Matius 3:12

3:12 His winnowing fork ¹  is in his hand, and he will clean out his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the storehouse, ²  but the chaff he will burn up with inextinguishable fire.” ³ 

Matius 4:4

4:4 But he answered, ⁴  “It is written, ‘Man ⁵  does not live ⁶  by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” ⁷ 

Matius 5:15

5:15 People ⁸  do not light a lamp and put it under a basket ⁹  but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.

Matius 6:20

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

Matius 9:5

9:5 Which is easier, ¹⁰  to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’?

Matius 10:29

10:29 Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? ¹¹  Yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. ¹² 

Matius 12:27

12:27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons ¹³  cast them ¹⁴  out? For this reason they will be your judges.

Matius 13:12

13:12 For whoever has will be given more, and will have an abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. ¹⁵ 

Matius 13:31

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

13:31 He gave ