong, tough man pushing the kingdom forward, so also it was such people who
were the first to eagerly snap it up for the treasure it was: aggressive or assertive people. Those who were forceful in the best sense
of forceful. They "seized the day." Such people were also quick (labeled impetuous by some) to discern trends, and recognize an
opportunity. Street wise people, not fastidious. John represented a somewhat veiled sign as being a type of Elijah. More cautious
people would not jump in on such hints that maybe this was the Elijah who was to come. They, like the Pharisees, would want more
black and white directions. But those who were impetuous in a good sense, took the plunge. Jesus later in Matt. 21:31-32 sheds
more light on this subject: speaking to the chief priests and elders, he said, "The tax collectors and the prostitutes are going ahead of
you into the kingdom. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. And the tax
collectors and the prostitutes did believe him, but even after you saw that, you still did not repent and believe him." "Seize the day"
is a word to the wise. The kingdom of God is not for the timid. "But as for the timid, and unbelieving, and abominable, and
murderers, and immoral persons, and sorcerers and idolaters, and all liars, their inheritance will be in the lake of fire and burning
sulfur, which is the second death." (Rev. 21:8) "'And if he shrinks back, My soul will not be pleased with him.' For we are not of
those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and possess their souls." Hebrews 10:38-39, Habakkuk 2:4
81

11:19 txt B* W syrp,h copsamss,bo slavmss Hiermss (Apollinaris); mssacc. to Jerome NA27 {B}
(itk ab omnibus filis suis) C D E L N ita,aur,d,f,h,l,q vg syrc,s,hmg copsamss,mae arm (eth) geo Origen
Epiphanius Chrysostom; Hilary Ambrose Jerome Augustine TR HF RP (itk ab omnibus filis suis)
lacuna A P copmae. The readings with are probably a harmonization to the Luke 7:35 parallel. The ones that add
are even more harmonized.
82

21
Rest for the Weary
At that time Jesus continued, and said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have
hidden these things from the sophisticated and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for
it was pleasing this way in your sight.
"All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no
one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you
and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke
is easy and my burden is light."

Chapter 12
Lord of the Sabbath
At that time Jesus on a Sabbath was going through the grain fields. And his disciples were hungry, and
began to pluck and eat some heads of grain.83 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look!
Your disciples are doing what on a Sabbath is not permissible84 to do!"
And he said to them, "Have you not read what David did, when he and those with him were hungry?
How he entered the house of God, and the loaves of offering he ate, which for him was not permissible to
eat, neither for those with him, but only for the priests? Or haven't you read in the Torah that on the Sabbath
the priests can, in the temple, desecrate the Sabbath, and yet are innocent? And I tell you, something greater
than the temple is here.85 But if you had known what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,'86 you would
not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath."
And going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and behold, a man with a shriveled hand.
And they questioned him, in order that they might accuse him, saying, "Is it permissible to heal on the
Sabbath?"
Then he said to them, "Is there anyone among you who, if he has one sheep, and it falls into a pit on the
Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift? And how much more valuable is a human being than a sheep!
Therefore, it is permissible to do good on the Sabbath."
Then he says to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out, and it was restored, just as
sound as the other. And the Pharisees went out and began to plot against him, as to how they might kill
him.

83

12:1 This was the allowable practice of "plucking the heads," see Deuteronomy 23:24, 25, "If you enter your neighbor's vineyard,
you may eat grapes until you are fully satisfied, but do not put any in a container. If you enter your neighbor's grain field, you may
pluck the heads with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to your neighbor's standing grain." But, he Mishnah and Tradition of
the Elders forbade: MISHNA II.: The principal acts of labor (prohibited on the Sabbath) are forty less one--viz.: Sowing, ploughing,
reaping, binding into sheaves, threshing, winnowing, fruit-cleaning, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking, wool-shearing, bleaching,
combing, dyeing, spinning, warping, making two spindle-trees, weaving two threads, separating two threads (in the warp), tying a
knot, untying a knot, sewing on with two stitches, tearing in order to sew together with two stitches, hunting deer, slaughtering the
same, skinning them, salting them, preparing the hide, scraping the hair off, cutting it, writing two (single) letters (characters), erasing
in order to write two letters, building, demolishing (in order to rebuild), kindling, extinguishing (fire), hammering, transferring from
one place into another. These are the principal acts of labor--forty less one.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Talmud/shabbat7.html
84 12:2 The Greek word translated "permissible" is the impersonal participle , which is derived from the same root as ,
the word for authority. If an activity was , that means it was "loosed," or ruled by the rabbis to be something "allowed" by the
Torah. If something was not , as is the case here, that means it was "bound," that is, the rabbis had adjudged that it was
forbidden by the Torah.
85 12:6 God said, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." The goal of the commandment was holiness. In the temple, it was
always holy. It was holy in the temple every day, not just on the seventh day. When you are in the holy of holies in the temple, there
are no holy days. The temple, its configuration and materials and form, were a pattern of the body of Christ. When we are in Christ,
we are in the Holy of Holies. There, there are no days holier than others, for everything is holy. In this passage, Jesus said,
"Something greater than the temple is here." That something is the body of Christ.
86 12:7 Hosea 6:6

22
Crowds Follow Jesus
But being aware of this, Jesus departed from there, and many crowds followed him, and he healed them
all, and ordered them not to make him manifest, so that the thing spoken through the prophet Isaiah might
be fulfilled, which says:
"Behold, my servant whom I

have chosen,
my beloved, in whom my soul
is well pleased;
I will put my Spirit upon him,
and he will announce
righteous judgment
to the nations.
He will not quarrel or cry out;
nor will anyone hear his voice in
the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will
not snuff out,
till he leads righteous judgment
to victory.
And in his name the Gentiles will
put their hope."87

Jesus and Baalzibbul

Then a demonized man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him so that the mute
man spoke and saw. And all the multitudes were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"88
But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "Only by Ba'al-zibbul,89 the ruler of the demons, is this

fellow driving out the demons."

But knowing their thoughts, he said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be desolated, and
every city or house divided against itself will not stand. And if Satan is driving out Satan, he is divided
against himself, so how will his kingdom stand?
"And if I am driving out the demons by Baal-zibbul, by whom are your disciples driving them out?
Therefore, they will be your judges. But if I am driving out the demons by the Spirit of God, then the
kingdom of God has come upon you.
"Or how can anyone enter the house of the strong man and carry away his things, unless he first binds the
strong man? And then he will plunder his house.
"The person who is not with me is against me, and the one who does not gather with me is scattering.

87

12:21 Isaiah 42:1-4

12:23 The Traditions of the Elders and Pharisaic teaching declared that 3 steps were required in order to cast out a demon: 1, talk
with demon, 2, find out its name, 3, cast it out by name. So then, they could not cast out a demon if the person or demon did not
speak. Thus it was considered a sure sign of being the Messiah, if someone cast a demon out of a mute person.
88

12:24 txt C D (L) W 0281 it syrh (copsa,bo) HF RP NA27 {\} B Beelzebub (there are only nonGreek witnesses to this TR reading) itc,(ff1) vg syrs,c,p TR. The spelling would represent the Hebrew - aal
89

z b as found in II Kings 1:2, and means "Baal (Lord) of flies." The spelling Beelzebol - aal z l would mean
"lord of filth." "Ba'al." means Lord or Prince. Baal was a Canaanite god, the son of Dagon, the god of grain. Baal was the bull
prince, the bull being a symbol of fertility. Baalzebub, as in the Hebrew text of II Kings 1:2, is a derisive alteration of Baalzibbul
meaning "Prince of flies." In this way the followers of Yahweh made fun of Baal. Later the name Baalzebub became associated with
the Aramaic Beeldebaba, "enemy." Thus the conflation of Baalzebub and Beeldebaba, "Beelzebub," came to be a name for Satan.
To avoid confusion in all the names, this author thought it best to revert to the original form of the name.

23
"Therefore I tell you, all kinds of sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy of the
Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but
whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, that will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the one to come.
"Either call the tree good and its fruit good, or call the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by
its fruit.90
"You spawn of vipers, how are you able to speak good things, since you are evil? For out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person brings forth good things out of the treasure of
good in his heart, and the evil person brings forth evil out of his treasure of evil. And I tell you, every idle
word which human beings will speak, they will have to give an explanation for it on the day of judgment.
For out of your words you will be justified, and out of your words you will be condemned."

The Sign of Jonah

Then some of the Torah scholars and Pharisees responded to him saying, "Teacher, we want to see a
miraculous sign from you."
But he answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign. And no
sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in
the belly of the huge sea creature, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the
earth.
"Men of Nineveh will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the
preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will be
resurrected at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to
hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
"Now when an unclean spirit comes out from a human being, it goes through waterless places, seeking
rest, and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when it arrives,
it finds the house standing empty, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other
spirits more evil than itself, and they enter inside and live there. And the final condition of that human is
worse than the first. That is also how it will be with this evil generation."

Jesus' Mother and Brothers

While he was still speaking to the crowd, behold, his mother and brothers had been standing outside,
wanting to talk to him. And someone said to him, "Behold, your mother and your brothers have been
standing outside, wanting to talk to you."
And he replied to the one who informed him, and said, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?"
And extending his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Behold, my mother and my brothers. For whoever
does the will of my Father in heaven, that person is my brother and sister and mother."

Chapter 13
The Parable of the Sower
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the lake. And such large crowds gathered
around him, he got into a boat to sit in it, and all the people stood on the shore.
And he spoke many things to them in parables, and said: "Behold, the sower went out to sow. And as he
sowed, some seed fell beside the way,91 and the birds came and ate them up. And other seed fell on the
rocky spots, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, because it did not have depth of soil.

90

12:33 Compare Gospel of Thomas, saying 43: His disciples said to him, Who are You, that You should say these things to us?
[Jesus said to them,] You do not realize who I am from what I say to you, but you have become like the Jews; for they (either) love
the tree and hate its fruit or love the fruit and hate the tree. Jesus likened himself to a tree, and his sayings and his deeds were the
fruit of that tree. Some people liked his deeds, but not him. Some liked him, but not his sayings, etc. But if a trees fruit is good, it
is a good tree.
91 13:4 Or possibly, "beside the row." The way or road for seed is the row.

24
And when the sun came up, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it dried up. And others fell on the
thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. And others fell on the good soil, and yielded fruit, one a
hundredfold, the other sixty, and another thirty. Let the one who has ears, hear."

The Parable of the Sower Explained

And the disciples came to him and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?"
And he answered and said, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,
but to them it has not been granted. For to the one who has, it will be given, and he will have an
abundance. As for the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. For this

reason I speak to them in parables, that

'Though looking they do not see,
and though listening
they neither hear nor understand.'
In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:

'With an ear you will hear

and never understand;
and looking, you will see,
and not at all perceive.
For this people's heart
has become impervious;
they hardly hear with the ears,
and they have shut up their eyes,
lest they see with the eyes
and hear with the ears
and understand with the heart,
and turn,
and I would heal them.'92
"But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears, because they hear. For truly I tell you,

many prophets and righteous ones longed to see what you are seeing, but did not see it, and to hear what you
are hearing, but did not hear it.
"Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not
understand, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown beside
the way. And what was sown on the rocky spots, this is someone who hears the word and immediately with
joy receives it. But having no root in himself, he is alive only a short time. For when tribulation comes, or
persecution because of the word, he quickly falls away. And what was sown in the thorns, this is someone
who hears the word, and the worry of the world, and the seductiveness of wealth 93 choke the word, and it
becomes unfruitful. And what was sown on the good soil, this is someone who hears the word and
understands, who does bear fruit and produces; one a hundredfold, the other sixty, and another thirty."

92

13:15 Isaiah 6:9,10; This and other quotes of the Old Testament may differ from what your English Old Testament says, because
your Old Testament was translated mainly from the Masoretic Text. When the gospels writers were recalling the words of Jesus, the
differences between how they say Jesus quoted the O.T. and what our Old Testament says could be because they were quoting from
the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, done a couple hundred years before Christ.
93 13:22 Or "deceitfulness of wealth." I see two possible interpretations of this. One, that wealth is seductive, and draws the poor
toward it and away from the kingdom. Two, is that it is talking about those who obtain wealth in this world, and they are deceived
into thinking that they are wealthy.

25
The Parable of the Look-alike Weeds
He put before them another parable, as follows: "The kingdom of heaven is likened to a man sowing good
seed in his field. But while the people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed zizania94 in between the
wheat, and went away. And when the wheat grass had sprung up and formed seed,95 at that same time the
zizania became apparent.
"So the owner's servants came to him and said to him, 'Sir, you sowed good seed in your field, did you
not? How then does it have zizania?'
"And he said to them, 'A hateful person did this.'
"And the servants say to him, 'Do you want us to go out, then, and collect them?'
"But he says, 'No, in case while collecting the zizania you uproot the wheat along with them. Leave
both to grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will tell the reapers: Collect the zizania
first and tie them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.' "

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast

Another parable he put before them, and said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a
person took and sowed in his garden, which indeed is smaller than all the seeds, but when it grows, it

becomes a tree, larger than all the herbs, such that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches."
He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast, which a woman took and buried into
three measures96 of dough, until the whole batch was leavened."
Jesus spoke all these things to the crowds in parables; indeed he said nothing to them without a parable,
so that the thing spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, which says:
"I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden
since the creation of the world."97

The Parable of the Look-alike Weeds Explained

Then, leaving the crowds, he went into the house. And his disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us
the parable of zizania in the field."
And he answered and said, "The one sowing the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world,
and the good seed, these are the children of the kingdom. The zizania are the children of the evil one, and
the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.
"And as the zizania are collected and consumed by fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of
Man will send out his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all the things that lead to sin and those
who practice lawlessness; and they will throw them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping there,

13:25 Greek: - zizania, a grass plant in Palestine that looked like wheat in every way, except until the head of seed
appeared, because the zizania seed heads were different from the wheat heads. The zizania grain was not good for anything. The
King James Version rendered as the English word "tare," a word probably descended from the Arabic tarhah, (noun) or
tarahah, (verb), the basic meaning of which is transferred to the English word "tare." To "tare" goods is to ascertain the difference
between the gross quantity and the net, to ascertain the quantity of the useful, and throw away the damaged goods, along with the
packaging, the pallets, and whatever other deleterious material may be found with it. This word "tare' was first chosen as an English
translation of for revisions of John Wycliffe's New Testament, and the word was made the standard by Mr. John Purvey, in
his 1388 revision of the Wycliffe New Testament, and subsequently was adopted for use in Tyndale's and all English Bible
translations of the 1500's and 1600's. Purvey chose the word tare because the tare vetch was a common weed problem among the
plants of the England of his day. The seeds of the tare vetch had to be removed from the seed corn after harvest. But the tare vetch
did not resemble the corn plant at all. The Greek word translated in this parable as "wheat" could mean either corn or wheat, but the
plant zizanium resembled wheat, not corn. I concluded that the word "tare" is not appropriate here for three reasons; One, its
meaning does not include the look-alike trait of the plant; Two, the word now refers to a vetch that is cultivated with oats for use as
fodder, unlike the useless zizanium; and Three, it is a word too seldom used for most people to understand.
95 13:26 Greek: fruit
96 13:33 Greek: three sata, about 5 gallons, or 22 liters.
97 13:35 Psalm 78:2
94

26
and gnashing of teeth. At that time, the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their
Father. Let the one who has ears, hear.

The Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which when a man found it, he hid it again.

Then out of his joy he goes and sells what things he has, and buys that field.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant who was looking for fine pearls. And when he found
a single valuable pearl, he went away and sold every thing that he had and bought it.

The Parable of the Net

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea and catching every kind of fish, which
when full, the fishers pulled up onto the shore, and sitting down, they collected the good kinds into baskets,
but threw away the bad. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go forth and will
separate the evil ones from out of the midst of the righteous, and throw them into the furnace of fire. There
will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth."
Jesus said to them, "Have you understood all these things?"
They are saying to him, "Yes, Lord."
And he said to them, "Therefore every Torah scholar discipled into the kingdom of heaven is like a
person who owns a house, who puts forward out of his treasure room items both new and old."

A Prophet Without Honor

And it came about that when Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. And coming

into his home town, he taught them in their synagogue, such that they were astounded, and said, "Where did
this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? Isn't this the son of the carpenter? Isn't his mother
named Mary, and his brothers Jacob and Joseph98 and Simon and Judah? And aren't all his sisters here with
us? Where then did this man get all these things?" And they were offended by him.
And Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his home town, and among his
relatives."
And he did not do many miracles there, because of their unbelief.

Chapter 14
John the Baptizer Beheaded
At that time, Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus, and said to his attendants, "This is John the
Baptizer! He is risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him!"
Now Herod had arrested John, and bound him, and put him away in prison, because of Herodias, his
brother Philip's wife. For John had been saying to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her." And though
wanting to kill him, he feared the crowd, because they regarded him as a prophet.
And when Herod's birthday celebration took place, the daughter of Herodias99 danced among them, and
she pleased Herod; for which reason he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask for.

13:55 txt B C N lat syrs,c,hmg copmae,bopt Orpt NA28 vid L W 0106 itk,qc copsa,bomss TR RP syrh
copbopt * D vgmss Orpt
99 14:6 It is difficult to follow Herod's family tree. But this is little wonder, the way they fornicated, adulterated, and married
relatives. For example, who was Herodias' first husband? But the following is what can be distilled from all accounts. Herodias'
first husband, named Philip in the Bible and Herod in Josephus, was also known as Herod Philip. That's all. They were the same
man. Herodias then divorced Herod Philip and married Herod Antipas, who was Herod Philip's half brother (the father of both was
Herod I, king of Judea, 4 B.C., who had eight wives in his lifetime. Herod Philip's mother was Mariamne II, the third wife, and
Herod Antipas' mother was Malthake, the fourth wife). Josephus says that Herodias already had a daughter named Salome before she
married Herod Antipas (p 485 of The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston, Hendrickson, 1988; or Antiquities book 18,
chapter 5, secs. 136,137). I am confident that the dancer in question was Salome, the daughter of Herod's wife Herodias. (FYI:
98

27
So after being instructed by her mother, she says, "Give me here on a platter the head of John the
Baptizer."
Though greatly distressed, the king because of his words of oath100 and those reclining with him,
commanded that it be given, and sent orders and beheaded John in the prison. And his head was brought
on a platter and given to the girl, and she carried it to her mother. And his disciples came and took the
corpse and buried him. Then they went and told Jesus.

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

And hearing this, Jesus went away from there, in a boat, to a remote place by himself. And the crowds
heard, and followed him on foot from the towns.
And when he got out, he saw the large crowd, and was moved with compassion for them, and healed their
sick.
Now as evening came on, the disciples came to him, saying, "The place is remote, and the hour is already
late. Therefore, dismiss the crowds, so they can go away into the villages and buy food for themselves."
But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."
But they are saying to him, "We have nothing here except five loaves and two fish."
And he said, "Bring them here to me." And having directed the crowds to recline on the grass, he takes
the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed God. And after he broke the loaves, he
gave them to the disciples, and the disciples to the crowds.
And all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up the extra of the fragments, twelve large baskets101 full.
Now the ones eating were about five thousand men, without102 women and children.

Jesus Walks on the Water

And he immediately ordered his disciples to get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side,
while he would dismiss the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up into the mountain

by himself to pray. And as evening came on he was alone there.

The boat was now many furlongs away from the land, being battered by the waves, because the wind was
contrary. And in the fourth watch103 of the night he went out toward them, walking on the lake. And
when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified, saying, "It's a ghost!" And they cried
out in fear.
Jesus immediately spoke to them and said: "Take heart, it is I. Don't be afraid."
And Peter answered him and said, "Lord, if it's you, order me to come to you on the water."
And he said, "Come."
And Peter got down out of the boat and walked on the water, and went toward Jesus. But when he saw
the violent wind, he became afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!"
And immediately Jesus reached out his hand and grabbed him, and says to him, "O you of little faith, why
did you doubt?"
And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. And those in the boat worshipped him,
saying, "You truly are the Son of God."

Salome later married another Philip, who was yet another half-brother of Herod Antipas, this time by Herod I's fifth wife, Cleopatra.
So Salome lived with her father for a while, then lived with her half-uncle, then married a different half-uncle.)
100 14:9 The Greek for oath is in the plural, an idiomatic pluralization of abstract topics that frequently serves as a designation of
concrete phenomena. 'Deaths,' for example, would mean "ways of dying," or "cases of death." Here it would mean something like
"words of oath." Other examples are Matthew 14:9 and Luke 5:21.
101 14:20 (kphinos) a large, heavy basket for carrying things. Interestingly, the baskets used in the feeding of the 4,000
later on were a smaller basket. In the accounts of the feeding of the 5,000, all four gospels use the Greek word kphinos, but in the
account of the feeding of the 4,000 all two of the gospels that contain the event used the Greek word . A kophinos was used
for many things, including carrying manure, while a spuris was a smaller basket used for carrying edibles.
102 14:21 The Greek word for "without" in Matthew 14:21 is (chrs), which generally means "without, apart from." Here it
could mean "besides, in addition to, not counting." But it is also possible that there were no women and children present at all. See
the endnote about this, which discusses the possibilities in greater detail.
103 14:25 Between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m.

28
And once they had crossed over, they came ashore at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place
recognized him, they sent word into that whole area, and they brought to him all those who were sick. And
they were entreating him that they could just touch the tassel of his cloak; and as many as touched were
completely healed.

Chapter 15
Clean and Unclean
Then some Pharisees and Torah scholars from Jerusalem come to Jesus, saying, "Why do your disciples
break the tradition of the elders?104 For they do not wash their hands when they eat."
And in response he said to them, "And you, why do you break the command of God for the sake of your
tradition? For God said, 'Honor father and mother' and 'The one who curses father or mother must be put to
death.' But you say, whoever says to father or mother: 'Whatever you might be owed from me is a gift
vowed to God,' he will not at all honor his father or his mother with it, and you have annulled the word of
God for the sake of your tradition.
"You hypocrites! Isaiah has prophesied rightly about you, in saying,
8"

'This people draw near to me with their mouth,105

and honor me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me.
9They worship me in vain,
teaching as Torah
the decrees of human beings.'106
And calling the crowd forward, he said to them, "Listen, and understand: The thing entering into the
mouth does not make a human being unclean, but rather the thing coming forth out of the mouth, that is what
makes the human being unclean."
Then the disciples are coming to him and saying to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended
when they heard this statement?"
And he in answer said, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Leave
them; they are blind leaders of the blind. And if a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a pit."
And in response Peter said to him, "Explain the parable to us."
And he said, "Are you also this unintelligent? Do you not understand that everything entering the
mouth goes into the stomach, and then is ejected into the sewer? But the things coming forth out of the
mouth come from the heart, and those things make the human being unclean. For out of the heart, come
forth evil reasoning, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false testimony, slander. Those are the things
making the human being unclean; but the eating with unwashed hands, that does not make the human being
unclean."

104

15:2 Ezra had set up a group of men called the Sopherim, whose task it was to teach the Torah to the people. This was well and
good. But the Sopherim decided that to make absolutely sure that no one broke one of the 613 Mosaic laws, they would make a
fence around those 613 laws by making some more finely tuned laws, which, if people obeyed these latter, they would be assured
of not even getting close to breaking one of the 613 Torah laws. The Sopherim (scribes) acknowldged that only the Torah was
authoritative, and that their fence laws could be debated. A few generations later, other teachers of the law arose, called the
Tanaim. These made another fence around the fence laws of the Sopherim. Now, however, the Tanaims laws were considered
debatable, but the laws of the Sopherim were considered as final authority. Into this situation Jesus Christ was born, where the laws
of the Sopherim were considered greater in authority than the actual Torah. In fact, where the fence laws conflicted with the
Torah, the fence laws were considered to have priority. These laws were called the Mishna, or the Oral Law, or here called the
Tradition of the Elders. You were considered to have sinned if you broke one of them, just as if you had broken one of the laws of
Moses
105

15:8 txt C Ec N W 0106 itf,q syrh TR RP E*

B D L 073 lat syrs,c,p copsa,bo,mae-2 Cl Or Did NA28 lacuna A P. The longer reading seems to be a harmonization to the LXX
text of Isaiah 29:13 in Codex Vaticanus, according to Weiss.
106

15:9 Isaiah 29:13

29
The Faith of the Canaanite Dog
And leaving there, Jesus departed to the areas of Tyre and Sidon. And behold a Canaanite woman from
those borders, after coming forward cried out, saying, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My
daughter is suffering terribly from a demon."
But he answered not a word to her. So his disciples are coming to him and urging him, saying, "Send her
away, because she keeps crying out behind us."
And in response to her he said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
But she comes and bows down to him saying, "Lord, help me."
And he in answer said, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs."
And she said, "True, Lord; yet the dogs certainly eat of the crumbs falling from their master's table."107
Then in answer Jesus said to her, "Oh, woman, great is your faith! Let it be for you as you desire." And
her daughter was healed from that very hour.

Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand

And when he departed from there, Jesus came near the Sea of Galilee; and having gone up into the
mountain, he was sitting there. And many large crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the
cheiroplegic,108 the blind, the mute, and many others, and they laid them down at his feet, and he healed
them, causing the crowd to marvel, seeing the mute speaking, the impaired of hand whole, and the lame
walking and the blind seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel.
And calling forward his disciples, Jesus said, "I feel for the crowd, because they have been staying with
me three days now and do not have anything to eat. And to dismiss them without eating, I am not willing,
lest they collapse on the journey."
And the disciples say to him, "Where in the desert could we obtain so many loaves of bread, enough to
satisfy so large a crowd?"
And Jesus says to them, "How many loaves do you have?"
And they said, "Seven, and a few fish."

15:27 The Greek in this verse is quite unusual. There is either an unusual use of the word - na, or an unusual use of the word
. The word is usually an affirmative answer, that is, expressing agreement. The word is a causal conjunction, used to
express cause and effect. If both these words are used in this verse according to their most common usage, then this verse makes no
sense. Following is how the verse should read, when rendering these two words in their most common meanings: "Yes, Lord, for
even the dogs eat of the crumbs falling from their master's table." The affirmative agreement on her part makes no sense, because she
is contradicting Jesus' statement that it is not right to give to dogs the children's bread. The "for" makes no sense, because this is
what she would be saying, "Yes, you are right that it is not right to give the dogs of the children's bread, because even the dogs eat of
the crumbs falling from their master's table." The conclusion she makes in that case is a non-sequitur. Therefore, every translation
out there has rendered one of these two words irregularly. Most or all choose to render irregularly. They render it as an
adversative, which is flat wrong, in my opinion. I know of no instance in any Greek literature where is an adversative. But if we
are not going to render as an adversative, then there are only two or three other solutions: to render as a "Yes" answer in
opposition to what Jesus had said, as follows: "Yes, it is, Lord, for even the dogs eat of the crumbs falling from their master's table,"
or, to render as "Why." This latter is well within the realm of possibility according to the lexical authorities. The other main
causal conjunction, , not infrequently means "Why?" Thus, one very possible rendering of this woman's answer is as follows:
"Yes, Lord, yet why do the dogs eat of the crumbs falling from their master's table?" In this rendering, the word is used as an
adversative, which is lexically valid. Another possible rendering again makes the adversative, and meaning "certainly,"
which is lexically valid, as follows: "True, Lord, yet the dogs certainly eat of the crumbs falling from their master's table." Now, we
have some clues in this context that the Canaanite woman said something very unusual, in Jesus' view. Jesus' response to the
woman's statement expresses much emotion and surprise. Jesus' response begins with the interjection . This is an interjection that
Jesus used in only two other contexts, both of them preceding harsh rebukes of the apostles; once when they could not heal a boy, and
the other in Luke when he called them slow of heart to believe the scriptures. I think what it is here is a woman with much chutzpah.
Not only is she a woman talking this way to a man, which was improper, but she was talking to not just any man, but a Rabbi. Then,
we have the fact that she is a Gentile talking to a Jew, and a Rabbi at that.
108 15:30 "Stricken hand," that is, those impaired of upper limb. The Greek word is - kulls, which can mean someone with
any limb of the body either deformed, maimed, or incapacitated in any way. However, kulls here is found with another word
meaning "lame" having already been used, so you would think that kulls is referring more to something different from legs or feet,
e.g., to the hands or arms. In fact, the only other usages of kulls in the New Testament are in the context of a maimed hand, Mt
18:8, Mk 9:43.
107

30
And having ordered the crowd to recline on the ground, he took the seven loaves of bread and the fish,
and when he had given thanks, he broke and gave to the disciples, and the disciples to the crowds. And all
ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments that were left over, seven full baskets. Now the
ones eating were four thousand men, apart from women and children. And after he dismissed the crowd, he
embarked in the boat, and went into the territory of Magadan.

Chapter 16
The Yeast of the Pharisees, Sadducees,
and Herod
And the Pharisees and Sadducees approach him, and testing him, they asked him to show them a sign from
heaven.
But he in answer said to them, [When evening comes, you say, 'Fair weather, the sky is red.' And in the
morning, 'Today, stormy weather, for the sky is red and threatening.' [["You hypocrites,]] The face of the
sky you know how to judge, but the signs of the times you are not able to?] 109 "A wicked and adulterous
generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah."110 And he left them and
went away.
And when the disciples were going to the other side, they forgot to take bread loaves. And Jesus said to
them, "Watch out. Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
And they were deliberating among themselves, saying, "We didn't bring bread loaves."
And Jesus knowing, said, "You of little faith, why are you reasoning among yourselves, 'We have no
bread loaves'? Do you still not understand nor remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how
many basketfuls you picked up? Nor the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you
picked up? How do you not understand that it was not about bread that I was speaking to you? But be on
your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Then they understood, that he had not meant
they should be on their guard against yeast,111 but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Peter's Confession of Messiah

And upon entering into the area of the Caesarea that was in Philip's jurisdiction, Jesus queried his
disciples, saying, "Who are the people saying the Son of Man is?"
And they said, "Some, John the Baptizer; others, Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of The
Prophets."
He says to them, "And you, who do you say I am?"

109

16:2-3 txt include without , C D (W) [NA27] {C} include all bracketed E L (N) O ( ) ita,aur,b,d,e,f,ff,l,q vg

syrp,h copbopt eth geo Euseb Chrysost; Jevencus Hilary Jer Aug TR HF RP omit B 047acc. to Gregory syrs,c copsa,mae,bopt arm; Or
Hiermss mssacc. to Jer lacuna A P. An impressive group of manuscripts and versions lacks these words. And Jerome says most of
the manuscripts known to him did not contain it. Many scholars consider it a later harmonization to Luke 12:54-56, with some
adjustment for weather. Bauer points out that the word used in this pericope for "is red," - purrz, is found only in
literature by Byzantine writers. (The Septuagint has - purrz) There is some chance that Scrivener and Lagrange are right
in their argument that the pericope was omitted by copyists in Egypt and other places where red sky in the morning does not
announce rain.
110 11:29 Matthew 12:40 (DRP) says, "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the huge sea creature, so the Son
of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." And further, according to II Kings 14:25, the prophet Jonah was
from Gath Hepher, in Galilee, in the territory of the tribe of Zebulun (Joshua 19:13), only one hill over from Nazareth, if not the same
hill. Jonah volunteered to be killed in order to save the rest of the souls on the boat, would be dead for 3 days, and then would come
back to life. Jonah said about himself that he was in Sheol / Hades (Jonah 2:2). This is yet another way in which Jonah was a sign of
Christ.
111 16:12 Many witnesses add various words after "yeast," in five varieties. It appears that the shorter reading is original, and the
additions are various attempts to explain the seeming contradiction, where Matthew says Jesus said yeast, then here he says he did
not say yeast. But, the phrase "said" can also mean "mean" as I have it translated above. This seems more likely than copyists taking
away the explanations. But, it is possible that copyists considered the presence of or to be unnecessary for the
sense and therefore omitted the words as superfluous. The UBS4 edition includes and rates it {C} in certainty, UBS3
gave it a {D}, and the NA26 edition includes the words .

31
And Simon Peter answered, and said to him, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God."
And Jesus in response said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of John,112 because it was not flesh and
blood that revealed this to you, but my Father, who is in heaven. And I also say to you, that you are Peter,
and upon this rock113 I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. And to you I

will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you declare to be forbidden on earth shall have
been forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth shall have been permitted in heaven." 114 Then
he admonished the disciples, that they not tell anyone that he was the Christ.

Jesus Predicts His Death

From that point on, Jesus began to reveal to his disciples that he had to leave for Jerusalem, and suffer
many things at the hands of the elders and chief priests and Torah scholars, and be killed, and on the third
day rise again. And after pulling Jesus aside, Peter began correcting him, saying, "God forbid, Lord! This
will never happen to you."
But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! A hindrance you are to me, because you are not
considering the concerns of God, but the concerns of mortals."
Then, Jesus said to his disciples, "If someone wants to follow me, he must deny himself, and take up his
cross and follow me. For whoever tries to keep his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake,
will find it. For what will it gain a human being, if he acquires the whole world, but is penalized his soul?
In other words, what will a human being pay, in trade for his soul? For the Son of Man will soon come in
the glory of his Father with his angels, and then, he will pay back to each one, according to the way of life of
each. Truly I tell you, There are some of those present here, who will certainly not taste death before they
see the Son of Man coming in his kingship."

Chapter 17
The Transfiguration
And after six days Jesus takes Peter, and James, and John his brother, and he is leading them up into a
high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured in front of them, and his face shone like the sun,
and his garments became bright as the daylight. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them,
conversing with Him.
And in response, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here. If you want, I will make three
shelters here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
While he was still speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice from the
cloud, saying as follows: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him." And
when they heard this, the disciples fell on their faces, and were extremely frightened.
And Jesus approached them, and after touching them reassuringly, he said, "Stand up, and do not be
afraid." And when they opened their eyes, they saw no one, except Jesus himself alone.
And as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus was admonishing them, as follows: "Do not tell
anyone about the vision, until such time the Son of Man is raised from the dead."
And the disciples queried him, as follows, "So why do the Torah scholars say that Elijah has to come
first?"

112

16:17 See footnote on John 1:42

16:18 Peters name means rock in Greek. Yes, Jesus did build his church upon Peter, and also upon the other eleven apostles. See Revelation
22:14 with the wall of the city having twelve foundations, and on them twelve names, of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Rev. 21:9 says this is
talking about the bride, the wife of the Lamb. So we see that the church is built on Peter indeed, but Peters foundation is no wider or higher than
the other eleven foundations. And was he the only apostle allowed to bind and loose? No, we see that all the apostles practised that.
113

114

16:19 Or, "Whatever you forbid on earth is as good as forbidden by heaven, and whatever you permit on earth is as good as
permitted by heaven." This "binding and loosing" teaching appears also in Matthew 18:18. It should be noted that here in 16:19, the
verbs are in the 2nd person singular, Jesus saying it to and about Peter only, whereas in chapter 18 v. 18, the verbs are in the second
person plural, Jesus saying it to, and giving this authority to, all of the apostles.

32
In answer, he said, "Elijah does indeed come first, and will restore all things. But I am telling you, that
Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did with him whatever they wished." Then
the disciples understood that he had spoken to them about John the Baptizer.

The Healing of a Boy Who Had an Evil Spirit

And when they had returned to the crowd, a man came up to him, falling to his knees, and saying,
"Lord, have mercy on my son, because he is lunatic and suffering horribly. For example, he often falls into
fire, and often into water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they were not able to heal him."
And in answer, Jesus said, "O unbelieving and perverted generation! How long shall I stay with you?
How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to me." And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon
departed from him, and the child was healed from that time on.
At that time, the disciples came to him in private, and said, "Why were we not able to drive it out?"
And he says to them, "Because of your lack of faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a
mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. In fact, nothing will
be impossible to you." [[But this kind does not come out except with prayer and fasting.]]115
And when they were gathering back together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is about to
be betrayed into the hands of human beings, and they will kill him, and during the third day he will rise
again." And they were very sad.

The Two Drachma Tax

And when they arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two drachmas 116 approached Peter, and they

said, "Does your rabbi not pay the two drachmas?"

He says, "Yes he does."
And when Peter had come into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, "What do you think, Simon: the
kings of the earth, from whom do they collect toll and tribute from their sons,117 or from others?"

17:21 txt omit * B 0281 ite,ff syrs,c,pal copsa,bopt,mae ethms geo NA27 {A}
C D E L O W vg ita,aur,b,d,f,ff,l,n.q,r (syrp,h)
cop(meg),bopt arm eth Origen Asterius Basil Chrys Hilary Ambrose Jerome Aug TR RP lac. A N P. There is no instance in the
New Testament where either Jesus or his disciples had to fast in order to cast out a demon. In fact, Jesus said all you needed is as
little faith as a mustard seed. Which is it? Faith as small as a mustard seed is all you need, or also add works, like fasting? The fact
that 3 different Greek verbs are used in the manuscripts that do contain the verse, is an indication that the verse is not original. I think
this is an "ascetic" corruption to the gospel of Matthew.
116 17:24 A drachma was worth about a day's wage. The two drachma collection, 6 grams of silver, was the so-called temple tax in
Exodus 30:11-16. But this payment was not intended to be a tax at all. Quoting Exodus 30:12, "When you take a census of the
Israelites to number them, at the time he is numbered each man shall give a ransom for his life to Yahweh, so that no plague may
come upon him for being numbered." The money was primarily an offering as atonement for the evil act of a man being numbered.
Then it was merely incidental that as long as the temple personnel had this money anyway, "You shall take the atonement money
from the Israelites and shall designate it for the service of the tent of meeting; before Yahweh it will be a reminder of the ransom
given for his life." Ex. 30:16. It was an offering or ransom money to atone for the repugnant stench to God caused by the act of
numbering the people. There are other scriptures indicating God's displeasure with the idea of his people being numbered. See for
example, I Chronicles chapter 21, and 27:23,24. It is clear that the payment was a ransom for a man's life. How many times must a
man be ransomed? Ransom, even to terrorists, is not paid more than once. The ransom was to be paid only when a man "crosses
over to join those who are numbered," Exodus 30:13,14. God had never commanded that the ransom be paid annually, as the
tradition came to be. For it was only to be collected "when you number the people," v. 12. This was in anticipation of the only
census ever ordered by God, the one that took place in Numbers chapter 1. God was against the numbering of the people as a
practice. This was allowed just one time only, with a way to escape his wrath built in. The only additional census permissible was of
aliens, as in II Chron. 2:17. Jesus apparently was not in the habit of paying the two drachmas. In this instance he only paid for
himself and for Peter, and did nothing about the other eleven apostles, since they were not brought up. Jesus did not "obey every law
of man." He did not just automatically do what every bureaucrat told him to do. Jesus was not a chump, and neither should his
disciples be. We are supposed to be wise as serpents. For a reading of all the scriptures showing how the tradition of the annual tax
came about, see the endnote entitled, "How did a once-only atonement offering become an annual tax?"
117 17:25 The meaning of , "sons," here, could be an extended meaning; that is, "from their own relatives in race and culture,
extended to their countrymen, from their citizens." This is a possible interpretation because it is made an antonym of ,
which in Jewish Greek like in the Septuagint, meant "aliens." Here the meaning would be, that since the two drachma tax was
supposedly for maintenance of the temple- God's house, then God's children, the citizens of the kingdom of God, were exempt from
that tax.
115

33
And when he answered, "From others," Jesus said to him, "Alright then, the sons are free.118 But, so
that we not scandalize them,119 go to the lake, cast a hook, and the first fish that comes up, take, and when
you have opened its mouth, you will find a four-drachma coin.120 Take that, and give it to them, as mine and
yours."121

Chapter 18
Who Is the Greatest?
In that same hour, the disciples approached Jesus, saying, "So who is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven?"
And calling a child over, he stood him in the midst of them, and he said, "I tell you truly: unless you
change and become like little children, there is no way you will enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whoever
therefore humbles himself like this child, that is the one who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And
whoever receives one little child such as this on the basis of my name, is receiving me.

More About Little Ones

As for that person through whom one of these little ones who believe in me might ever be scandalized, it

would be better for that person that a mill stone be hung around his neck and be sunk in the bottom of the
sea. Woe to the world, because of those scandalizings. Certainly, the scandalizings are bound to come.
Nevertheless, woe to the person through whom the scandalizing comes.
And if your hand or your foot scandalizes you, cut it off, and throw it away from you. It is better for you
to enter into life maimed and crippled, than to be thrown into everlasting fire, having both hands or both feet.
And if your eye scandalizes you, tear it out, and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter into
life one-eyed, than be thrown into fiery Gehenna with two eyes.
See that you not despise or overlook even one of these little ones; for I tell you, in heaven their angels
through it all are seeing the face of my Father who is in heaven.
[[ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.]] 122
What do you think? Suppose a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them is lost. Will he not leave the
ninety-nine on the mountain, and go look for the one that is wandering? And if he happens to find it, truly I
tell you, he rejoices over it more than the ninety-nine that were not lost.

118

17:26 This word free, will not be understood properly, unless one understands "tribute" properly. Tribute was a poll tax paid to
the conqueror, by a conquered or subjugated people. Anyone paying tribute, was by definition not free, but rather a member of an
enslaved nation.
119 17:27a Some surmise that Jesus did this in order to appear to be compliant with an illegitimate tax, so as not to scandalize any
believers who thought that he surely must "obey every law of man." That is possible. But also possible, is that Jesus wanted to honor
the oral contract Peter had already made with the tax collectors: the collectors had previously asked if Jesus pays the tax, and Peter
had answered in the affirmative. Thus, only those two individuals involved in the oral contract, were obligated to pay it this instance.
120 17:27b A silver coin worth four drachmas, equivalent to 12 grams of silver. Each man was to pay 6 grams of silver, which =1
stater=1 Babylonian shekel=1/2 of a sanctuary shekel (Phoenician or Hebrew standard).
121 17:27c Note that Jesus did not tell the other eleven disciples to pay. The payment at issue in this passage was a Jewish religious
matter, and originally not even a tax (see previous footnote on "the two drachmas." Jesus and the disciples were Sons or Citizens of
the Kingdom of Heaven, so were not subject to this "tax." Remember, the Levites did not pay the census atonement fee tax.
(Numbers 1:48, 49) All those who become Citizens of the kingdom of God have the same status in regard to this tax as the Levites
had. "God has made us kings and priests, and we will reign on the earth." Rev. 5:10 Kings don't pay the tax. And kings is what
Jesus and the twelve apostles were.
18:11 txt omit B L* ite,ff syrs,pal copsa,mae,bopt geo2A Origen Eusebius; Jevencus Jerome NA27 {B}
. D E Lmg N W 078vid it(a),aur,(b),d,(f),ff,(l,n),q,r vg syrc,p,h copbopt arm geo Chrysostom; Hilary
Chromatius TR HF RP . (Lcmg has for ) (itc)
syrh copbopt eth lacuna A C P. The UBS Editorial Committee says that there can be little doubt that the words
() are spurious here, being absent in the earliest witnesses representing several textual types
(Alexandrian, pre-Caesarean, Egyptian, Antiochian), and manifestly borrowed by copyists from Lk 19:10 [or Matthew 9:13]. The
reason for the interpolation was apparently to provide a connection between ver. 10 and verses 12-14. On the other hand there
appears no reason why it might have gotten deleted or removed if original.
122

34
That is how undesirable it is, in the eyes of your Father in heaven, that even one of these little ones be
lost.123

A Brother Who Sins

Now if your brother sins [against you],124 go show him his fault, just between you and him. If he listens
to you, you have won back your brother. But if he does not listen, take with you one or two others, so that
'upon the mouths of two or three witnesses every matter be established.' And if he refuses to listen to them,

tell it to the assembly. And if he refuses to listen to the assembly, he should be considered by you as no
different than a gentile or a revenue agent.
Truly I tell you, what things you apostles on earth declare to be forbidden, shall have been forbidden in
heaven; and what things you on earth declare to be permitted, shall have been permitted in heaven.125
Again I say to you, if two of you on earth agree with one voice concerning any and all matters about which
you make request, it will be brought about for you by my Father who is in heaven. For where two or three
are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

At that time Peter approached and said to him, "Lord, how many times shall my brother sin against me
and I forgive him? Up to seven times?"
Jesus says to him, "I tell you, not up to seven times, but up to seventy [times] seven times.126
"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man in ruling power who desired to settle
accounts with his servants. So he proceeded to settle, and had one of his debtors brought to him, one who
owed him ten thousand talants. But since he did not have the means to repay, the master ordered him to be
sold as a slave, and also his wife and children and everything he had, and then to be paid back.
"The servant therefore fell down, and was entreating him, saying, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you
back everything.' And moved with compassion, the master of that servant released him, and forgave his
debt.
"But then after he went out, that servant found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred
denarii, and he seized him, and was choking him, saying, 'Pay me back everything you owe.'
"The fellow servant therefore fell down, and was begging him, saying, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay
you back.' But he was not willing, and went and threw him into the debtors' prison, until such time he
could pay back the debt.
"When therefore his fellow servants witnessed these events, they were extremely upset, and went and
reported to their master everything that had happened. Then summoning him, his master is saying to him,

123

18:14 Or, "...that even one of these little ones be ruined."

,

18:15 txt [D] D E L N O W 078 ita,aur,b,d,e,f,ff ,1,h,l,n,q,(r) vg syrc,s,p,h,pal copmeg,bopt arm eth geo Basilms
Chrysostommss; Hilary Lucifer Pacian Chrosmatius Jerome Augustine6/7 TR HF RP [NA28] {C} W Basil5/9 Didymus
Chrystostom Thodoret B 0281 copsa,bomss Cyril; Augustine1/7 WH (Lk 17:3) Origenlem Basil4/9 lacuna A
C P. There might have been a dictation error, that when reading the listener thought that there had been a repetition by
accident (because the last two syllables sound similar in later Greek to the first two syllables), or that the reader changed his
pronunciation or stumbled over the pronunciation, and so the scribe listening wrote only the first set of sounds. On the other hand the
phrase "against you" might have been added, according to the UBS textual commentary, to harmonize this verse with the "against
me" of v. 21 shortly hereafter where Peter asks, "How many times shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?" The reading
without "against you" is the earliest, but this could have been changed very early on, according to the UBS commentary. In the UBS
4th Edition Greek New Testament, the words "against you" are in single square brackets, and this result is given a C rating of
certainty. Regarding single square brackets, the explanation is "that the enclosed word, words, or parts of words may be regarded as
part of the text, but that in the present state of New Testament textual scholarship this cannot be taken as completely certain."
125 18:18 Or, "Whatever you forbid on earth is as good as forbidden by heaven, and whatever you permit on earth is as good as
permitted by heaven." This "binding and loosing" teaching appears also in Matthew 16:19. It should be noted that here in 18:18, the
verbs are in the second person plural, Jesus saying it to, and giving this authority to, all of the apostles, whereas in 16:19, the verbs
are in the 2nd person singular, Jesus saying it to and about Peter only.
126 18:22 cf. Genesis 4:24: "If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times." It is equally beyond human nature to
forgive the same person 77 times in one day, as it is to forgive the same person 490 times in one day. But Gentiles do not need to
know this reference in order to understand that Matthew means to indicate a number that is large beyond human nature. In a story
taken from older accounts, Plutarch, Mor. 245d uses the number 7,777 for the same purpose (cf. Polyaenus 8, 33).
124

35
'You wicked servant! All that debt of yours I forgave you, because you begged me. Aren't you then also
obligated to forgive your fellow servant, as I have forgiven you?'
"And in anger, his master handed him over to the jailers, until such time he could pay back everything he
owed. This is how my Father in heaven will act toward you also, unless you each forgive your brother from
your heart."

Chapter 19
Jesus Tested on Divorce
And it came about that when Jesus had finished these discourses he departed from Galilee, and went into
the region of Judea on the other side of the Jordan. And large crowds followed him, and he healed them
there. And some Pharisees came to him, testing him, and saying, Is it permitted for someone to release127

his wife for any cause at all?

But in answer he said, Have you never read, that from the beginning the creator made them male and
female, and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave father and mother, and be joined to his woman, and the
two shall become one flesh? As a result, they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has
joined together, no human being is allowed to separate."
They are saying to him, "Why then did Moses command to give a release of interest form128 in order to
release? 129
He says to them, "Moses, in view of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to release your wives,
though it is not originally designed this way. But I tell you that whoever releases his wife, except upon
grounds of fornication, and marries another, commits adultery.130
The disciples are saying to him, "If this is the situation of a man with a wife, it is not advisable to marry!
And he said to them, "Not everyone can receive this word, but only those to whom it has been given.
For there are some who are eunuchs, who were born that way from their mothers womb. And there are
some who are eunuchs who were made to be eunuchs by human beings. And there are some who are
eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The person who is able
to receive this, should receive it.

127

19:3 "Releasing" is the opposite of the cleaving or joining commanded in the Genesis passage.
19:7a This word - apostsion, "release of interest form," was used to signify the relinquishment of property. A quitclaim, if you will. In the culture of ancient Israel there was never any provision for a wife to quit her property claim in her husband,
since the wife was considered property of her husband, and never the other way around. The apostle Paul in the New Testament,
however, states in I Corinthians 7:4, "The wife has not authority over her own body, but rather the husband: and likewise also the
husband has not authority over his own body, but rather the wife." This is a consequence of being "one flesh."
129 19:7b txt D L Z ita,aur,d,e,f1,g1,h,l vg syrpal arm ethms geo Origen; Jerome Augustine B C N W 078
087 itf,q (itb,ff) syrp,h copmae,boms (Irlat).
130 19:9 {D} txt

L itl vgmss syrs NA27 {B}

D ita,b,d,e,h,r vgms copsa
E Z vgmss TR RP
B

C*
N
078
W
___________________
lac
A P.
The UBS textual commentary says, "After several witnesses add (or ) ('and
he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery'). Although it might be argued that homoeoteleuton ( ... )
accounts for its accidental omission from D L 1241 al, the fact that B C* al read only once (at the conclusion of the
combined clauses) makes it more probable that the text was expanded by copyists who accommodated the saying to the prevailing
text of 5:32."
128

36
The Little Children and Jesus
At that time, little children were brought to him, so that he might lay his hands on them and pray for
them. But the disciples scolded them. But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder
them. For of such is the kingdom of heaven." And when he had laid hands on them, he moved on from
there.

The Rich Young Ruler

And behold, someone came up to him and said, "Good Teacher,131 what good must I do so that I will

inherit eternal life?"

And he said to him, "Why are you calling me good? No one is good except One, God.132 But if you want
to enter eternal life, keep the commandments."
He says to him, "Which ones?" And Jesus said to him, "Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not
steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and your mother,'133 and, love your neighbor as
yourself."134
The young man says to him, "All these I have kept. What am I still missing?"
Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give it to the poor, and you will
have treasure in heaven, and then come follow me."
But when the young man heard this statement, he went away regretting, for he was owner of much
property. And Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly I say to you, the rich will get into the kingdom of heaven
with great difficulty. And again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel135 to pass through the eye of a needle,
than for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of God."
And when they heard this, the disciples were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?"
And Jesus looked at them, and said to them, "With human beings, this is impossible; but with God, all
things are possible."
Then Peter answered and said to him, "Look how we have left everything, and followed you. What then
will there be for us?"

131

19:16 txt C E W itaur,b,f,ff,h,l,q,r vg syrc,s,p,h,pal copsa,mae,bopt arm ethmsTH geo Marcusacc.

to Irenaeus

Justin

Origenpt Basil Cyril-Jerusalem Chrysostomlem-; Juvencus Jerome TR HF RP B D L ita,d,e,ff copbopt geo ethpp
Origenpt Hilary NA27 {A} lacuna A N P.
132 19:17 txt ; , , . C E W itf,q syrp,h copsa,boms; ethms,TH (Ju) Basil Chrysostom TR
HF RP ; MarIr ; ,
Marcusacc. to Irenaeus Justin Naassenesacc. to Hippolytus (Ps-Clementines) . B L ita,d
(lat,syrs,c,hmg) copmae,bo Origen WH NA27 {A} . B*
. D , , . ith Eusebius Augustine
, . itaur,b,(ff),ff,l,r vg (syrc,hmg,palms) copmeg,bo geo,(A) Novatian Jerome
, . itc lacuna A N P. The Majority Text reads, Why are you calling me good? No one is good but one:
God.. The UBS and Nestle / Aland text read .: "Why are you asking me about
what is good? There is only One who is Good." In addition, that text does not contain the word -"good" modifying Teacher
when the man first addresses Jesus in verse 16. The UBS editorial committee says that the passage clearly was changed by copyists
to harmonize Matthew's account with Mark 10:18 and Luke 18:19. And they say about the majority reading, as shown in my
translation above, that if it "were original in Matthew, it is hard to imagine why copyists would have altered it to a more obscure
one, whereas scribal assimilation to Synoptic parallels occurs frequently." Well, I for one can easily imagine why someone would
not like the reading "Why are you asking me about what is good?" It seems preposterous that a Rabbi would object to being asked
about what is good, since declaring what was good or what was not good, that was his job. And even more preposterous, is that
the Son of God, who was made into flesh in order to declare the attributes of the Father to men, would object to being asked about
what is good.
133 19:19a Exodus 20:12-16; Deuteronomy 5:16-20
134 19:19b Leviticus 19:18
135 19:24 Just as it is impossible, humanly speaking, for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, Jesus says in v. 27 that it is
"impossible" for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Some people teach that Jesus really instead said "rope to go through the
eye of a needle," because he was speaking in the Aramaic language, and the Aramaic word for camel was also the word for a kind of
rope. Regardless, Jesus would want to invent a simile that was in line with his main point: "something impossible." His illustration
must demonstrate something that is impossible, naturally speaking. "Camel" is more impossible than "rope," so at worst, camel
works just fine, and at best, camel is the best rendering because it is more impossible.

37
And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, you who are hearing me: In the new beginning, when the Son
of Man sits on his glorious throne, you also will sit, upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or fathers or mothers or children or lands for the
sake of my name, will receive a hundred times as much, and inherit eternal life. But many who are first
will be last, and many who are last will be first."

Chapter 20
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
"Similar therefore is the kingdom of heaven to a landowner, who went out early in the morning to hire
workers together into his vineyard. And he came to an agreement with the workers, of a denarius a day, and
sent them into his vineyard. And when he went away, about the third hour,136 he saw others, standing in the
market place idle. To them also he said, "You also go out into my vineyard, and whatever is right, I will
give you." So they left. And again, he went away about the sixth hour and also the ninth hour, and did the
same thing. And about the eleventh hour he went away and found others standing, and he says to them,

"Why are you standing here the whole day idle?"

They say to him, "Because no one has hired us."
He says to them, "You also go out into my vineyard. And whatever is right, that you will receive."
And when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard says to his foreman, "Call the workers and pay
them their wages, starting from the last ones, to the first ones." And those who had arrived at about the
eleventh hour, each received a denarius. And the ones who had arrived first expected to receive more, yet
they received a denarius each themselves. So they got together and were complaining to the landowner,
saying, "These last ones worked one hour, and you have treated them the same as us who have borne the
burden of the whole day, and the scorching heat."
And he in answer to one of them said, 'Friend, I am not doing you wrong. Did you not agree to a denarius
with me? Take what is yours and go your way. So this is what I want to give to the last ones, as I also gave
to you. Is it not permissible for me to do what I want with things that are mine? Or is your eye evil137
because I am generous?'
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.138"

Jesus Again Predicts His Death

And as he was going up to Jerusalem, Jesus took the Twelve aside in private, and said to them on the
way, "Behold we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man is going to be betrayed to the chief priests
and the Torah scholars, and they will condemn him to death. And he will be handed over to the Gentiles, to
be ridiculed and crucified, and during the third day he will rise again."

A Mother's Request
At that time, the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached him, along with her sons. She is worshiping
him and asking a favor from him. And he said to her, "What do you want?" She says to him, "Decree that
these two sons of mine sit one on the right and one on the left of you in your kingdom."

136

20:3 That is, about 9 a.m. Then again at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. The Jewish clock began at sunrise and sunset; thus the third hour was
about 3 hours after sunrise, hence 9 a.m. The 11th hour was only one hour before dark.
137 20:15 , "evil eye," is a Semitic concept, in which the attitude of the heart or the force of a person's thoughts, are
focused out through, and cause the narrowing of the person's eye, out of envy, resentment, scheming, or even voodoo, toward one's
neighbor. This concept merits a long explanation, which is to be found in an end note at the end of this document.
138 20:16 Most witnesses add , (For many are called, but few are chosen). It is more
likely that these words were incorporated by copyists from 22:14, where they terminate another parable, than that so many witnesses
deleted these words ( B L Z 085 892* 1243* 1342 (1424) copsa, bopt Diatessaron). The reading without these words is given an A
rating of certainty by the editorial committee of the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament, 4th Edition, which means that it is
certain.

38
But in answer Jesus said, "You do not know what you are asking.139 Are you able to drink the cup which
I am about to drink?"
They say to him, "We are able."
He says to them, "My cup you will indeed drink, but to sit on my right or on my left is not mine to grant,
but is only for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father."
And when the other ten heard, they were upset about the two brothers. And Jesus, calling them to him,
said, "You know that the rulers among the nations lord it over them, and the great ones exercise authority
over them. It shall not be so among you. Instead, whoever wants to be great among you shall be your
servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. Just as the Son of Man did not
come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."

Two Blind Beggars Receive Their Sight

And as they were leaving Jericho, very large crowds were following them. And behold, two blind men

sitting alongside the road, when they hear that Jesus is passing by, they cry out, saying, "Have mercy on us,
Lord, Son of David!"
But the crowd scolded them, that they should be quiet. But they cried out the more, saying, "Have mercy
on us, Lord, Son of David!"
And Jesus stopped, and called out to them and said, "What do you want me to do for you?"
They are saying to him, "Lord, that our eyes be opened." And feeling sorry for them, Jesus touched
their eyes, and immediately they saw, and they followed him.

Chapter 21
The Triumphal Entry
And when they drew near to Jerusalem and arrived at Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, at that time
Jesus sent two disciples, telling them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a
donkey tied up, and her colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. And if anyone says anything to
you, say, 'The Lord needs them, and will send them right back.'"
Now this happened so that what was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled, which says,
"Say to the Daughter of Zion:

'Behold, your king is coming to you meek,

and riding on a donkey,
and140 on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'141"
And those disciples went, and did just as they were instructed by Jesus. They brought the donkey and the
colt, and placed their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. And the large crowd of people spread their

garments out on the road; and some were cutting branches off the trees and spreading those on the road.
And the crowd proceeding ahead of him, and those following after, were shouting out as follows:
"Hosha na142 to the Son of David!"

139

20:22 In this phrase, "you are asking" is plural. Whereas, when the mother was worshiping and asking, it was singular. Whether
or not it was the mother's idea, or the sons', or both, Jesus addresses them in the plural. In the next sentence when he asks, 'Are you
able...", plural, he is surely addressing the sons, not the mother.
140 21:5a It appears to me that Matthew (or a later editor of Matthew) mistook this exepegetical "and" in the Greek of the Septuagint
Zechariah 9:9 as meaning both a donkey and its colt. An exepegetical "and" would make the verse read, "and mounted on a donkey,
specifically a colt, the foal of a donkey." Perhaps as a result of misunderstanding this, Matthew's account of Jesus' donkey ride has
Jesus sitting on both the donkey and its foal, whereas the other gospel writers say only the foal. See Mark 11:1-7; Luke 19:30-35;
John 12:14, 15. And the Zechariah passage itself says he rides only one animal.
141 21:5b Zechariah 9:9

39
"Blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord!"143
"Hosha na in the highest!"
And when he came into Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred, saying, "Who is this?"
And the crowds would say, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth, Galilee."

Jesus Clears the Temple

And Jesus went into the temple, and he threw out all the ones who were selling or buying in the temple.
And the tables of the moneychangers144 he overturned, and the seats of the ones selling doves. And he says

to them, "It is written:

'My house shall be called
a house of prayer';145
but you are making it
'a den of thieves.'146"
And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests
and the Torah scholars saw the wonders that he performed, and the children crying out in the temple and
saying, "Hosha na to the Son of David," they were indignant, and they said to him, "Do you hear what they
are saying?!"
And Jesus says to them, "Yes. Have you never read,

'Out of the mouths of children

and those still nursing
you have arranged for yourself
praise'147?"
And he left them, and went outside the city, to Bethany, and found lodging there.

The Withered Fig Tree

And early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. And when he saw a

lone fig tree by the road, he went up to it. And he found nothing on it but only leaves. And he says to it,
"May there never be fruit from you again." And immediately the fig tree withered.
And when the disciples saw this they marvelled, saying, "How did the fig tree immediately wither?"
And in answer Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and do not second guess, not
only will you do something like the fig tree, but also should you say to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and
thrown into the sea,' it would happen. In fact anything whatsoever that you ask for in prayer believing, you
will receive."
142

21:9a = Aramaic - ha n, similar to the Hebrew

- hh n, an expression reminiscent of the

in Psalm 118:25 meaning "Help" or "Save, I pray," an appeal that became a liturgical formula, and as part of the Hallel
(Ps. 113-118), it was familiar to everyone in Israel. The Septuagint Psalm 117:25 has , - Krie, sson d, "O
Lord, save now!" or "Save indeed!" No doubt some in the crowd accompanying him expected him, as the Messiah ben David, to
literally "save now," and deliver them from the Romans and set up the kingdom of David.
143 21:9b Psalm 118:26
144 21:12 The Greek word here, - kollubists, is traditionally translated "moneychangers," but bankers is what they
were. They are called moneychangers here because the main purpose of their "tables" when in the temple area was to break up larger
currency into smaller change, and also perhaps to exchange foreign currency, if there was such a thing in the Roman empire. But the
fact is, what the "tables" were is little in-temple, mini-branches of banks. We know they were tables of bankers offering other
banking services such as savings accounts paying interest, because of Luke 19:23, where the "tables" were places to put money on
deposit to earn interest.
145 21:13a Isaiah 56:7
146 21:13b Jeremiah 7:11
147 21:16 Psalm 8:2 Note also that in that culture, it was normal for children of speaking age to still be breast feeding.

40
The Authority of Jesus Questioned
And after he had come into the temple, as he was teaching, the high priests and the elders of the people
approached, saying, "By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you the authority for
these things?"
And in answer Jesus said to them, "I will also ask you one question, which if you answer me, I will then
tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, where was it from, from heaven, or from
human beings?"
So they discussed it among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Then why
didn't you believe in him?' And if we say, 'From human beings,' we fear the people, for they all hold John
as a prophet."
And they in answer said to Jesus, "We do not know."
So he also told them, "Neither am I telling you by what authority I am doing these things."

The Parable of the Two Sons

"So what do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first son and said, 'Son, go work in the
vineyard today.' And he in answer said, 'I will not,' but with a subsequent change of heart, he went. And

he went to the other son and said the same thing. And he in answer said, 'I will, sir,' and did not go.
Who of the two performed the will of the father?"
They are saying, "The first one."
Jesus says to them, "Truly I say to you: the revenue agents and prostitutes are going into the kingdom of
God before you.148 For John came to you with the way of righteousness, and you did not believe in him.
The revenue agents and prostitutes, however, did believe in him. And you when you saw that, neither did
you subsequently have a change of heart and believe in him."

The Parable of the Tenants

"Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, and he put a hedge around it,

and dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower, and leased it out to tenant farmers, and journeyed away.
And when the time of harvest had drawn near, he sent servants of his to the farmers, to take his fruit.
And this is the reception the farmers gave his servants: one they flogged, another they killed, another they
stoned. Again he sent other servants, more than before, and they treated them the same way. So finally
he sent his own son to them, thinking, 'They will respect my son.'
But the farmers when they saw the son said to each other, 'This is the heir. Hey, let's kill him, and his
inheritance will be ours.' And they took him and cast him outside the vineyard and killed him.
When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?"
They are saying to him, "He will kill those creeps catastrophically, 149 and give the vineyard to other
farmers, who will pay him back the fruits in their seasons."
Jesus says to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures,
" 'A stone which the builders rejected,
this one has become
the chief cornerstone.

21:31 This phrase progousin hums, "are going ahead of you," is a "comparative expressing exclusion,"
according to BDF 245a(3). It is a Semitic way of expressing exclusion or replacement, by creating a physical distance or separation
between the two things compared. The object being replaced is put off at a distance, or behind at a distance. Bauer, in 2(b), says it
means, "the tax-collectors will get into the kingdom of God before you."
149 21:41 There may be an alliteration here, kakos kaks (bad guys badly), where the word for bad guys starts with
the same sound as the word for badly. He will kill those bad guys badly. Thus, many translations render it "bring those wretches to a
wretched end." The reason they chose those words is that they start with the same sound, not necessarily because those words are the
best translation for the Greek words. The reason I chose three words starting with the K sound is that that sound is generally
considered an unpleasant sound. (Although Kappa was a softer K than was Xi, Kappa being the unaspirated and Xi being the
aspirated K sound.) Thus we get the word "cacophonous." And the Spanish word "caca."
148

41
From the Lord this came about,
and it is marvelous
in our eyes'150?"
Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and given to a nation
producing its fruit. And the person who trips over that stone will be broken into pieces, and upon

whomever the stone falls, it will turn him into powder."151

And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard this parable of his, they knew that it was about them
that he was speaking. And though seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, since they held him to be a
prophet.

Chapter 22
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet
And once again Jesus in response to them spoke by means of a parable, saying, "The kingdom of heaven
may be likened to a king, who put on a wedding feast for his son. And he sent his servants to summon those

who were invited to the wedding, and they did not want to come.
Once more, he sent other servants, telling them, 'Say to those invited, "Look, my noon meal has been
prepared, my bulls and fattened animals are slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come now to my wedding
feast." But they disregarded this and went off, one to his own field, another on his trade route, and others of
them captured his servants, and insulted and killed them.
And the king became angry, and sending his soldiers, he slew those murderers, and burned their city.
Then, he says to his servants, 'Seeing as how my wedding feast is ready, and the ones invited were not
worthy, go out therefore onto the crossings of the roads, and whoever you find, invite them to the wedding
feast." So going out into the roads, those servants gathered everyone that they could find, both the evil and
the good. And so the wedding hall was filled with guests reclining.
Now when the king went in to observe the ones reclining, he saw there a man who was not dressed in
wedding clothes. And he says to him, 'Friend, how is it you have come in here without having wedding
clothes?' And he was speechless.
Then the king said to his servants, 'Bind his feet and hands, and throw him outside, into the outer
darkness; there, there will be keening, and gnashing of teeth.' For many are invited, but few are chosen."

Paying the Tribute Tax to Caesar

Then the Pharisees left, and plotted how152 they might entrap him in a saying. And they send disciples

of theirs to him, along with Herodians, saying as follows, "Teacher, we know that you are honest, and that
you teach the way of God with integrity,153 and it makes no difference to you about anyone, for you pay no
attention to the personage of people.154 Tell us then, what do you think? Is it permissible to pay the tribute
to Caesar, or not?"

150

21:42 Psalm 118:22,23

21:44 txt include v. 44 B C L W Z 0102 itaur,f,g,(h),l,q vg syrc,p,h copsa,meg,bo arm eth geo slav Chrystostom Cyril; Jerome
Augustine TR TG [WH] RP [NA28] SBL omit v. 44 D ita,b,d,e,ff,ff,r syrs Irenaeuslat Origen Eusebiussyr. Possibly also lacking in
Papyrus 104 http:tinyurl.com/694eg7 from Oxyrhynchus (early III century). Some say the verse is an interpolation from Luke
20:18. Yet the words are quite different at the beginning, and according to the UBS committee, the verse's omission can be
accounted for when the eye of the copyist passed from (last word of ver. 43) to (the last word of ver. 44). Also, the
committee says, the more appropriate place for copyists to have inserted it, if it was an interpolation, would have been after verse 42.
152 22:15 The Greek phrase is a Latinism from consilium capere, and it says literally, "took counsel how
to."
153 22:16a Matthew says "you teach the way of God - en altheai," whereas Mark and Luke say ep'
altheas.
154 22:16b In other words, "It makes no difference to you who you are dealing with, as far as their status in society."
151

42
But aware of their evil, Jesus said, "Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coinage
used for the tribute." And they brought him a denarius. And he says to them, "Whose image is this, and
whose inscription?"
They say to him, "Caesar's."
Then he says to them, "So Caesar's things you give back to Caesar, and God's things to God." And when
they heard this, they were amazed, and they left him, and went away.

Marriage at the Resurrection

During that same day, Sadducees approached him, (Sadducees say there is no resurrection), and they
questioned him as follows: "Teacher, Moses said, 'If a man dies without having a child, his brother shall
marry the man's wife, and raise up descendants for his brother.' Well, there were seven brothers near us,
and the first one after marrying, died, and since he had no descendant, his brother took his wife. And it was
the same with the second, and the third, up till and including all the seven. And last of all, the woman died.
In the resurrection, then, of which of the seven will she be wife? For all of them had her."
And in answer Jesus said to them, "You are mistaken, from not knowing either the scriptures or the power
of God. For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in
heaven.
Now about the resurrection of the dead, have you never read the declaration to you from God, where he
says, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'155'? He is not the God of the
dead, but of the living."
And when the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

The Weightiest Commandment

And when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together on that same
place, and one of them, a lawyer,156 questioned him, testing him: "Teacher, which is the greatest
commandment in the law?"
And he told him, "'You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with
all your strength.'157 This is the greatest and primary commandment. And the second one is like it: 'You
shall love your neighbor as yourself.'158 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

Whose Son is the Messiah?

And as long as the Pharisees were collected together, Jesus questioned them, saying: "What do you all
think about the Christ whose son is he?"
They are saying, "David's."
He says, "How is it then that David, by the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, 'Yahweh said to my Lord,159
"Sit at my right hand until such time I put your enemies under your feet."160 So, since David calls him
Lord, how is he his son?"

155

22:32 Exodus 3:6

22:35 txt B D Ec L W 0102 0161 ita,aur,b,d,f,ff,ff,h,l,q,r vg syrc,p,h,hgr,pal copsa,meg,bo eth geo Chrystostomlem-;
Tertullian Hilary Jerome Augustine TR HF RP WH [NA27] {C} (like Luke 10:25) E* omit (like Mark 12:28) ite syrs
arm geo Origengr, lat lacuna A C N P. It would be hard to explain why the other witnesses would differ, other than that they
were assimilating to the other gospels. In addition, Matthew nowhere else uses the word . Thus, the editorial committee of
the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament gives the reading with only a "C" rating of certainty.
157 22:37 Deuteronomy 6:4, 5
158 22:39 Leviticus 19:18
159 22:44a
, "The LORD said to my Lord," from the Hebrew
- num Yhvah la n of
156

Psalm 110:1. In this verse, both the Tetragrammaton ( YHVH) and Adonai are found, together. But one could hardly say,

"Adonai said to Adonai." In an attempt to avoid this, the Masoretes inserted a paseq in between, one of these: |, to make them be in
separate phrases, and thus the Masoretic text reads:

160 22:44b Psalm 110:1

43
And no one was able to answer this argument, nor did anyone from that day on dare ask him anything
else.

Chapter 23
Jesus Denounces the Rabbis
Then Jesus spoke to the crowd and to his disciples, saying, "The Torah scholars and Pharisees took161 the
seat of Moses; therefore whatever they say to you, you should do and keep, but not according to their works

should you do. For they say and don't do.

But they bind heavy loads162 and place them on the backs of the people, but they themselves would not
budge them with a finger of theirs.163
But every act of theirs they do with the goal to be seen by people; for they enlarge their phylacteries, and
lengthen their tassels; and they love the places of honor in the banquets, and the prominent seats in the
synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces and to be called Rabbi by the people.
But you, you should not be called Rabbi, because there is only one teacher for you, and you are all
brothers. And call no one on earth your father, because there is only one father for you, the heavenly one.
Neither should you be called Teacher, because your teacher is the Messiah. But the greatest among you
shall be your servant. And whoever promotes himself will be lowered, and whoever lowers himself will be
promoted.
Woe to you, Torah scholars and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you close the kingdom of heaven in
people's faces; you yourselves do not enter, and neither do you allow those who are entering to enter.164
Woe to you, Torah scholars and Pharisees, you hypocrites! Because you traverse sea and land to make
one convert, and when it happens, you make him twice the son of Gehenna that you are.
Woe to you, you blind guides, that say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever
swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.' O you blind fools! For which is greater the gold, or the
temple that makes the gold something holy?
Or that say, 'Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that lies upon it,
he is obligated.' O you blind men! For which is greater the gift, or the altar that makes the gift something
holy?
It follows therefore, that when you swear by the altar, you are swearing by it AND everything that lies
upon it, and when you swear by the temple, you are swearing by it AND by the One residing in it. 165

23:2 The Greek says , which when translated literally is "they sat upon the seat of Moses."
This is probably a "gnomic" aorist, somewhat like the perfect aspect. Jesus appears to be saying that they legitimately took the place
of Moses, and still at the time, were sitting there. Note also that the arrangement of furniture in synagogues in that time included a
literal raised seat in the front, symbolically reserved for Moses.
162 23:4a There are a variety of readings here in the Greek. Many manuscripts add the words "and oppressive to bear," but that is
probably an interpolation from Luke 11:46.
163 23:4b The word "finger" is in the plural, but it is a collective, talking about the group's acts as individuals. For example, when
someone says to a group of people, "Turn your hearts to God," that does not mean that each person has more than one heart, but
means rather, each of you all, turn your own heart, singular, to God.
164 23:14 Some manuscripts have before verse 13, this text: , ,
. . (Woe to you, Torah scholars and
Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you eat up the houses of widows, and for a front, make lengthy prayers. Because of this, you will
receive a greater condemnation.) Others have the above text, then what we now know of as verse 13. The shorter Greek textual
reading is given an A rating of certainty by the United Bible Societies' editorial committee. And this is what they say in the textual
commentary: "That ver. 14 is an interpolation derived from the parallel in Mk 12:40 or Lk 20:47 is clear (a) from its absence in the
earliest and best authorities of the Alexandrian, the Western, and the Caesarean types of text, and ( b) from the fact that the witnesses
which include the passage have it in different places, either after ver. 13 (so the Textus Receptus) or before ver. 13."
161

165 23:21 txt (continuous participle) "by the One residing in it" B copsa,bo TR NA28 (punctiliar
participle) "by him who had dwelt in it" C D E L W Z 0102 RP. The New King James Version is the only major English translation
that footnotes this issue. In the main text it reads "by Him who dwells in it," and then indicates in a footnote that they did not follow
the majority text here. In the NKJV Greek - English Interlinear New Testament, Copyright 1994 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., the Word
Studies textual notes say here: "The aorist participle of the Majority Text may suggest He no longer made the temple His special
home." There is one reference book that says the verb in the TR reading is plural. There are in fact a couple examples of the same

44
And when you swear by heaven, you are swearing by the throne of God AND by him who sits upon it.
Woe to you, Torah scholars and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you tithe the mint and dill and cumin, and

have passed over more important matters of the law justice, mercy and faith. But these latter you ought to
practice, without leaving the former undone. You blind guides, straining out a gnat, but swallowing a
camel!
Woe to you, Torah scholars and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and dish,
but the inside is full of grabbiness166 and intemperance. 167
O blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, such that the outside will be clean as well.
Woe to you, Torah scholars and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, that
sparkle beautifully on the outside, but inside are full of bones of the dead and all sorts of unclean things.
So you also, outside you appear to people as righteous, but inside you are loaded up with hypocrisy and
lawlessness.
Woe to you, Torah scholars and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and
decorate the graves of the righteous, and you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers we would
not have been parties to the blood of the prophets.'
By so saying, you are bearing witness against yourselves, that you are sons of the murderers of the
prophets.
You fill indeed the measure of your forefathers.168
O you snakes, you spawn of vipers, how will you wiggle out of the sentence of Gehenna?
Therefore behold, I am sending to you prophets, and wise men, and Torah scholars; some of them you
will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, so
that on you will come all of the blood of the righteous ever spilled upon the earth, from the blood of
righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you slaughtered between the sanctuary and
the altar. Truly I tell you, this will all fall upon this generation.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets, and stones those sent to it! How often I have wished to
gather together your children, as a hen gathers together her young under her wings, and you were not willing.
Now behold, your house will be left to you desolate.169
For I tell you, from now on, me you will not see, until such time you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord.'"170

form being plural, in the Doric dialect, a contracted form of the present indicative. But since the article here is singular, the whole
phrase is singular.
166 23:25a Picture a grabbiness, continuously acquiring things, always wanting more things. There may be a play on words here with
the "cup and dish," when it comes to grabbiness for food and drink, and the other word in this sentence, intemperance.

167 23:25b txt B D L f 0102 ita,c,d,e, ff,h,r arm geo Origenlat Basil TR NA28 C E syrp Chrystostom RP
W (syrh) O itar,ff,l vg syrs,pal Clement Jerome Quodvultdeus. The Greek word here,
- akrasa, means to have no or to exercise no power over one's self, in restraining the pursuit of pleasure, the pursuit of one's
appetites. (The Majority text, which the KJV did not follow in this instance, reads here"unrighteousness"instead of
) But it is hard to say, "the inside is full of an absence of something." I was tempted to say here, "full of addictions,"
because that is the ultimate result of lack of restraint, and the decline in usefulness to society spoken of by Socrates and Aristotle on
the subject of this word . It is not solely a Bible-belt fundamentalist concept, that unrestraint in the pursuit of pleasure brings
the downfall of civilization, but it is also the belief and teaching of the great Greek philosophers. See the end note on this verse and
the word , with excerpts of the classic philosophers, showing how they used the word.
168 23:32 This is traditionally translated as an imperative: "Fill up then, the measure of your forefathers." But the imperative
inflection of verbs was usually identical to the indicative. Therefore, it is possible that this could be an indicative, and be rendered,
"You fill indeed the measure of your forefathers." This rendering would be in accord with Luke's parallel in Luke 11:48, which states
that their forefathers did the killing, and they did the building. That is a filling or completion of the measure of their forefathers.
This could be something like our expression, "You fill your father's shoes." My main reason for rendering this as an indicative is the
- dia touto (for this reason) that Jesus begins verse 34 with. "You will pursue and kill my prophets just like your
forefathers did." He is saying that they do indeed fill the shoes of their forefathers (and foremothers Jezebel).
169 23:38 It was once thought that texts of Matthew included the word rmos to harmonize with Luke 13:35, but now a
new analysis of Papyrus 77 (late II century) for Matthew 23:38 has been made, which shows the absence of the word "desolate."
170 23:39 Psalm 118:26

45

Chapter 24
Signs of the Times
And Jesus was proceeding on his way, and left the temple, and his disciples approached to show him the
construction of the temple. But in answer he said to them, "Do you see all these things?171 Truly I tell you,
by no means will there be a stone left upon a stone that will not be thrown down."
Then as he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us, when
will these things happen, and what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?"
And in answer Jesus said to them, "See that no one misleads you. For many will come in my name,
saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will deceive many. And you will hear about wars and rumors of wars. Do
not be alarmed. For such are bound to happen, but the end is still not yet.
For nation will rise up against nation, and king against king, and there will be famines and earthquakes in
various places. But all these are just the beginning of birth pains.
At that time they will deliver you over to trial, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name.
And then many will be scandalized, and others will betray and hate each other; and many false prophets
shall arise, and lead many astray. And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow
cold. But the person who remains to the end, that one will be rescued. And this gospel of the kingdom
will be preached in the whole inhabited earth, for a witness to all nations, and then the end will come.
When therefore you see the abomination of desolation spoken of through the prophet Daniel being in the
holy place, (Reader, think.)172 then those in Judea should flee to the mountains, the one on the rooftop
should not come down to take things from his house, and the person in the field should not turn back to take
his coat.
And alas for those who are pregnant, and the ones giving milk during those days! And pray that your
flight not happen during winter or on a sabbath. For there will be great distress then, of a sort that has not
happened from the beginning of the world till now, nor ever will again.173 And if those days had not been
made short, no flesh would survive; but for the sake of the elect, those days will be short.174
At that time, if anyone says to you, 'Behold, here is the Messiah,' or "There is the Messiah,' do not believe
it. For there shall arise many false prophets, and they will perform great signs and miracles, so as to
deceive if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you ahead of time.
If therefore they say to you, 'Behold, he is in the desert,' do not go out. Or, 'Behold, he is in a private
room,' do not believe it. For just as lightning comes out of the east and shines as far as the west, so shall the
appearing of the Son of Man be.175 Wherever the carcass is, there the vultures176 will be gathered.177

24:2 This at first looks like it is saying, "Do not look at all these things." But BDF 427(2) says, "Both and are still used in
questions as in classical." BDF 440 further explains, " is employed to suggest an affirmative answer, () a negative reply;
in the latter, with the indicative is an external indication that it is a question, since independent can be used in no other way
than interrogatively." So in this case of Matt. 24:2, the word suggests a "yes" answer to Jesus' question. It is not necessary to
translate the Greek word into a corresponding English word. It is obvious that the disciples did see them.
172 24:15 Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11
173 24:21 Daniel 12:1; Joel 2:2
174 24:22 This word in the Greek for "made short" is - kolob. It has traditionally been translated here as "those days will
be shortened." But that raises more questions than are answered. Questions such as, will those days start out as regular 24-hour days,
but then be shortened to days of less than 24 hours each? No, it means that "that period of time" will be shortened. So then, does it
mean God changed his mind, that is, that he had originally planned for that period of time to last X amount of days, but at some point
decides to shorten that period of time? No, that would not be consistent with what is written in either the prophets, or in the New
Testament. This verse is more clearly put by Mark, in 13:20, because Mark puts it in the past tense, and says who did it also: "He
(the Lord) has made those days short." It has already been decided by the Lord how long that period of time will be. Their duration
will not be changed. They will not be shortened. The point of this verse it that, if that period of time went on longer, no flesh would
survive.
175 24:27 Or, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man. Both 'appearing' and 'coming' are true and appropriate, and included in the
meaning of the Greek word - parousa here. When someone comes to you, they also "show." Coming is also an appearing,
in English.
176 24:28a Greek: ho aets, a word used for both eagles and vultures. Yet this is apparently a quote by Jesus of the parable
in Job 39:30, where the parallel in the Septuagint to ho aets is hirax, a hawk, v. 26. Both Aristotle and Pliny in their
Histories class the vulture among the eagles. Both eagles and vultures are classified as unclean in the law of Moses, Lev. 11:13,
171

46
And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give
its glow, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the forces of the heavens will be shaken.178
And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and at that time, all the tribes of the earth will
wail, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with great power and great glory.
And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from
one end of sky to the other.
Now learn this parable from the fig tree:179 when its branch becomes tender and it puts forth leaves, you
know that summer is near. In the same way you also, when you see all these things, you know that the time
is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you: this age will by no means pass away until all these things have
taken place. Sky and earth will pass away, but my words will certainly not pass away.

The Day and Hour Unknown

But as for that day and hour, no one knows it except the Father alone; not even the angels of heaven, not
even the Son.180 For just like the days of Noah, that is how the coming of the Son of Man will be. For
just as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage,
right up until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not know it right up until the flood came and
carried them away, that is how it will be with the coming of the Son of Man. At that time, two men will be
in the field; one will be taken and the other left.
Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and the other left.
Be watchful therefore, because you do not know at what hour your Lord is coming.
But this you know: that if the home owner had known at what watch of the night the thief was coming, he
would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.
For this reason you also must be the same: because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you would not
think he would.
Who then is the faithful and sensible servant, whom the master places181 over his domestic servants, to be
giving out rations in due time?
Happy is that servant whom his lord will find so doing when he comes.
Truly I tell you, he will place him over all his possessions.
But if that servant says in his heart, 'My lord is taking a long time,' and his fellow servants he begins to
slap around, but eats and drinks with the drunkards, the lord of that servant will come at an hour he is not
expecting, and at a time he does not know, and will cut him in two, and appoint him his inheritance with the
hypocrites. There, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Deut. 14:12, in that they both eat carrion (in Job 39:30 ho aets is eating carrion). Yet generally speaking, where ho aets is eating
carrion, vultures may be assumed to be meant. Now T.W. Manson, in "Sayings of Jesus," says the eagle would emphasize the
swiftness of the coming of the Day of the Son of man. It is true that the eagle in passages such as Job 9:26, and Rev. 12:14, is a
symbol of swiftness. I also get some amount of meaning in this verse that the eagles are acting as a form of messenger, which again,
the eagle sometimes symbolizes, but not vultures as much. But the main emphasis here about the bird is not that of messenger, but
that of a clear sign in the sky. Still, either 'eagles' or 'vultures' would be an acceptable rendering here.
177 24:28b The point seems to be that the return of Christ will not be a hidden thing, or something only a select few will be aware of.
It will be as obvious, in the same way that it is obvious where the carcass is.
178 24:29 Isaiah 13:10; 34:4; Joel 2:31
179 24:32 Luke in 21:29 adds the phrase, "indeed all the trees," perhaps because the Holy Spirit knew that people would someday
misinterpret this verse, from the error of limiting its meaning to only the fig tree. There is no significance to which tree Jesus picked
for his parable, only the idea of the fresh green leaves in general being a sign of the times.
180 24:36 Thanks be to God, Jesus is clear and specific throughout this chapter concerning time periods. We will know the season, he
says, but not the day or the hour. These words therefore must be taken at their ordinary face value: a season is about three months, a
day is 24 hours, and an hour is 60 minutes. That is, when the season comes upon us, which we will recognize by all the signs given
in this chapter, then at that time we will know that the his coming will be at most a few couple months after all these signs have taken
place. We will never know the day or hour however.
181 24:45 Gnomic aorist

47

Chapter 25
The Parable of the Ten Virgins
"At that time, the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who after grabbing their torches, went out for
the meeting up with the bridegroom.182 Now five of them were foolish, and five of them were wise. For
the foolish ones when they brought their torches, had not brought some oil along with them. 183 The wise,
however, brought along with their torches, some oil in a container.
Now after the bridegroom was taking a long time, they all became drowsy, and fell asleep. And in the
middle of the night, there came a loud cry, 'Look, the bridegroom! Come out to join him.'
Then at that time, all those virgins woke up, and trimmed their torches.184 And the foolish ones said to
the wise ones, 'Give us some of your oil, because our torches are going out.'
But the wise ones answered saying, 'There may not be enough for both us and you. Go to the vendors and
buy more for yourselves.'
And while they were gone away to buy some, the bridegroom came, and the ones who were ready went in
with him to the wedding, and then the door was locked.
And later on, the other virgins also arrive, and they are saying, 'Sir! Sir! Open the door for us.'
"But in response, he said, 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.'
You all should keep watch therefore; because you do not know the day or the hour."

The Parable of the Talants

"For it is like a man going away on a journey. He summoned his own servants, and handed his
possessions over to them. And to one he gave five talants,185 and to another two talants, and to another, one
talant, each according to his own ability, and then he went abroad. Immediately, the one who received the
five talants went out and worked with them and gained186 five more. Similarly, the one with the two,
gained another two. But the one who had received the one talant went out and dug a hole in the ground,

and he hid his master's silver.

25:1 The meeting "up with," or joining up with, is from the Greek word - hupanteesis (See also how I translated this
word in John 12:13. This word, by New Testament times, was used somewhat interchangeably with (apanteesis) as well,
as in verse 6 later in this chapter, and in the passages about meeting the Lord in the air, in I Thessalonians). Here it is referring to the
Palestinian wedding custom that the bridesmaids join up with the bridegroom party after he has gone to the bride's father's house and
gotten his bride. The official ceremony had already started with the groom and his companions' procession to the bride's father's
house. And now, the bridesmaids go out and join the procession to the groom's house. Professional musicians were hired for this
procession, and there was much dancing and music. The torches were necessary if darkness had fallen, or in case darkness might fall
during the procession and ceremony. It would be prudent to take them, along with extra oil, since the torches burned up the oil
rapidly. In this parable, the virgins are at the point where they are waiting for the bridegroom and his party to come with the bride,
meet up with them, and then go to the groom's house. And the groom takes a long time to come.
183 25:3 The plural genitive form of - heautou, as found here, - heautn, is the same form for all genders. Therefore,
"along with them" could be referring either to the virgins, or to the torches. But we see, from verse 4, that it is referring to the
torches.
184 25:7 The torches consisted of a rag sitting in a small cavity of oil, and for proper ongoing operation, the rag had to be trimmed
occasionally, just as oil or kerosene lamps and refrigerators must have their wicks trimmed. Here, the Greek word translated "trim,"
is - kosmew, which in this passage seems to mean not only trimming, but generally setting in order, including checking the
oil level and replenishing or topping it off. No doubt, the torches did need more oil, since this was already the middle of the night,
and it is doubtful the virgins would be sleeping in the darkness without their torches burning.
185 25:15 A talant was a measurement of weight for gold, silver, or copper, from 58 to 80 pounds (26 to 36 kg.). There came to be a
coin called a talant, whose worth varied depending on the metal, time, and place used. The silver coin here was probably worth about
two thousand dollars.
182

25:16 txt c A* B C D L syrp,hmg copsa NA27 * Ac W itq syrh TR RP. Regarding the reading of Codex
A, it appears to me that the original hand was , the first corrector was , and a second corrector went back to
. You can view the mansucript online at this link: http:images.csntm.org/Manuscripts/GA_02/GA_02_0005a.jpg . The
variant word being discussed is on line 33 of the first column, in the middle of the line. Thanks to the Center for the Study of New
Testament Manuscripts for free use of the manuscript image. www.csntm.org There is disagreement here between the NA27
apparatus and that of Swanson, in that NA27 lists A* and for , while Swanson lists those as supporting .
186

48
And after a long time, the lord of those servants returns, and he is settling accounts with them. And
when the one who had received the five talants came forward, he presented another five talants to him, 187
saying, 'Lord, you entrusted188 to me five talants. Look, I have gained another five talants.'
His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; over
much I will appoint you. Enter into the joy of your lord.'
And when the one who had received the two talants came forward, he said, 'Lord, you entrusted to me
two talants. Look, I have gained another two talants.'
His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; over
much I will appoint you. Enter into the joy of your lord.'
But then when the one who had received189 the one talant came forward, he said, 'Lord, I knew you, that
you are a hard man, who reaps where he has not sown, and gathers what he has not winnowed.190 And
because I was afraid, I went out and hid your talant in the ground. See here, you still have what is yours.'
But in response, his master said to him, 'You wicked and idle servant! You knew that I reap where I have
not sown and gather what I have not winnowed? Then you should have deposited my silver with the
bankers,191 and when I returned I would recover what is mine with interest.
Now then, take the talant away from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talants. For to everyone
who has, more will be given, and he will have himself an abundance. But the person who does not have,
even such that he has will be taken away from him. And as for that worthless servant, cast him into the
outer darkness. There, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

The Sheep and the Goats

"And when the Son of Man returns in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his
glorious throne, and all the nations will be brought together before him, and he will separate them one from
the other, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep on his right and
the goats on his left.
Then, the king will say to the ones on his right, 'Come, you blessed by my Father, receive as your
inheritance the kingdom that has been prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was
hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was traveling through,
and you invited me in. Naked, and you put clothes on me. Sick, and you came to look over me. I was in
prison, and you came to visit with me.'
Then the righteous will answer him saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty
and give you a drink? And when did we see you a traveler and invite you in, or naked and put clothes on
you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and come to visit with you?'
"And in answer, the king will say, 'Truly I say to you, as many times as 192 you have done those things to
the least of these of my brethren, you have done them to me.'
"Then, he will say also to the ones on his left, 'Depart from me, accursed ones, into the everlasting fire
prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you did not give me anything to eat. I was

25:20a There are not exactly words corresponding to "to him" in the Greek, but the verb used here, - prosphr, means
"bring to engift, pay or present to somebody." In this case, it is to the master.
188 25:20b The Greek word I translated "entrusted" here, is - paradidwmi, the same word as in 25:14, where I translated it
"handed over."
189 25:24a The verb - lambn (receive) changes from the aorist aspect found in v. 20, to no verb at all in v. 22, to the
perfect aspect here in v. 24.
190 25:24b Or possibly, "who gathers from where he has not scattered seed." But that would seem redundant.
191 25:27 The word for bankers is interesting, in that it is a form of the word for table. In the Parable of the Ten Minas in Luke 19:23,
the words are "Why did you not put my money on the table?" That is, the table of the money changers, or the counter of the bankers.
192 25:40 The Greek formula here, is rather hard to render. The most common lexical glosses of the words are as
follows: epi = (upon); hosos = (as much or as often); and epoieesate = (you have done). Bauer says that the preposition epi is
sometimes used with indications of number and measure, and as an example, "epi tris" means "three times." So here, the formula
could be rendered, "as many times as you have done it to these...you have done it to me,..." Bauer says that here specifically, the
formula epi hosos means to the degree that, in so far as. The only other time that this is used in the New Testament is in Romans
11:13. I notice that the rendering "Whatever you have done to these...you have done to me" is popular lately. The traditional
rendering "Inasmuch as you have done it to them..." could imply a causative agency- because you have done it to them, you have
done it to me.
187

49
thirsty, and you did not give me a drink. I was traveling through, and you did not invite me in. Naked, and
you did not put clothes on me. Sick, or in prison, and you did not come and look over me.'
"Then those also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or traveling through
or naked or sick or in prison and not minister to you?'
"Then he will answer them saying, 'Truly I say to you, as many times as you did not do those things to
one of the least of these, you did not do them to me.' And those he will send off into everlasting
punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life."

Chapter 26
The Plot Against Jesus
And it came about that when Jesus had finished all these discourses, he said to his disciples, "As you
know, two days from now the Passover takes place, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified."
Then the chief priests gathered together, along with the elders of the people, in the courtyard of the high
priest, whose name was Kaiapha; and they came to the decision that they would capture Jesus by trickery
and kill him. "But," they were saying, "not in the festival, or there might be an uproar among the people."

Jesus Anointed at Bethany

Now once when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him holding an
alabaster bottle of very expensive myrrh, and she poured it on his head as he was reclining. And when the
disciples saw this they were indignant, saying,193 "This is such waste, for what? Because this could have

been sold for a lot of money, to be given to the poor."

But aware of this, Jesus said to them, "Why are you causing trouble for this woman? For she has
performed a good work in me. For the poor you always have with you, but me you do not always have.
For she did the pouring of this myrrh on my body to prepare me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever in
the whole world this good news is preached, what this woman has done will also be spoken, in honorable
remembrance of her."
At that time one of the twelve went to the high priests, the one called Judas of Kerioth, and he said,
What will you give me to betray him to you?" And they placed out for him thirty pieces of silver. 194 And
from then on, he was looking for a suitable time to betray him.

The Passover Supper

And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Where do you want us
getting the Passover meal ready for you to eat?"
And he said, "Go into the city to a certain person and say to him, 'The Teacher says, "My time is near. I
am doing Passover with you, along with my disciples."'" And those disciples did as Jesus told them, and
prepared the Passover.
And as evening was coming on, he was reclining with the Twelve. And while he was eating with them
he said, "Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me."
And deeply saddened, they began every single one to say to him,195 "It's not me, is it, Lord?"

193

26:8 Or possibly, "thinking."

26:15 Bauer says under 2.(c) that this means 30 silver coins called shekels, each worth about 4 drachmas.
195 26:22 In the apparatus below, dotted lines represent a lacuna, and blank space means the MS omits those words. The data is from
the NA27 footnotes, Swansons apparatus, and the online Muenster Institute apparatus.
194

........................
..............................
....................................................

B L Z NA27
C

(acc. to Swanson)
D syrs
syrp,hmg

50
And in answer he said, "The one who dips his hand with mine in the bowl, he is the one who will betray
me. The Son of Man is going just indeed like it is written about him, but nevertheless woe to that man
through whom the Son of Man is being betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been
born."
And in response, Judas, the one betraying him, said, "It's not me, is it Rabbi?"
And as they ate, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and gave it to the disciples,
and said, "Take and eat. This is my body." And when he had taken the cup and given thanks, he gave it to
them, saying,196 "Drink from it everyone. For this is my blood of the covenant, 197 being shed on behalf of
many for the forgiveness of sins.198 And I say to you, I will certainly not drink from this fruit of the vine
from now on, until that day when I drink it with you new in the kingdom of my Father." And when they
had sung a hymn, they went out toward the Mount of Olives.
Then Jesus is saying to them, "You will all be scandalized because of me this very night, for it is written:

" 'I will strike down the shepherd,

and the sheep of the flock
will be scattered.'199
But after I am resurrected, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."
But in response Peter said to him, "Though everyone else will be scandalized because of you, I will never

be scandalized."
Jesus said to him, "Truly I tell you, This very night before the rooster crows, you will disown me three
times."
Peter says to him, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the other disciples
said the same.

Gethsemane
Then Jesus goes with them to a park named Gethsemane, and he says to the disciples, "Sit here during
such time I am gone over there to pray." And he took Peter along, and the two sons of Zebedee, and he
began to be sorrowful and deeply depressed.
Then he says to them, "My soul is too sad, to the point of death.200 Remain here and stay awake with
me." And then after he had moved forward a little, he fell on his face, praying and saying, "My Father, if it
is possible, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."
And he returns to the disciples, and finds them sleeping. And he says to Peter, "This is how you guys
are,201 lacking the self-control to stay awake with me one hour? Stay awake and pray, that202 you not go
into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Eusebius


A syrh TR HF RP
.......................lac...................................
N P
196 26:27 Because of the way there are two aorist participles in a row at the beginning of this verse, there is ambiguity as to how to
interpret the "kai" (and) between the two participles. The "kai" could be just a coupler stringing the verbs together in sequence, as
follows: "And when he had taken the cup and given thanks, he gave it to them, saying,..." Or, the "kai" could mean "also," as
meaning to point out that he gave a little ceremony twice both when he distributed the bread, and now the wine as well, as follows:
"And when he had taken the cup he also gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying..." Luke seems to have something similar to the
second interpretation, because in Luke 22:20, he says, "And the cup after the meal in the same way, saying,..."
197 2628 txt (covenant)
vid B L Z copmae,bopt Irarm NA28 (new covenant) A C D W latt syr
copsa,bo Irlat TR RP. The Textus Receptus reading is probably a harmonization with Luke 22:20, as there is no apparent reason why
,new, might have been deleted, either accidentally or deliberately.
198 26:28 Isaiah 53:11
199 26:31 Zechariah 13:7
200 26:38 ; hes indicating the upper limit of possibility. In other words, he could not be more sad, because if he was
any sadder, he would die.
201 26:40 There is no Greek word corresponding to the word "guys," but I added it to show that the words here are plural inflection,
and that Jesus is addressing not just Peter but all three of them.

51
Again for the second time he went away and was praying, saying, "My Father, if it is not possible for this
cup to go away unless I drink it, may your will be done." And when he returned again, he found them
sleeping, because their eyelids were weighed down heavily.
And again he left them and went away, praying for the third time, saying the same thing again. Then at
that time he comes to the disciples and says to them, "Still sleeping away and resting? Behold, the hour has
drawn near, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let's go. Look, the one
betraying me is approaching."

Jesus Arrested
And while he was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived, and with him a large crowd of
people with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and elders of the people. And the one betraying him
had given them a signal, as follows: "Whomever I kiss is the one. Him you seize."
And he came straight up to Jesus and said, "Good morning, Rabbi."203 Then he kissed him.
And Jesus said to him, "Friend, why are you here?" Then at that time they came up and laid their hands
on Jesus, and arrested him.
And behold, one of those in the company of Jesus raised his hand and drew his sword, and he struck the
servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.
Jesus then says to him, "Return your sword to its place. For all who take up the sword will perish by the
sword. Or do you think I am not able to call on my Father, and he make available to me right now twelve
legions of angels? But then how would the scriptures be fulfilled which indicate that all this needs to
happen?"
At that time, Jesus said to the crowd, "As though after a bandit you have come out with swords and clubs
to capture me? Every day I was sitting in the temple teaching and you didn't arrest me. But, this has all
come about so the writings of the prophets would be fulfilled." Then the disciples all abandoned him and
fled.

Before the Sanhedrin

And the ones arresting Jesus led him away to Kaiapha the high priest, where the Torah scholars and the
elders had gathered. Now Peter had been following him from a distance, up to the courtyard of the high
priest, and once he got inside, he was sitting with the servants, to see the outcome. And the high priest and
the entire Sanhedrin were looking for false testimony against Jesus by which they could put him to death,
and they had not found it from the many false witnesses who had come forward. But then later, two came
forward and said, "This man said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God, and in three days to build it
again.'"
And the high priest rose and said to him, "Aren't you answering anything? What about this they are
testifying against you?" But Jesus was keeping silent. And the high priest said to him, "I adjure you by the
living God that you declare under oath whether you are the Messiah, the Son of God."
Jesus says to him, "You said that. Nevertheless I say to you: after now you shall all see the Son of Man
sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven."
Then the high priest tore his robe, saying, "He has blasphemed! What more need to we have for
witnesses? Behold, now you have heard the blasphemy. How does it look to you?"
And they said in answer, "He is guilty enough for death." Then they spit on his face and pummeled him;
they slapped him while saying, "Prophesy to us, you Messiah who is the one who hit you?"

Peter Disowns Jesus

And Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and one maidservant approached him, saying, "You also
were with Jesus the Galilean."
202

26:41 The Greek is ambiguous as to whether it means that the activity of praying would prevent them from going into temptation,
or that their prayer request should be that they not go into temptation. Both could in fact be true simultaneously.
203 26:49 The Greek word used as greeting here means literally something like "Joy" or "Rejoice." But insert any cheerful greeting
here used in your culture or language.

52
But he was denying it before all of them, saying, "I do not know what you are saying."
And after he had moved off into the entrance way, another maidservant saw him and is saying to the ones

there, "This man was with Jesus the Nazarene."

And again he was denying it, with an oath: "I do not know the man."
And after a little while those standing there said to Peter, "You definitely are also one of them, because
your speech also gives you away."
Then he began to curse and swear, saying, "I do not know the man." And immediately a rooster crowed.
And Peter was reminded of the statement Jesus had said, that "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me
three times." And he went off outside, and wept bitterly.

Chapter 27
Judas Hangs Himself
And very early in the morning, they all, the chief priests and elders of the people, reached the decision
against Jesus that they would put him to death. And they bound him, and led him away, and handed him
over to Pilate the governor.
Then, when Judas the one who betrayed him saw that he was condemned, he with remorse returned the
thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, "I have sinned; I have betrayed innocent blood."
But they said, "What is that to us? You deal with that."
And after throwing the silver into the temple, he departed, and went off and hung himself. And the chief
priests when they picked up the pieces of silver, said, "It is not permissible to put them in the temple
treasury, since it is blood price money."
And after conferring on a course of action, they bought with the coins the potter's field, as a burial place
for foreigners. For which reason that field has been called "the Field of Blood" to this day. Then was
fulfilled what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, which says,

"And they took the thirty pieces of silver,

the price of him on whom
a price had been set,
as priced by the sons of Israel,204
and they traded them for the potter's field,
just as the Lord directed me."205

Jesus Before Pilate

And Jesus was stood before the governor; and the governor examined him, saying, "YOU are the king of

the Jews?"
And he said, "You are saying that, not I."206 And during the whole time he was being accused by the
chief priests and elders, he was not responding at all.
Then Pilate says to him, "Don't you hear all the things they are charging you with?" And he gave him
no answer, not to even a single charge, causing the governor to be greatly astonished.
Now the governor had become accustomed at every Festival to release one prisoner to the crowd whom
they wanted. And they were holding at that time a particularly well-known prisoner named Barabbas.207

204

27:9 The last phrase of verse 9 is difficult to translate. See the endnote about it at the end of this document.
27:10 Zechariah 11:12,13; Jeremiah 32:6-9
206 27:11 The BDF grammar in 277(1) says that this use of the nominative of a pronoun was used for contrast or other emphasis. In
this case, "you" is emphasized, as in "YOU are the king of the Jews?" Blass says Pilate is expressing surprise as follows: "A man
like you, is king of the Jews?!" And in response also, Jesus' answer starts out with an emphatic you: "You are saying that, not I." In
the gospel of John, it is more clear: "You are saying that I am a king; I am saying that I have come to testify to the truth." But see the
endnote in my translation of the gospel of Mark, for discussion of other possibilities.
205

53
When therefore they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, "Which do you want me to release to you,
Barabbas,208 or Jesus who is called Christ?" (For he knew that it was out of envy that they had handed him

over.)
And while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him as follows: "Have nothing to do
with that righteous man, for I have suffered much today because of a dream about him." 209 And the chief
priests and the elders manipulated the crowd so that they would ask to have Barabbas, but Jesus they would
put to death.
But when the governor answered, he said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?"
And they said, "Barabbas."
Pilate is saying to them, "What then should I do with Jesus who is called Christ?"
They are saying, "Let him be crucified!"
But Pilate was saying, "Why? What crime has he committed?"
But they kept shouting that much more, saying, "Let him be crucified!"
And when Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took
some water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood. 210 You
see to that yourselves."
And in response the whole crowd said, "Let his blood be on us and on our children." At that time, he
released Barabbas to them, but Jesus, after scourging him, he handed over to be crucified.

The Soldiers Mock Jesus

Then the soldiers who were guarding Jesus, after taking him into the Praetorium, gathered together onto
him the whole cohort. And they stripped him of his clothes and placed around him a scarlet robe, and
after weaving together a crown of thorns they set that211 on his head, and a rod212 in his right hand, and then
they dropped to their knees before him and mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And after they
spit on him, they took the rod, and repeatedly beat on his head. And when they had mocked him, they
stripped him of the scarlet robe and put his own clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him.

27:16 txt A B D L W 0250 ita,aur,b,d,f,ff1,ff2,hl,q,r1 vg syrp,h,palms copsa,meg,bo eth geo (Diatessaronarm) Origenlat; Jerome
Augustine TR HF RP () syrs,palmss arm geo Origen mssacc. to Peter-Laodicea [NA27] {C} lacuna C N P syrc. It
is possible that the original gospel of Matthew said "Jesus Barabbas." And possible that, according to the Editorial Committee of the
United Bible Societies Greek New Testament, the word "Jesus" in connection to Barabbas was "deliberately suppressed in most
witnesses for reverential considerations." For example, acc. to the UBS textual commentary, Origen stated, it cannot be right,
because, "In the whole range of the scriptures we know that no one who is a sinner [is called] Jesus." Origen, though admitting that
Barabbas was called Jesus, nevertheless suppressed this in his work. In many even later witnesses, the copyists state in the margin
that the earlier copies call Barabbas Jesus as well. But, they suppressed it, and the subsequent copies did not say Jesus Barabbas.
Westcott and Hort however, state that the reading "Jesus Barabbas" was probably due to a scribe's error in transcription. Some say it
is still easier to explain why "Jesus" might have been deleted than why it might have gotten added. In addition, having two men
named Jesus fits better with the phrase of Pilate, found in all manuscripts, "or the Jesus called Christ," where he seems to be setting
them off in a needed contradistinction. The fact is, according to Josephus, Jesus was not an uncommon name among Jews. After all,
Joshua was a big hero in Judaism, and Jesus is simply a form of the name Joshua.
208 27:17 txt A D L W 0250 copsa,meg,bo (Diatessaronarm) TR HF RP B Origen msacc. to Origen lat;
Jerome Augustine or ita,aur,b,d,f,ff1,ff2,h,l,q,r1 vg syrp,h,palms eth geo syrs,palmss arm
geo Origenlat mssacc. to Origen gr [NA27] {C} lacuna C N P syrc. According to the UBS textual commentary, "In ver. 17 the
word could have been accidentally added or deleted by transcribers owing to the presence of before it (IN).
Furthermore, the reading of B 1010 ( ) appears to presuppose in an ancestor the presence of .
209 27:19 It is not certain whether Pilate's wife was saying. "Suffered much because of a dream about him," or "suffered much in a
dream because of him," or "suffered much in a dream about him."
210 27:24 Many manuscripts read "this righteous man's blood." Still others read, "this righteous blood." The UBS editorial
committee, in the Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, comment on this as follows: "The words (compare
the variant reading in ver. 4), which occur at different places in a variety of manuscripts (but not in the best representatives of the
Alexandrian, Western, and Caesarean texts), appear to be an accretion intended to accentuate Pilate's protestation of Jesus'
innocence." The committee gives the shortest reading, "this man's blood," a B rating of certainty, which indicates that the text is
"almost certain."
211 27:29a There is no demonstrative pronoun here meaning "that" specifically, but this word serves to indicate in English that they
set both the crown of thorns AND the sceptre. Otherwise, the sceptre has no verb.
212 27:29b The Greek word means a wooden stalk, reed or staff. The obvious purpose was to be a mock sceptre, for the King of the
Jews.
207

54
The Crucifixion
And as they were leading him out, they encountered a Cyrenian man by the name of Simon. This man
they conscripted to carry his cross. And when they came to the place called Gulgolta, which is called the
"skull" place, they offered him wine to drink, mixed with a bitter drug; 213 and after tasting it, he refused to
drink it. And once they had crucified him, they divied up his garments by casting lots. And sitting down,
they kept watch over him there. And they fastened above his head his specific charge, written as follows:
"THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS." There were being crucified along with him at that time
two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. And those passing by defamed him, wagging their heads
and saying, "Hey, you who destroys214 the temple and builds another one in three days, save yourself, if you
are the son of God, and come down from the cross." In the same way also the chief priests, making fun
along with the Torah scholars and the elders, were saying, "Others he saved; himself he cannot save. He is
the King of Israel? Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He put his trust in
God; let Him now rescue him, if he wants him. Because he did say, 'I am God's son.'" In the same way the
bandits who were crucified with him were also taunting him.

Jesus' Death
And starting from the sixth hour, darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.215 And at
about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a very loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lema shebaqtani?" Which means,
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
And some standing there who heard this were saying, "This man is calling Elijah."216 And quickly one
of them ran and got a sponge and soaked it with sour wine, and after sticking it on a reed, was giving him a
drink.
But the rest were saying, "Back off. Let's see if Elijah comes to save 217 him." 218 But Jesus, after crying
out again in a loud voice, gave up his spirit.219 And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two from top
to bottom, and the earth was shaken, and the rocks split open, and the tombs were opened up,220 and many

27:34 The Greek word is - chl, the exact meaning of which is uncertain. It is related to the word for gall bladder, chlos. Another reason it is most often associated with the gall bladder, was because it was yellow in color like bile, which is the
secretion of the gall bladder. But the word was also used for many other things, such as the ink secretion of a certain fish, the poison
of hemlock, a serpent's venom, and of bitterness in general, including, according to the Liddell & Scott lexicon along with other
lexical authorities, that in the New Testament, this word means a bitter, yellow ingredient of a drink. One thing certain about this
word is that it referred to a substance that tasted very bad, and probably more specifically, tasted bitter. In conclusion, it was
probably some kind of drug meant to ease the distress of his coming trauma.
214 27:40 The nominative article used as vocative, that is, the case or lexical form for addressing someone.
215 27:45 That is, from noon until 3:00 p.m. In the Jewish system of that time, the first hour was the first hour of daylight, or 6:00
a.m. Thus, the sixth hour would be 12:00, six hours later, and the ninth hour was 9 hours after 6, which is 3:00 o'clock.
216 27:47 This shows that the bystanders did not know Hebrew or Aramaic. The sign above Jesus head was written in three
languages for good reason. Most Jews of that day could not read the scriptures in Hebrew, and so it is no surprise that they did not
recognize this spoken form of the Hebrew name for God.
217 27:49 The verb for save here is in the form of a future participle, which is a rare but allowable use thereof in place of the infinitive
of purpose. BDF 351(1), but see also 418(4).
218 27:49b txt . A D E W 064 ita,aur,b,d,f,ff,h,l,q,r vg syrs,p,h,palmss copsa,bo arm ethpp,TH geo Origenlat Hesychius; Jerome
Augustine TR HF RP NA27 {B} . , . (see Jn
213

19:34) B C L vgmss syrpalmss copmeg ethms [WH] lacuna N P syrc.

219 27:50 The Greek says ; literally, "he gave up the spirit." This is an expression from the Hebrew scriptures, or
Old Testament, where the word for breath and spirit are the same. It says in Genesis that God breathed into man and animals the
breath of life. When you give up the breath, it means to die. Same as if you give up the soul or spirit. This same saying is found in
the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, called the Septuagint, in Genesis 35:18, where it says,
, , ..., "Now it came about that when she have up her soul (for she was
dying), she called his name..." It is interesting that the need was felt to clarify that she was dying. In the gospel of Luke, in 23:46,
Jesus himself says, , - "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." And in John
19:30 it says that Jesus , "gave up his spirit."
27:52a txt c B D TR RP NA28 SBL {\} A
C* C L W lac. N P.
220

55
bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised again, and after coming out of the tombs at the time
of His resurrection, they went into the holy city and showed themselves to many.
And the centurion and the ones with him who were guarding Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the
other things that happened, they were severely frightened, saying, "This man really was the Son of God."
And there were present many women off at a distance observing, who had followed Jesus from Galiliee
providing for him; among whom were Mary the Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and
the mother of Zebedee's sons as well.

Jesus' Burial
And when evening had come, a certain rich man of Arimathea by the name of Joseph came, who himself
had also become a disciple of Jesus. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate
thereupon ordered that it be handed over to him. And after taking the body, Joseph wrapped it in clean
linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had hewn out of the rock. And after rolling a large
stone up against the entrance of the tomb, he departed.
Now Mary the Magdalene, along with the other Mary, was221 there throughout, sitting opposite the grave
site.

The Guard at the Tomb

The next day, that is, the one which is after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered
together before Pilate, saying, "Sir, we remember how that deceiver, when he was still living, said, 'After
three days I will rise again.' Give orders therefore to secure the grave site through the third day, or his
disciples might go steal him and then tell the people, 'He has risen from the dead,' and this last deception will
be worse than the first."
Pilate said to them, "You have a guard.222 Go secure it as best you know how." So they went and
secured the grave site, sealing the stone along with stationing223 the guard.

Chapter 28
The Empty Tomb
And after the Sabbath,224 at the dawning of the first day of the week, Mary the Magdalene and the other
Mary went to view the grave site. And behold, there came a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord had

come down from heaven, and after going up to the tomb, he had rolled away the stone, and was sitting down
now on top of it. And his face225 was like lightning, and his garments a gleaming white like snow. And for
fear of him, the guards trembled, and became226 as dead men.
But in response, the angel said to the women, "You should not be afraid, for I know that you are looking
for Jesus the crucified man. He is not here. For he has risen just as he said. Come, see the place where he

221

27:61 The verb "was" is in the singular, because the main subject of and focus of this account is Mary the Magdalene.
27:65 The word "guard" here is a collective noun. It does not mean one man who is a guard, but a contingent of guards. Pilate
may be giving them some guards here, but more likely, he is referring to the company of guards that the Jewish religious authorities
already had charge of, by Pilate's authority, for the purpose of guarding the temple, and enforcing their exclusive legal jurisdiction,
which Rome allowed in some matters of their Jewish religious law.
223 27:66 The Greek preposition - met here, according to Bauer, "makes the stationing of the guard an accompaniment to the
sealing of the stone." But he also says in parentheses that this could be an instrumental use of , meaning that the placing of the
guard was the means of sealing the stone. But also, under the entry for - sphragz, to seal, he says that there could also
have been a literal means of fastening the stone securely to the tomb so that it could not be moved.
224 28:1 The phrase might seem to mean "late part of the Sabbath," but according to BDF 164(4), this is a
"partitive genitive," which has the end result of meaning, "after the Sabbath."
225 28:3 Some manuscripts say ida, and others say eida. Both are words of vision, that is, appearance. The former
has more the nuance of the face (visage) than does the latter. The latter is a word covering more of the appearance in general rather
than just the countenance.
226 28:4 txt B C* D L NA28 A W RP
222

56
was lying. And quick, go tell his disciples as follows, 'He has risen from the dead. And behold, he is going
ahead of you into Galilee; there you will see him.' There, I have told you."
And they departed quickly from the tomb, and with fear and great joy they ran to report this to his
disciples. And behold, Jesus met up with them, saying, "Good morning." And after approaching him, they
grasped onto his feet, and worshiped him.
Then Jesus is telling them, "Do not be afraid. Go report to my brothers that I am leaving for Galilee, and
they will see me there."

The Official Cover-Up

And while those were on their way, behold, some of the guard went into the city and reported to the chief
priests everything that had happened. And after coming together with the elders, they came up with a plan,
and took the sufficient amount of silver coins and gave them to the soldiers, telling them, "Say that his
disciples came by night and stole him while you were sleeping. And if this should ever reach the ears of the
governor, we will satisfy him227 and make you have no worries." And they accepted the silver coins and
did as they were told. And this story has been propagated by the Jews to this day.

The Assembly on the Mountain in Galilee

And the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. And when
they saw him, they worshiped him, though some hesitated. And Jesus approached them and spoke to them,
saying, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
keep everything, whatever things I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of
the age." 228

28:14 Some manuscripts do not have - autn - "him" here. Without this word present, the meaning could be, "we will
satisfy you and make you have no worries." Either reading is within reason.
227

228

28:20 omit B A* D W itaur,d,e,ff,h,n,q vg syrpalmss copsa,meg,bopt arm ethpp,TH geo1,B Origenvid Chrysostom Severianvid Cyril Jerome NA28 add

Ac E ita,b,c,f,ff,l vgmss syrp,h,palms copbopt ethms geoA Apostolic Constitutions TR RP lac C L N P.

57
ENDNOTES
Endnote #1 Names of God
How To Pronounce the Names of God in the Original Languages
There has been a surge of interest recently in how to pronounce God's and Jesus' real names exactly. Also, in
how we got the name "Jesus." If you want to say "Jesus Christ" in Hebrew, following is how you do it, and
then an explanation of how it became "Jesus Christ" in English. This is provided to the body of Christ as a
ministry of David Robert Palmer, a servant of Jesus.
Joshua in places such as Deuteronomy 3:21 and Judges 2:7, was spelled the longer way:

ahy

(But remember, you read Hebrew from right to left.)

Thus, from left to right for the sake of pronunciation:

yodh

shwa

he

= y , = h ,

holam vav

shin

shuruk

= sh,

ayin patah

= oo,

= a

"y-h-shu-a"
The letter shwa, , transliterated as , is a half-vowel, a barely-pronounced short "e."
The letter named holam vav, , transliterated as , is pronounced like the "o" in "roll." Sometimes the

holam vav is transliterated as "w," to distinguish it from the kamats hatuf, which is a shorter "o" sound.
But putting the "w" in there is confusing, and does more harm than good. The "w" just means that you round
your lips more when you say a holam, than when you say a kamats hatuf. The kamats hatuf, , is more like
the "o" in "hot," or the "aw" sound in "lawn." (Unfortunately, the plain kamats, , or "a" as in father, looks
just the same.)

The letter named ayin, , transliterated as , is a pharyngeal consonant, a sound for which we have no
equivalent in English. It is accomplished by tightening the pharynx slightly, right as you begin saying the
"a." It is something like when you gargle, how you tighten your throat to keep the stuff from going down no
farther than the top of your throat.
The letter named shuruk, , transliterated as or oo, is a "u" sound like in "moon."
So the original name of Joshua was pronounced (according to the vowels inserted much later into the
Masoretic text):

"y-h-shu-a"

(with the emphasis on the "ho" syllable)

58
But, according to Numbers 13:16, Moses changed Yehoshua's name to Yeshua, as follows:
The later shorter version of "Joshua:"

ay
Yeshua,

(Remember, you read Hebrew from right to left.)

pronounced Yay-shoo-a, with the "a" in the first syllable "yay" being long, like in "rake."

Hebrew for the word "Anointed," from which we get the English words "Messiah," and "Christ." (See ; 2
Sam 23:1; 2 Chron. 6:42, Psalm 2:2)

Ma

Moshiach

Pronounced "maw-shee-ach," the "ch" as in Bach

The Hebrew article, i.e., the word for "the," is the word "ha." So if you wanted to say Jesus the Christ, that
is, Jesus the Anointed One, in Hebrew, it would be Yeshua Ha-Moshiach."
Jesus' name in Greek is (Isos), "Yaysoos," which was a common enough name for Jews in the
time of Greek language ascendancy and Hebrew language descendancy. This is the form of the name into
which the Jewish scholars of Alexandria, Egypt, translated the name Joshua from the Hebrew into Greek for
their translation of the Jewish Bible into Greek a couple centuries before Christ. Thus the title page of the
book of Joshua in the Greek translation of the Jewish Bible (the Septuagint or LXX) reads
(Isos Nau), "Jesus son of Nun." So Isos (Yaysoos) was the transliteration of the Hebrew ya
"Yayshua," which was a later form of the Hebrew name of Joshua, yhshua "Y'hoshua."
(Numbers 13:16 says Moses changed it.) The "sh" sound of the Hebrew letter shin, became the "s" sound
of the Greek letter , "sigma," because the Greek language did not have the sound "sh." And the "s" was
added on to the end of the name for Greek, because that is simply the ending that the Greek language added
on to the end of masculine names. The endings of Semitic names were Hellenized (Grecized) in different
ways, depending sometimes, for example, on whether they ended in a consonant or a vowel. Names ending
with a consonant like Jacob and Eleazar received in their nominative case form a final 'os,' and thus Yacov
(Jacob) became Yacobos and Eleazar became Lazaros (Lazarus). Names ending in a vowel, like Levi and
Yeshu, received in their nominative form a final 's,' and thus Levi became Lewis (Greek had no v sound)
Yeshu became Yesus. The 'Yesus' was in turn transliterated into English, after first passing through Latin,
and some initial 'Y's became J's. The route by which the Y of Y'huda (Judah) became the J of 'Jew,' or the Y
of Yacov became the J of Jacob, is the same route by which the Y of Yeshua and Yesous became the J of
Jesus. In other languages also, Y's become J's. For example in Spanish, the pronoun meaning "I," "yo," is
often pronounced "jo."
As for the Z sound, one myth is that the second syllable of the name Jesus came from the Greek god Zeus.
In fact, the final 's' as said before was the Hellenization of the name. And the 'z' sound of the middle 's' is
simply the common phenomenon of "phonological assimilation." In this case, the normally unvoiced letter
's' experiences a peer pressure 'squeeze' by the voicedness of the vowels before and after it, and so the "s"
takes on, 'assimilates,' that voicedness, and becomes the voiced version of s, which is 'z.' This phenomenon
occurs in many other English words as well. For example, when we pluralize a word in English, we add the
letter "s" to it. When we speak of more than one rock, we add an "s" sound on the end, and say "rocks."
When we speak of more than one cliff, we add an "s" sound to the end, and it becomes "cliffs." Now, the
final sounds of both "rock" and "cliff" are unvoiced, so the "s" added to them remains unvoiced. However,
when we add an "s" to a word that ends in a voiced letter, like a vowel, the "s" assimilates to the voicedness
of the vowel. For example, the when we speak of more than one key, we add an "s" to it, but the "s"
becomes a "z" sound, which is the voiced version of "s." For another example, when we speak of more than
one car, we add an "s" to it, and the result is the word "cars." But now, the "s" has become a "z" sound,

59
which is the voiced version of "s." This is the same principle of phonological assimilation that happens in
the word "Jesus." The "s" becomes a "z" sound simply because of the influence of the two voiced vowels
surrounding it.
The name Jesus was completely Jewish. In the time of Jesus Christ, many Jews did not speak Hebrew.
Hence the need for the Greek Septuagint and the Aramaic "Targums." Hebrew was probably spoken only in
and around Jerusalem, by the scribes and priests who were trying to keep it alive. Depending on where they
lived, Jews would have spoken Aramaic, Greek or Latin, or two or all of them. According to the Jewish
historian Flavius Josephus, the name "Jesus" was a not uncommon name for Greek-speaking Jews in the
Greek speaking era. In Galilee especially, which was a cosmopolitan district, with Latin and Greek being
necessary for effective commerce, there would have been many Jews who read their Bible only in Greek, in
the Septuagint. There were several Jews named Jesus mentioned in the Septuagint and in Josephus' histories
of the Jews.
Yahveh and Adonai in Hebrew font:
YHVH:
( The letters are in reverse order to English. Unreversed: Yodh-He-Vav-He
Sometimes you will see this name spelled "Yahveh," and other times, "Yahweh." Similarly, the name of the
letter , "vav," is sometimes also spelled "waw." This is because in ancient Hebrew, this sound used to be
pronounced "w." But now in modern Hebrew it sounds like an English "v." The original Hebrew vav may
have acutally been neither like our English V or W, but rather a sound formed similar to a W, but heard like a
V, such as there is in Spanish.
This is very easy for a Spanish-speaking person to understand. Because the Spanish language has this same
sound, quite close to the "vav" ( ) sound of Hebrew. In most Spanish words, there is neither difference in
sound nor method of articulation, between the letters "B" and "V." Take for example, the name "Gustavo."
If the name were spelled "Gustabo," they would pronounce it no differently. So also in Hebrew, the letter
Beyt ( ) sounds identical and is produced the same way, as the letter "waw" ( ) . Only when the Beyt has
a dot in the middle ( ) is the Beyt pronounced like our English "B." If you are unable or unwilling to
pronounce the "waw" ( ) in "Yahweh" correctly, there is no spiritual disadvantage to you. God's name is
not a magic incantation, or an "open sesame" that is required to be pronounced exactly right or God won't
hear you. God has shown perfect willingness over the millennia to answer prayers made to all of his names,
in all the different variations of them caused by all the different languages of the world. If you are relying on
pronouncing this name exactly right, you are on shaky ground, because no one is absolutely certain
how it is pronounced, since the Hebrew scribes forgot exactly which vowels used to be included with these
four consonants.
Following is the Hebrew for "Said Yahweh to my lord" from Psalm 110:1

(remember, from right to left, so: num yhowah ladn

One theory is that, since the original Hebrew scriptures did not have vowels marked in them, and the
Israelites never uttered Yahveh's name, they forgot which vowels were in the name, so when the Nakdan and
Masorete scribes added vowels after the time of Christ, they decided to put in the vowels from "Adonai"
instead. So, the result of forcing the vowels of Adonai into YHVH, was the following fictional word:

thus, yhvh

This word Jehovah, they say, is not a real word therefore.

60
But many disagree, including Davidson in The Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon, Hendrickson
Publishers, page 171, where he says as follows:
the most sacred name of God, expressive of His eternal, Self-existence, first
communicated to the Hebrews, Ex. 3:14, comp. chap. 6:3. This name appears to be
composed of( fut. of , like from ) and ( preterite by aphaeresis for) ,
the verb to be being twice repeated as in Ex. 3:14. If we supply between these words
we obtain nearly the same sense as expressed there in the words . The
Jews who (from an early date) believed this name incommunicable, substituted, in the
pronunciation, the consonants of
, the vowels being alike in both words (with the
exception of simple and composite Sheva), and according to these the punctuators suited the
vowels of the prefixes when coming to stand before , as
, ,
according to
,
,
. Where, however, is already preceded by
,
to avoid repetition, they furnished it with the vowels of
, in order that it be
pronounced with its consonants, so that
is to be read

. The
punctuators seem to intimate the originality of the vowels of by not pointing Yod with
Hhateph Pattah ( ) to indicate the reading of
just as they point it with HhatephSegol to indicate the reading of
. We could, moreover, not account for the
abbreviated forms , prefixed to so many proper names, unless we consider the vowels
of original.
Now, the question arises, How important is it that we pronounce God's and Jesus' names just right? Here are
some points to consider:
God knows all things. God knows what is in the heart and mind of every one. God
therefore also knows when he is being called upon.
The kingdom of heaven belongs to little children. Little children do not pronounce words
just right, yet God never turns them away. Unless you become like a little child, you shall
never enter the Kingdom of God.
The Israelites, the ones who received the pronunciation of Yehovah, lost it. If they don't
know the exact pronunciation, then we today sure don't.
All my life I have observed that God honors and answers the prayers of people who pray to
"God," which is a Germanic word related to the word "gut" which meant "good." Indeed,
"good" is one of God's "names" or character traits.
God is concerned about our heart attitudes, not that we pronounce things exactly.
It is a trait of the Pharisees, that they insisted on correctness in such minutiae, but failed to
get their attitudes right. And Jesus guaranteed to the Pharisees that they would not escape
being sentenced to Gehenna, the lake of fire.
We all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but Love builds up / edifies. Everything we
say and teach should be out of love for our brother / sister, to help him or her succeed in their
journey to eternal life.

61
I have heard many say that Mary (Miryam), the mother of Jesus, since she was a Jew, must have named her
son Yeshua. This may well be, but we do not know this for sure. In Galilee, close as it was to the Greekspeaking and Latin-speaking cities Sephoris and Tiberias, they probably spoke both Aramaic and Greek, and
even some Latin. Documents found among the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Qumran caves included Greeklanguage documents, and in the Cave of Letters, personal documents were found that were written in Greek.
Jews of Galilee in Jesus' day were at a minimum bilingual- Aramaic and Greek, and probably spoke at least
four languages. Here is a link to a discussion of Greek-language documents found in the Cave of Letters:
http://www.stoa.org/diotima/essays/118267.pdf
For all we know, Mary named her son the Greek name, Yaysoos. I translated the gospel of Luke from Greek
to English, and from how Mary quotes the Old Testament in Luke chapter 1, it sure looks like she (or maybe
Luke) read and quoted the Greek Old Testament scriptures, the Septuagint. But we don't know for sure.
The good news about Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection on our behalf, has been spread all around
the world. In Spanish, Jesus' name is pronounced "Hess-oos." In German it is pronounced "Yay-soos." The
name "Jesus" has saved many in many different cultures and languages, where they pronounce God and
Jesus in many different ways. God honors all these pronunciations. Sure, you can pronounce Jesus' name as
"Y'shua" if you like. But since billions of people in the world already know him as "Jesus" and not "Y'shua,"
you may come across as strange when you do say "Y'shua," because those billions of people won't know who
or what you are talking about.
Some people make the argument that the word "Jesus" does not mean anything, whereas the word "Y'shua"
does, means "Ya is salvation." But this argument is not valid. Because "Y'shua" did not mean anything to
you until after someone explained to you that it means "Ya is salvation." In the same way also, the gospel of
Matthew, in 1:21, explains to you that "Jesus" was named Jesus, "because he shall save his people from their
sins." Any competent pastor or teacher would then proceed to explain that "Jesus" comes from a Hebrew
name that means "God is salvation." So either way, Y'shua or Jesus, you don't know what it means until
someone explains it to you.

Endnote #2 - Genealogies
MATTHEW'S AND LUKE'S GENEALOGIES APPEAR TO GIVE CONFLICTING
GENEALOGIES OF JOSEPH THE HUSBAND OF MARY.
Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:28-38
MATTHEW
Abraham
Isaac
Jacob
Judah
Perez
Hezron
Aram
Amminadab
Nahshon
Salmon
Boaz
Obed
Jesse
David

LUKE
Abraham
Isaac
Jacob
Judah
Perez
Hezron
Aram
Amminada
b
Nahshon
Salmon
Boaz
Obed
Jesse
David

62
Solomon
Rehoboam
Abijah
Asa
Jehoshaphat
Joram
Uzziah
Jotham
Ahaz
Hezekiah
Manasseh
Amos/Amon
Josiah
Jeconiah

Nathan
Mattatha
Menna
Melea
Eliakim
Jonam
Joseph
Judah
Simeon
Levi
Matthat
Jorim
Eliezer
Joshua

Shealtiel
Zerubbabel
Abiud
Eliakim
Azor
Zadok
Achim
Eliud
Eleazar
Matthan
Jacob
Joseph
Jesus

Er
Elmadam
Cosam
Addi
Melki
Neri
Shealtiel
Zerubbabel
Rhesa
Joanan
Joda
Josech
Semein
Mattathias
Joseph
Jannai
Melki
Levi
Matthat
Heli
Joseph
Jesus

It should be noted that though Matthew states in 1:17 that there are three sets of 14 generations, there are
only 13 generations in his 3rd set. He also left out two generations from the second set which would have
made that set 16 generations. After Josiah came Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin, according to 2 Kings 23:34
24:6. Thus it seems Matthew made these sets for some purpose such as to be a memorization aid or teaching
aid.
Following is taken from an article on the Internet: http://www.carm.org/diff/2geneologies.htm
Both Matthew 1 and Luke 3 contain genealogies of Jesus. But there is one problem. They are different.
Luke's Genealogy starts at Adam and goes to David. Matthew's Genealogy starts at Abraham and goes to
David. When the genealogies arrive at David, they split with David's sons: Nathan (Mary's side) and
Solomon (Joseph's side).
There is no discrepancy because one genealogy is for Mary and the other is for Joseph. It was customary
to mention the genealogy through the father even though it was clearly known that it was through Mary.

63
First, realize that the Bible should be interpreted in the context of its literary style, culture, and history.
Breaking up genealogies into male and female representations was acceptable in the ancient Near East
culture since it was often impolite to speak of women without proper conditions being met: male presence,
etc. One genealogy is of Mary and the other of Joseph, even though both mention Joseph. In other words,
the Mary was counted "in" Joseph and under his headship.
Second, do any critics actually think that those who collected the books of the New Testament, and who
believed it was inerrant, were unaware of this blatant differentiation in genealogies? Does anyone actually
think that the Christians were so dense that they were unaware of the differences in the genealogy lists,
closed their eyes and put the gospels into the canon anyway hoping no one would notice? Not at all. They
knew the cultural context and had no problem with it knowing that one was of Joseph and the other of Mary.
Third, notice that Luke starts with Mary and goes backwards to Adam. Matthew starts with Abraham and
goes forward to Joseph. The intents of the genealogies were different which is seen in their styles. Luke was
not written to the Jews, Matthew was. Therefore, Matthew would carry the legal line (from Abraham
through David) and Luke the biological one (from Adam through David). Also, notice that Luke's first three
chapters mention Mary eleven times; hence, the genealogy from her. Fourth, notice Luke 3:23, "And when
He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being supposedly the son of Joseph, the
son of Eli," This designation "supposedly" seems to signify the Marian genealogy since it seems to indicate
that Jesus is not the biological son of Joseph.
Finally, in the Joseph genealogy there is a man named Jeconiah. God cursed Jeconiah (also called
Coniah), stating that no descendant of his would ever sit on the throne of David, "For no man of his
descendants will prosper sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah," (Jer. 22:30). But Jesus, of
course, will sit on the throne in the heavenly kingdom. The point is that Jesus is not a biological descendant
of Jeconiah, but through the other lineage -- that of Mary. Hence, the prophetic curse upon Jeconiah stands
inviolate. But, the legal adoption of Jesus by Joseph reckoned the legal rights of Joseph to Jesus as a son, not
the biological curse. This is why we need two genealogies: one of Mary (the actually biological line
according to prophecy), and the legal line through Joseph.
Again, the early church knew this and had no problem with it. It is only the critics of today who narrow
their vision and require this to be a "contradiction" when in reality we have an explanation that is more than
sufficient.

ENDNOTE #3
WHAT O.T. PROPHECIES WAS MATTHEW REFERRING TO WHICH SAID OF JESUS, "HE
SHALL BE CALLED A NAZARENE"?
Diatess. 3:10; Mt 2:23
PROBLEM: In Matthew 2:23, Matthew says, "And having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the
district of Galilee, and went and lived in a town called Nazareth, so that what was spoken through the
prophets would be fulfilled, that he will be called a Nazarene." Greek: - Nazraios. But there is
no passage in the Old Testament prophets which says this.
Note that Matthew says here, "what was spoken through the prophets" with prophets in the plural. This is
why I did not put the prediction in quotes, because it is not one specific prophecy, but a general one from
more than one prophet. Some interpreters see the key to be the Semitic root word "netser" meaning
"branch," which when spoken aloud, sounds similar to the "nazar" of Nazaroian. The Greek sound "dzeta"
would be the natural letter for translators to use to render the Hebrew "tsade." Thus, shall be "called" a
Nazaroian. And these interpreters thus connect it to Isaiah 11:1 where the Semitic "netser" root was used:
"Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit." But since
Matthew says "prophets," plural, this one Isaiah passage alone is probably not what he meant. He was
probably also alluding to several passages in the Hebrew scriptures that use another related Hebrew word,
Isaiah 4:2 "a Branch of Yahweh"; Jeremiah 23:5 "I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall
reign as king..."; Jeremiah 33:15 "I will cause a righteous branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute

64
justice and righteousness in the land"; Zechariah 3:8 "...I will bring my servant the Branch"; Zechariah 6:12
"Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the
temple of Yahweh." (For what it's worth, the Greek word [nezer] in the Septuagint is translated as
"crown" in IV Kings 11:12; in our Bible, II Kings 11:12)
This term "Nazarene" came to be a general term of contempt, considering the Judeans' view of Galileans and
Samaritans as polluted genetically and contemptible. Nazareth was an unlikely place for the Messiah to be
from, because Nazareth was held in contempt. Nathaniel said in John 1:46, "Nazareth! Can anything good
come from there?" In John 7:52, the Pharisees scorned the temple guards, saying, "Are you also from
Galilee? Search and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee." The Pharisees in John 8:48 told Jesus, "Do
we not rightly say that you are a Samaritan?" For the town of Nazareth was quite close to Samaria.
Therefore, perhaps Matthew viewed Jesus' living in Nazareth as a fulfillment of several Old Testament
prophecies which predict that the Messiah would be despised, combined with Isaiah 9:1,2 which says that a
light will dawn on Galilee of the Gentiles, the geographical territory where Nazareth was, an area held in
contempt by the Judeans. In fact, after the time of Jesus, his disciples came to be called "Notzri" by Jews
who did not believe in Jesus. This is a contemptuous epithet.
"But I am a worm, and no man; scorned by men, and despised by the people."
Psalm 22:6
"He was despised and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with grief; and as
one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we held him of no account."
Isaiah 53:3
"And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing..."
Daniel 9:26a
"In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the nations. 'The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who
lived in a land of deep darkness, on them light has shined." Isaiah 9:1-2
Combine this with the fact that Jesus declared that the prophet Jonah was a sign of Him. When people
demanded from him a sign from heaven, Jesus several times responded, "This wicked and adulterous
generation seeks a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah."
How was Jonah a sign of Jesus the Messiah? Apart from being in the heart of the earth for three days and
three nights, Jonah was a sign of Jesus in another, very important but little known way. "I will raise up for
them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth..." Deuteronomy
18:18 Did a prophet come out of Galilee? Yes, before Jesus, a prophet did indeed come out of Galilee:
Jonah, from Gath-Hepher, which was on a hill very close to if not the same hill where Nazareth later was!
See II Kings 14:25, "...according to the word of YHVH, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant
Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher." There was only one prophet named Jonah,
who was the son of Amittai. Jonah was also in Sheol / Hades, as Jesus was (Jonah 2:2). Jonah also
volunteered to be killed, in order to save the rest of the souls on the boat. Jesus volunteered to be killed, in
order the save the rest of our souls.

65
ENDNOTE #4
Matthew 14:21
The Greek word for "without" in Matthew 14:21 is (chrs), which generally means "without, apart
from." Here it could mean "besides, in addition to, not counting." But it is also possible that there were no
women and children present at all.
Let's start with what we know for sure from the narrative: that it was men only who were in the mess-parties
or groups of 50 and 100, for that is how they were counted. There would be no point in having women and
children included in the groups of 50 if they were not going to be counted. For if women and children were
in the groups of 50, and they counted only the men, does that mean that the disciples would go to each group
and count, say 25 or 30 men in a group and then move on to count in another group? There would just not be
any sense in groups of 50 unless everyone in the groups were counted. The point of the groups of 50 was to
count the crowd, everyone in the groups were counted, that's how they knew that there were 5,000: that there
were 50 or 100 in each group.
Therefore we must conclude one or the other of the following two scenarios: 1) That women and children
may have been present, but segregated, as was the custom in the synagogues, and seated separate and apart
from the men. The women and children were not in the groups of 50 and 100. This would fall within the
meaning of the word chrs. Or, (2), That no women and children were among the crowd that "ran together"
over to the place (Mark 6:33) and arrived ahead of the boat. This would be reasonable, since the children
and the women laden with infants would not be able to "run together" the four miles with the men. For the
crowd ran all the way from Capernaum, most likely, as that became Jesus' "own town," and base of
operations. They ran from Capernaum to near Bethsaida-Julias, across the lake from Capernaum. This
would be a fast run of about four miles. (When you look at the shape of the lake, it would make sense to
boat it, to go as the crow flies rather than around the hump in the shape of the lake that separated the two
towns.) In addition, John notes that the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. This festival was one of
the three "pilgrim" festivals, which only required men, not women and children, to "go up" to Jerusalem to
present themselves to the Lord (Exodus 23:17). Thus the men were already out journeying, making their
way to Jerusalem, for only there could they present themselves. So for both these reasons, it is reasonable to
conclude that only adult males were even in the crowd that went out to that remote place. For otherwise, it is
puzzling why John made note that it was almost the Passover. Moreover, there is Mark 6:44 that flatly states
that the ones eating were five thousand males, and Luke 9:14 says that those present "were about five
thousand males." And so the meaning of chrs in Matthew 14:21 would be that the men were there without
women and children. They came without them.
All that said, it would still be difficult to give meaning number 2 to chrs here for the geographical and
temporal considerations stated, but not for the use of chrsin Matthew's account of the feeding of the four
thousand in 15:38. Thus it seems most reasonable to conclude that women and children were not in the
groups of hundreds and fifties, but were still possibly present and fed, only segregated from the men.

66
ENDNOTE #5
HOW DID A ONCE-ONLY ATONEMENT OFFERING BECOME AN ANNUAL TAX?
Diatessaron 17:22, Matthew 17:24
"Then the LORD said to Moses, 'When you take the census of the Israelites to number them, at the
time he is numbered each man shall give a ransom for his life to the LORD, so that no plague may
come upon him for being numbered. Each one who crosses over to those already numbered is to
give a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is
an offering to the LORD. Each one who crosses over to those already numbered, each who is
twenty years old or more, is to give an offering to the LORD. The rich are not to give more than a
half shekel and the poor are not to give less when you make the offering to the LORD, the ransom for
your lives. You shall take the atonement money from the Israelites and shall designate it for the
service of the tent of meeting; before the LORD it will be a reminder of the ransom given for his
life.'" Exodus 30:11-16
The money offering in question was clearly a ransom for a man's life, to atone for the evil act of a man
allowing himself to be numbered. There are other scriptures that indicate God's displeasure with his people
being numbered; see for example, I Chronicles chapter 21, and 27:23,24. The atonement offering was to be
made only "when you take a census of Israel to number them." This was said in anticipation of the one
"Numbering" of Israel in the book of Numbers. A man only had to pay this atonement when he "crosses
over" to join the group of those registered in the book. Where in this scripture is there any command that a
man be counted more than once? Or annually? It says no such thing.
The New Testament apostles tell us that the old testament is given to us as ensamples, or patterns. Old
testament lessons are shadows of something real, a real object. Imagine that the light of God is shining upon
an object with substance, but all that hits the earth is the outline of the real object in the form of a shadow.
This atonement offering was such a shadow, a pattern in the shape of the real thing. The real thing is Christ.
The real thing is the crossing over from death to life. Are you numbered among the living? Have you
crossed over to join those whose name is registered in the book of life? There was a one time ransom
through the Lamb of God. If it is more than one time, it is an indulgence scam. Does God let a man be
kidnapped by Satan every year so that God can ransom the same man again?
"So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, 'You
are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to govern us, such as all the
other nations have.' But when they said, 'Give us a king to lead us,' this displeased Samuel; so he
prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: 'Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is
not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I
brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to
you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign
over them will do.' Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a
king. He said, 'This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and
make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he
will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground
and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He
will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields
and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain
and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants
and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your
flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief
from the king you have chosen for yourselves, and the LORD will not answer you in that day.' But
the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!' they said. 'We want a king over us. Then we will be

67
like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.' When
Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD. The LORD answered, 'Listen
to them and give them a king.'
I Samuel 8:4-22
God warned Israel against the dangers of a human government: the king would tax them oppressively, force
them into labor, and send their sons to their deaths in economic wars. By choosing a human king, God said,
"they have rejected me as their king." Following is what one of their kings did with the Exodus 30:11-16
scripture, the one about the one-time atonement offering.
",After this Joash decided to restore the house of the LORD. He gathered the priests and the Levites,
and said to them, 'Go out to all the cities of Judah and collect money from all Israel that you may
repair the house of your God year by year. All the funds for sacred purposes that are brought to the
temple of the LORD the money from everyone who is counted, the money from personal vows, and
all the money that any man's heart prompts him to bring into the temple of the LORD the priests may
take themselves, each from his own acquaintances. However, they must make whatever repairs on the
temple may prove necessary.' But by the twenty-third year of the reign of King Joash, the priests still
had not made needed repairs on the temple. So King Joash summoned the priest Jehoiada and the
other priests. 'Why do you not repair the temple?' he asked them. 'Now therefore, you must no longer
take funds from your acquaintances. You shall hand the money over for the repairs.' The priests
agreed that they would neither take funds from the people nor make the repairs on the temple. Then
the priest Jehoiada took a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the pillar on the right side, as
one entered the temple of the Lord. The priests who guarded the threshold put in it all the money that
was brought into the house of the LORD. Whenever they saw that there was a large amount of
money in the chest, the royal secretary and the high priest came, counted the money that had been
brought into the house of the LORD and put it into bags. When the amount had been determined,
they would give the money into the hands of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of the
LORD; and they in turn paid it out to the carpenters and the builders who worked upon the house of
the LORD, and to the masons and stonecutters, as well as to buy timber and quarried stone for
making repairs on the house of the LORD, and for any outlay upon the repairs of the house. No
reckoning was asked of the men who were provided with the funds to give to the workmen, because
they were positions of trust."
II Chronicles 24:4, 5; II Kings 12:4-12, 15
This is the first time in the Bible that it was ever suggested that the census be annual, and that each man pay
money every year when he is counted.
Note that Joash decided this. It was not commanded by God. God had been rejected as king. The decision
to make the census annual, and accompanied by a "tax," was the decision of a human king. This was a clear
disobedience to God's command. And therefore, illegal.
Note that each priest collected the money "each from his own acquaintances," v. 5. Then in verse 7, Joash
told the priests to no longer collect from their acquaintances, but apparently they continued to do so, as we
will see in the New Testament.
In addition to collecting from their own acquaintances, there was a chest placed at the entrance to the temple
for voluntary offerings. This money was then given to Levites in charge of repairing the temple. Note that
"No reckoning was asked of the men who were provided with the funds to give to the workmen, because they
were positions of trust." This system gave them opportunity to skim from the collections for themselves.
Between the time of King Joash and the time of Nehemiah, the temple was destroyed and the people of Judah
were taken into exile. After regaining an opportunity to return to Jerusalem, Ezra and Nehemiah led the
people in the effort to rebuild the city and the temple. At that time, the people said:

68
"We lay upon ourselves the obligation to charge ourselves yearly one third of a shekel for the service
of the house of our God" Nehemiah 10:32
This time, it is not a king who imposes this "temple tax" upon the people, but the people themselves who "lay
upon ourselves the obligation to charge ourselves yearly..."
Here the people themselves have set aside the scriptures in order to set up their own tradition. And is there
any human government anywhere, that, if the populace volunteers to pay a tax of some sort, would say, "No,
we do not want the money. Do not give us any money"? A voluntary or temporary tax takes on a life of its
own, and soon becomes a much larger amount, becomes more frequent, and becomes mandatory. Typical
this is of the life of a tax. Such is the fate of a people who reject God as their king and choose a human
government.
24And

when they arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two drachmas approached Peter, and
they said, "Does your rabbi not pay the two drachmas?"
25He says, "Yes he does."
And when Peter had come into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, "What do you think,
Simon: the kings of the earth, from whom do they collect toll and tribute from their sons, or from
others?"
And when he answered, "From others," Jesus said to him, "Alright then, the sons are free. But,
so that we not scandalize them, go to the lake, cast a hook, and the first fish that comes up, take, and
when you have opened its mouth, you will find a four-drachma coin. Take that, and give it to them,
as mine and yours."
Matthew 17:24-27 (DRP)
It appears that the custom of the priests collecting money "each from his own acquaintance" was still being
practiced. The collectors "came to Peter." Peter did not seek the collectors out, or pass by a toll booth, or
run an errand to a government building. No, these collectors must have been men who knew Peter, for they
came to Peter. This happened in Capernaum, Peter's hometown. That may be why they chose to come to
Peter and not to Jesus. They were men of Capernaum, and acquaintances of Peter, and not of Jesus.
The payment at issue in this passage was a Jewish religious matter. Jesus and the disciples were Sons or
Citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, so were not subject to this "tax." Remember, the Levites did not pay the
census atonement fee tax. (Numbers 1:48, 49) All those who become Citizens of the kingdom of God have
the same status in regard to this tax as the Levites had. "God has made us kings and priests, and we will
reign on the earth." Rev. 5:10 Kings do not pay the tax. And kings are what Jesus and the twelve apostles
were.
"Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their
money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came
and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.
Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, 'I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the
treasury than all the others. They all gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put
in everything all she had to live on.'" Mark 12:41-44; Luke 21:1-4
So by Jesus' time, the priests not only still collected "each from his own acquaintance," but they also
collected by means of the chest at the temple entrance.
This is typical of the life of a tax. Whether ancient Israel, or America, if the lawmaking entity adopts a tax,
say, for one time only, to be assessed only at the time of the manufacture of, say, a bullet making machine,
over time the human government manages to turn it into an annual tax, and make it apply to everyone, who
never had anything to do with a bullet making machine at all! The new generations of citizens do not study
law, and are not aware of the "intent of congress" when that tax law was written. The schools are
government run, so the schools from then on tell them that this tax must be paid annually by everyone.

69
But here is great news: In the land of the Majestic King,
"You will call to mind what once you feared: 'Where is the one who counted? (for tax purposes)
Where is the one who weighed the tribute? Where is the one who counted the treasuries?' No longer
will you see these arrogant people...For Yahweh is our judge; Yahweh is our lawgiver." Isaiah
33:18,19, 22
So, store up your treasures in heaven, where moths do not eat, rust does not destroy, thieves do not break in
and steal, and bureaucrats do not confiscate under a pretense of law.

