Matius 8:5-6

Healing the Centurion’s Servant

8:5 When he entered Capernaum, ¹  a centurion ²  came to him asking for help: ³  8:6 “Lord, ⁴  my servant ⁵  is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible anguish.”

Matius 21:34-36

21:34 When the harvest time was near, he sent his slaves ⁶  to the tenants to collect his portion of the crop. ⁷  21:35 But the tenants seized his slaves, beat one, ⁸  killed another, and stoned another. 21:36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they treated them the same way.

Matius 24:51

24:51 and will cut him in two, ⁹  and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matius 25:16

25:16 The one who had received five talents went off right away and put his money to work ¹⁰  and gained five more.

Matius 25:18

25:18 But the one who had received one talent went out and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money in it.

Matius 25:30

25:30 And throw that worthless slave into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

[8:5]  ¹ sn Capernaum was a town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, 680 ft (204 m) below sea level. It was a major trade and economic center in the North Galilean region.

[8:5]  map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 C3; Map3 B2.

[8:5]  ² sn A centurion was a noncommissioned officer in the Roman army or one of the auxiliary territorial armies, commanding a centuria of (nominally) 100 men. The responsibilities of centurions were broadly similar to modern junior officers, but there was a wide gap in social status between them and officers, and relatively few were promoted beyond the rank of senior centurion. The Roman troops stationed in Judea were auxiliaries, who would normally be rewarded with Roman citizenship after 25 years of service. Some of the centurions may have served originally in the Roman legions (regular army) and thus gained their citizenship at enlistment. Others may have inherited it, like the apostle Paul did.

[8:5]  ³ sn While in Matthew’s account the centurion came to him asking for help, Luke’s account (7:1-10) mentions that the centurion sent some Jewish elders as emissaries on his behalf.

[8:6]  ⁴ tn Grk “and saying, ‘Lord.’” The participle λέγων (legwn) at the beginning of v. 6 is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[8:6]  ⁵ tn The Greek term here is παῖς (pais), often used of a slave who was regarded with some degree of affection, possibly a personal servant (Luke 7:7 uses the more common term δοῦλος, doulos). See L&N 87.77.

[21:34]  ⁶ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 8:9.

[21:34]  sn These slaves represent the prophets God sent to the nation, who were mistreated and rejected.

[21:34]  ⁷ tn Grk “to collect his fruits.”

[21:35]  ⁸ sn The image of the tenants mistreating the owner’s slaves pictures the nation’s rejection of the prophets and their message.

[24:51]  ⁹ tn The verb διχοτομέω (dicotomew) means to cut an object into two parts (L&N 19.19). This is an extremely severe punishment compared to the other two later punishments. To translate it simply as “punish” is too mild. If taken literally this servant is dismembered, although it is possible to view the stated punishment as hyperbole (L&N 38.12).

[25:16]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “traded with them.”