ENDNOTE #6 "the Evil Eye"

What is the "evil eye"? ophthalms ponrs

Diatessaron 10:2, 14:10, 18:29, 23:50; Matt. 6:23, 20:15; Mark 7:22; Luke 11:34
This phrase ophthalms ponrs, "evil eye," is not original in the Greek New
Testament, but is from - rh ayin, or, with the article and modifier postpositive, ayin
hra. This is a concept from the Semitic cultures and the Hebrew scriptures. Ophthalms ponrs is used
only four times in the Greek New Testament. Two of those, Matthew 6:23 and Luke 11:34, are in the same
teaching, the "lamp of the body," and so for the purpose of understanding the meaning of the phrase from
context, these two passages really count as one context. Thus we have three contexts: the "eye is the lamp of
the body" discourse of Matthew 6:23 and Luke 11:34; the set of "evils coming out of the heart of the human
being that makes the human unclean" discourse of Mark 7:22; and the Parable of the workers in the field,
Matthew 20:15, in which the 11th hour workers receive the same wage as the 3rd hour workers. And in the
Jewish translation of the scriptures into Greek, the Septuagint, the phrase is found once, in Deuteronomy
15:9. This makes a total of four contexts from which to glean the meaning of the phrase ophthalms
ponrs.
When so few contexts are available, it is very helpful if the passages themselves designate any
antonyms to the word or phrase in question, and this fortunately is such a case. For both the Matthew and
Luke versions of the "lamp of the body" teaching show Jesus contrasting the ophthalms ponrs to the
ophthalms haplos. This word, in its uncontracted form, , is used once in the
Septuagint, in Proverbs 11:25, where it means "generous." There, the Greek - psuch hapl,
"liberal soul," is translated from the Hebrew nepe r h, for a giving, blessing, generous
person.
The contrast to generosity is easily seen in Deuteronomy 15:9, where the evil eye - rh ayin,
is a case of resenting the poor, looking on one's poor neighbor with an evil eye, resenting the year of release
of debts.
Similar is Matt. 20:15. In that passage the person with the evil eye had objected to the landowner for
giving the same amount of pay to someone who had worked one hour as he had given to someone who had
worked all day. The Greek says, "Is your eye evil because I am good?" There it seems to be a trait of
suspiciousness, ascribing unfairness or evil motives to the landowner. Or it could be simple begrudgement
of the landowner's generosity, as "Does my generosity arouse your stinginess?" Resentment or suspicion
also darken the eye. The aperture of the eye narrows when the soul feels suspicious or stingy. And by stingy
itself we mean "tight" and restricted. The word ra also can mean "discontented," as in Genesis 40:7.
Further, it remains today in Modern Hebrew that , ra - ayin means "eye of envy."
Also helpful is to note as many antonyms of as possible in all the Greek literature. It is the
opposite of , "two-fold, double;" of , "strict, accurate," and of , "compound,
mixed."
In the Septuagint the concept of the evil eye from the Hebrew was also translated into the Greek
attributive noun - bskanos, and the adjective - baskana. For instances of these words

70
in the Greek scriptures, see Proverbs 23:6, 28:22. In these and other Jewish writings in Greek, such as the
Apocrypha and Josephus, the words usually pertain to envy, covetousness, stinginess, or selfishness. An evil
eye could be generalized as an attitude of malevolence toward one's neighbor, physically signaled by a
narrowing of the eye when regarding the neighbor. The narrowing of the aperture of the eye decreases the
light coming into one's own soul, and one's light becomes darkness.
Another aspect of narrowing of the eye is an attitude of scheming as to how one can manipulate things
and people for one's own selfish gain, whether gain of power, prestige, or money. This desire arises out of
lack of contentment with what situation one already has; thus it is related to "discontented, covetous." Look
at the context of Jesus' teachings surrounding the mention of the evil eye. It is the person with the evil eye
that is scheming how to manipulate and control in order to ensure financial advantage or security for himself.
Even prayer can be used with an evil eye.
But one who is "simple," and relaxes in the knowledge of the fatherly benevolence of Elohim, does not
take thought about what he will eat or wear in the coming days. Neither does he covet what he does not
have. And rather than take advantage of the weakness and poverty of others, is cognizant that God is the
champion of the poor, the widow, the fatherless, the alien, and the traveler.
In Talmudic Judaism historically, there are many connotations of magic to the term "evil eye." There is
one aspect of evil magic that pertains to the person who has the evil eye, and there is another aspect of magic
in the efforts of others to ward off the evil eye. The magical concept probably came from Babylon, where it
was a type of voodoo worked upon others. Some examples of Talmudic mentions of the evil eye pertain to
what acts make one vulnerable to the evil eye, and others to what amulets and charms you can use to ward
off the evil eye. But teachings similar to Jesus' can be found in Avot 2:14, 2:16.
The voodoo aspect of the evil eye got obscured when translated into Greek because it was translated by
more than just the words "evil eye." Deut. 28:54, 56 talk of "hapalos" persons being changed by God's curse,
and becoming persons who look with evil eye - rh ayin, on their spouses or neighbors. Here the
Greek verb for looking with an evil eye, is - baskan. I say this to introduce Galatians 3:1 in the
New Testament, where Paul uses baskan for "bewitch" when he says, "O foolish Galatians, who has
bewitched you...? The idea of Galatians chapter three is, "Who has worked the evil eye on you and deluded
you into going back to thinking you are perfected by works of the law?"
But throughout, whether in Babylonic, Kabbalistic, Talmudic, or Jesus' teaching, the evil eye radiates.
(We can see some connection between baskan and our English word "bask." We "bask" in the sun's
radiation.) An evil eye emits malevolent darkness upon one's neighbor. Jesus says, emit from your eye the
benevolent light of the love from God upon your neighbor. If you do this, the forces will work in your favor
without your manipulation and narrow-eyed foxiness being necessary.
A fundamental principle of all magic is the belief in the power of thought. Evil people try to use magic
to manipulate the environment in order to obtain their own selfish ends. The "evil eye" magically speaking
was the focusing of the radiation of one's thought power by means of squinting the eye and beaming the
energy out of the eye that way. This idea of squinting is essential to understanding why Jesus speaks of a
good eye allowing fullness of light, but an evil eye causing darkness in the body. I am not saying that Jesus
legitimized any aspect of magic, but that he was simply using the well known principle of a squinted eye to
make a parable about the eye being the lamp of the body, and the idea of your eye letting light in or not.
Jesus, speaking of the eye as the lamp of the body in the Sermon on the Mount (Diatess. 10:2; Matt.
6:22-24; Lk 11:33-36), speaks of a - haplos eye letting more light through, as opposed to one whose
eye is evil, having a body filled with darkness or emitting darkness out through the aperture of the eye. For
an evil eye, picture someone with a narrowed eye, out of suspicion, envy, resentment of another's happiness,
resentment of another's goodness; plotting, scheming; stingy; having as its antonym - haplos, which
means simple, sincere, guileless like doves (as opposed to scheming foxiness with hidden motive), open,
generous, welcoming, unassuming of evil on the part of others.
Whatever makes you look at another with your eye darkened, is generally because that other is blocking
your selfish way somehow, whether your own wealth, your aggrandizement as to esteem by comparison to
you, or just the fact that the other is causing you an inconvenience as you pursue your own interests. But
instead, bask your neighbor in the light of your smile, and wish good upon them. Be relaxed in the
knowledge that God knows your needs and will take care of you. But also that God loves your neighbor
equally as he loves you. The God above sends his sunshine and rain on both the evil and the good, and is
kind to the unthankful and the evil.

71

ENDNOTE #7 -

How the classic Greek philosophers used the word .

Used in Matthew 23:25.
The Greek word here, - akrasa, means to have no power over or to exercise no power over one's
self, in restraining pursuit of pleasure, the pursuit of one's appetites. But it is hard to say, "the inside is full of
an absence of something." I was tempted to say here, "full of addictions," because that is the ultimate
product of lack of restraint, and the decline in usefulness to society spoken of by Socrates and Aristotle on
the subject of this word . Perhaps the regular Biblical way to say addiction would be with the Greek
words with (epidosis with tinos), "being given over to something." Ultimately I decided to
use the word intemperance, and to include this endnote to show how the Greek word was used in other Greek
literature.
It is not solely a Bible-belt fundamentalist concept that unrestraint in the pursuit of pleasure brings the
downfall of civilization, but it is also the belief and teaching of the great philosophers in the history of
civilization. See the excerpts below of the classic philosophers, showing how they used the word. It is an
antonym of the temperance or self-control that is said to be a fruit of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:22, 23.
And in another place, I Corinthians 14: 32, Paul says that a trait of a true prophet is that "the spirits of the
prophets are subject to the prophets." That is, under the control of the prophets. Whatever our station as
Christians, our verbal testimony is weak or worse, if we are addicted to shopping, or to eating, or to drinking,
or drugs, or pornography, or to romance novels, or to sex, or to television, or to complaining, or cursing, or
anything else. Whoever sins habitually is a slave to sin.
The "Majority Text" reads here"unrighteousness"instead of .
Version in this case did not follow the "Majority Text."

But the King James

Demosthenes, in his Second Olynthiac Speech, spoke of Philip the king of the Macedonians as
follows:
,
, .
"Any fairly decent or honest man, who cannot stomach the licentiousness of his daily life, the drunkenness
and the lewd dancing, is pushed aside as of no account."

Socrates, in Xenophon, Memorabilia, Book 4

(Apomnmoneumatn )
V. He did also try to make his companions efficient in affairs, as I will now show. For holding that it is
good for anyone who means to do honorable work to have self-control, he made it clear to his companions, in
the first place, that he had been assiduous in self-discipline; moreover, in his conversation he exhorted his
companions to cultivate self-control above all things. Thus he bore in mind continually the aids to virtue,
and put all his companions in mind of them. I recall in particular the substance of a conversation that he
once had with Euthydemus on self-control.
Tell me, Euthydemus, he said, do you think that freedom is a noble and splendid possession both for
individuals and for communities?
Yes, I think it is, in the highest degree.
Then do you think that the man is free who is ruled by bodily pleasures and is unable to do what is best
because of them?
By no means.

72
Possibly, in fact, to do what is best appears to you to be freedom, and so you think that to have masters
who will prevent such activity is bondage?
I am sure of it.
You feel sure then that the incontinent are bond slaves?
Of course, naturally.
And do you think that the incontinent are merely prevented from doing what is most honorable, or are
also forced to do what is most dishonorable?
I think that they are forced to do that just as much as they are prevented from doing the other.
What sort of masters are they, in your opinion, who prevent the best and enforce the worst?
The worst possible, of course.
And what sort of slavery do you believe to be the worst?
Slavery to the worst masters, I think.
The worst slavery, therefore, is the slavery endured by the incontinent?
I think so.
As for Wisdom, the greatest blessing, does not incontinence exclude it and drive men to the opposite? Or
don't you think that incontinence prevents them from attending to useful things and understanding them, by
drawing them away to things pleasant, and often so stuns their perception of good and evil that they choose
the worse instead of the better?
That does happen.
With Prudence, Euthydemus, who, shall we say, has less to do than the incontinent? For I presume that
the actions prompted by prudence and incontinence are exact opposites?
I agree with that too.
To caring for what is right is there any stronger hindrance, do you think, than incontinence?
Indeed I do not.
And do you think there can be aught worse for a man than that which causes him to choose the harmful
rather than the useful, and persuades him to care for the one and to be careless of the other, and forces him to
do the opposite of what prudence dictates?
Nothing.
And is it not likely that self-control causes actions the opposite of those that are due to incontinence?
Certainly.
Then is not the cause of the opposite actions presumably a very great blessing?
Yes, presumably.
Consequently we may presume, Euthydemus, that self-control is a very great blessing to a man?
We may presume so, Socrates.
Has it ever occurred to you, Euthydemus ?
What?
That though pleasure is the one and only goal to which incontinence is thought to lead men, she herself
cannot bring them to it, whereas nothing produces pleasure so surely as self-control?
How so?
Incontinence will not let them endure hunger or thirst or desire or lack of sleep, which are the sole causes
of pleasure in eating and drinking and sexual indulgence, and in resting and sleeping, after a time of waiting
and resistance until the moment comes when these will give the greatest possible satisfaction; and thus she
prevents them from experiencing any pleasure worthy to be mentioned in the most elementary and recurrent
forms of enjoyment. But self-control alone causes them to endure the sufferings I have named, and therefore
she alone causes them to experience any pleasure worth mentioning in such enjoyments.
What you say is entirely true.
Moreover, the delights of learning something good and excellent, and of studying some of the means
whereby a man knows how to regulate his body well and manage his household successfully, to be useful to
his friends and city and to defeat his enemies knowledge that yields not only very great benefits but very
great pleasures these are the delights of the self-controlled; but the incontinent have no part in them. For
who, should we say, has less concern with these than he who has no power of cultivating them because all
his serious purposes are centered in the pleasures that lie nearest?
Socrates, said Euthydemus, I think you mean that he who is at the mercy of the bodily pleasures has no
concern whatever with virtue in any form.

73
Yes, Euthydemus; for how can an incontinent man be any better than the dullest beast? How can he who
fails to consider the things that matter most, and strives by every means to do the things that are most
pleasant, be better than the stupidest of creatures? No, only the self-controlled have power to consider the
things that matter most, and, sorting them out after their kind, by word and deed alike to prefer the good and
reject the evil.
And thus, he said, men become supremely good and happy and skilled in discussion. The very word
discussion, according to him, owes its name to the practice of meeting together for common deliberation,
sorting, discussing things after their kind: and therefore one should be ready and prepared for this and be
zealous for it; for it makes for excellence, leadership and skill in discussion.
Xenophon. Xenophontis opera omnia, vol. 2, 2nd edn. E.C. Marchant. Oxford, Clarendon Press. 1921 (repr.
1971).

Isocrates, Speeches and Letters (ed. George Norlin)

Speech 2: To Nicocles, 219-221
But surely we could not expect to be admired nor to enjoy great honor for sending out disciples of that sort;
on the contrary, we should be much more despised and hated than those who are charged with other forms of
villainy. And, mark you, even if we could shut our eyes to these consequences, we could not gain the most
money by directing a training of that character; for, I suppose, all men are aware that a sophist reaps his
finest and his largest reward when his pupils prove to be honorable and intelligent and highly esteemed by
their fellow-citizens, since pupils of that sort inspire many with the desire to enjoy his teaching, while those
who are depraved repel even those who were formerly minded to join his classes. Who, then, could be blind
to the more profitable course, when there is so vast a difference between the two?
Perhaps, however, some might venture to reply that many men, because of their incontinence, are not
amenable to reason, but neglect their true interests and rush on in the pursuit of pleasure. I grant you that
many men in general and some who pretend to be sophists are of this nature.
Isocrates with an English Translation in three volumes, by George Norlin, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA,
Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1980.

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics

(ed. J. Bywater) [1145a] book 7
Let us next begin a fresh part of the subject by laying down that the states of moral character to be avoided
are of three kinds--Vice, Unrestraint, and Bestiality. The opposite dispositions in the case of two of the three
are obvious: one we call Virtue, the other Self-restraint. As the opposite of Bestiality it will be most suitable
to speak of Superhuman Virtue, or goodness on a heroic or divine scale; just as Homer has represented Priam
as saying of Hector, on account of his surpassing valor
nor seemed to be
The son of mortal man, but of a god.

Hence if, as men say, surpassing virtue changes men into gods, the disposition opposed to Bestiality will
clearly be some quality more than human; for there is no such thing as Virtue in the case of a god, any more
than there is Vice or Virtue in the case of a beast: divine goodness is something more exalted than Virtue,
and bestial badness is different in kind from Vice. And inasmuch as it is rare for a man to be divine, in the
sense in which that word is commonly used by the Lacedaemonians as a term of extreme admiration--Yon
mon's divine, they say--, so a bestial character is rare among human beings; it is found most frequently
among barbarians, and some cases also occur as a result of disease or arrested development. We sometimes
also use bestial as a term of opprobrium for a surpassing degree of human vice.

74
But the nature of the bestial disposition will have to be touched on later; and of Vice we have spoken already.
We must however discuss Unrestraint and Softness or Luxury, and also Self-restraint and Endurance.
Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 19, translated by H. Rackham. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press;
London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1934.
ENDNOTE #8 Plural of

The Greek word

As used in the New Testament; singular versus plural
BDF 4(2) says that certain plurals such as and are Semitisms, specifically, terms connected
with Judaism and drawn from the Septuagint. That the pluralization of concrete subjects originally was to
denote what is long or wide, or mysterious powers.
In BDF 141(1), Blass says that the plural, , = the Hebrew "shamaim," yet most authors use it only
in a figurative sense as the abode of God (sing. also), while the singular predominates in the literal sense,
except for those instances where, according to the Jewish conception, several heavens were to be
distinguished.
Bauer also says that for the abode of the Divine, the plural is preferred.
In BDF 141(1) DeBrunner also notes that is always plural when referring to "the Father in heaven"
and to "the kingdom of heaven." He notes also that John never uses in the plural, except for
Revelation 12:12, and that only because it is a quotation of the Septuagint.
BDF 253(3) notes that is frequently anarthrous (without the article) after prepositions.
Uses in the plural:
Matt 3:16 ,
[] []
As soon as he was baptized, Jesus came up out of the water, and behold, the heavens were opened, and he
saw the Holy Spirit of God coming down like a dove, coming onto him.
Matt 5:12 ,
.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the
prophets before you."
Matt 5:16 .
your Father who is in heaven.
Matt 5:45
your Father who is in heaven
Matt 6:1
your Father in heaven.
Matt 6:9 , ,
"This, then, is how you should pray: " 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

75
Matt 6:26
,
Matt 7:11 .
your Father in heaven
Matt 7:21 .
"my Father who is in heaven.
Matt 8:20 ,
, .
And Jesus says to him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has
nowhere he can lay his head."
[]
"my Father in heaven.

,
[] .
And whoever disowns me before humans, I also shall disown that person before my Father in heaven.
Matt 11:23 , , .
, .
23And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to the skies? No, you will sink as far as Hades. Because if the
miracles that happened in you had taken place in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

Rev. 12:12 ,
, , .
Rejoice over this, O heaven, and you who dwell therein! Woe to the earth and the sea! For the devil has
come down to you with great fury, because he knows he has but little time."

ENDNOTE #9 Matt 27:9

Matthew 27:9

the

of the priced

price

him whom

they priced (mid voice) from

the sons of Israel

A very literal translation would have the word "price" in it three times, or forms of that word:
So first I will list the translations that contain three forms of the word :
Wycliffe
Tyndale
KJV
ASV
Darby
YLT
WEB
Phillips

the prijs of a man preysid, whom thei preiseden of the children of Israel;
the price of him that was valued whom they bought of the children of Israel
the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value;
the price of him that was priced, whom certain of the children of Israel did price
the price of him that was set a price on, whom of the sons of Israel had set a price on
the price of him who hath been priced, whom they of the sons of Israel did price
The price of him upon whom a price had been set, Whom some of the children of Israel priced,
the value of him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel priced

76
NKJV
Recov.
NRSV
price

the value of Him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel priced
the price of Him that had been priced, whom they of the sons of Israel had priced
the price of the one on whom a price had been set, on whom some of the people of Israel had set a

CBW
RSV
NASB
ISV
NET
HCSB
ESV

the price of the one whose price had been fixed by some Israelites
the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel,
the price of the one whose price had been set by the sons of Israel
the value of the man on whom a price had been set by the Israelites,
the price of the one whose price had been set by the people of Israel
the price of Him whose price was set by the sons of Israel
the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel,

Douay
Wey
JB
BBE

the price of him that was prized, whom they prized of the children of Israel
the price of the prized one on whom Israelites had set a price
the sum at which the Precious One was priced by the children of Israel
the price of him who was valued by the children of Israel;

NIV/TN
JNT
NCV
Mess
NLT
GW

the price set on him by the people of Israel

which was the price the people of Israel had agreed to pay for him
That is how little the Israelites thought he was worth.
the price of the one priced by some sons of Israel
the price at which he was valued by the people of Israel
the price the people of Israel had placed on him,

NAB
REB
CEV

the value of a man with a price on his head, a price set by some of the Israelites
the price set on a man's head (for that was his price among the Israelites)
the price of a person among the people of Israel

Bauer
Bauer says under , def. 1, that the price set could have been the price set for the field, or,
if referring to a man, then referring to Judas, as being the one who valued Jesus at 30 pieces of silver.
The BDF grammar offers no comment on this specific passage.

77

Table of Witnesses to Matthew

MS
symbl

*
or c

A
B
B
B
C
C
C
C
D
E
L

Alt

Date

III
P.Oxy.1170
IV/V
P.Oxy.1227
IV/V
IV
IV?
III/IV
VI/VII
III
III
IV
200
w/
P.Oxy 2384
III
P.Oxy.2385
IV
VII
II/III
VI
IV
VI
P.Oxy. LXIV III
4401
P.Oxy.
III/IV
LXIV 4402
II/III
<250
P.Oxy 4406
V/VI
P.Oxy. LXVI IV
4494
01
IV
1st corr.
IV-VI
2nd corr.
VII
02
V
03
IV
IV
VI-VII
04
V
V
VI
IX
05
V
07
VI
019
VIII

(nothing after VIII century cited)

Contents
1:1-9,12,14-20
10:32- 11:5
12:24-26,32-33
18:32-34; 19:1-3,5-7,9,10
25:12-15,20-23
26:19-52
17:1-3,6-7
20:24-32; 21:13-19; 25:41-46; 26:1-39
26:29-40; Acts 9:33-43; 10:1
11:25-30
3:9, 15; 5:20-22, 25-28; 26:7-8, 10, 14-15, 22-23, 31-33
2:13-16, 22- 3:1; 11:26-27; 12:4-5; 24:3-6, 12-15
19:10-11, 17-18
25:43, 26:2-3
23:30-39
20:23-25, 30-31, 23:39; 24:1,6
5; recto: 5:13-16, <p> verso: 5:22-25
3:13-15
3:10-12, 16 - 4:3
4:11-12, 22-23
13:55-56; 14:3-5
21:34-37; 21:43,45
27:62-64; 28:1-5
10:13-15(14?), 25-27

all
lacks 4:22- 5:14; 28:17- end

78
N
O

022
023

VI
VI

024

VI

W
Z

047
058
064
067
071
073
078
085
087
094
0102
0106
0107
0116
0118
0160
0161
0164
0170
0171
0200
0204
0231
0234
0237
0242
0250
0275
0277
0281
0293
0307

032
035
042
043

IV/V
VI
VI
VI
VIII
IV
VI
VI
V/VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VII
VII
VII
VIII
VIII
IV/V
III/IV
VI/VII
V/VI
300
VII
VII
IV
VIII
VI
IV
VIII
VII
VII/VIII
VII/VIII
VI
VII

LATIN
itk

w/090

w/074,084

w/0138
w/0119

P. Ant. 11

w/089,092a

IV/V

with lacunae
Matthew 7:7-22; 11:5-12; 13:7-47; 13:54- 14:4,13-20; 15:11,16:18; 17:2-24; 18:4-30; 19:3-10,17-25; 20:9-,21:5; 21:12,22:7,15-14; 22:32-,23:35; 24:3-12
1:11-21; 3:13- 4:19; 10:7-19; 10:42- 11:11; 13:40-50; 14:1515:3,29-39
all of Matthew
all
6:3- end
18:18-29
Matthew parts
14:13-16,19-23; 24:37- 25:1,32-45; 26:31-45
1:21-24; 1:25-2:2
14:19-35; 15:2-8
17:22- 18:3,11-19; 19:5-14
20:3-32; 22:3-16
1:23- 2:2; 19:3-8; 21:19-24
24:9-21
21:24- 24:15
12:17-19,23-25; 13:32,36- 15:26
22:15- 23:14

26:25-26, 34-36
22:7-46
13:20-21
6:5-6,8-10,13-15,17
10:17-23, 25-32; Luke 22:44-56, 61-64
11:20,21
24:39-42,44-48
26:75-27:1-3, 4
28:11-15
15:12-15, 17-19
8:25-9:2; 13:32-38, 40-46
5:25,26,29,30
14:22,28,29
many lacunae
21:27-28,31-32; 26:2-12
11:21- 12:4

1:1-3,10; 4:1-14,17; 15:20-36

79
ite
ita
itb
itd
itff
itff
itf
itl
ith
itq
itr
itaur
it
itn

2
3
4
5
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

V
IV
V
V
V
VIII
VI
VIII
V
VI/VII
VII
VIII
V
V

it

18

VII

www.lulu.com/spotlight/bibletranslation

lacking 1:1-12,49; 24:50- 28:2

lacking 25:2-12
lacking 1:1-11; 15:12-22; 23:18-27
lacking 1:1-11; 2:20- 3:7; 6:8- 8:27; 26:65- 27:2
lacking 1:1- 11:16
Matthew
lacking 8:16-26
lacking 1:1-2,15
3:15- 14:33; 18:12- 28:20
lacking 3:15- 4:23; 5:25- 6:4; 6:28- 7:8; 23:13-28

9:17,30-37; 10:1-5,7-10
17:1-5; 17:14- 18:20; 19:20- 21:326:56-60,69-74; 27:62- 28:3,8end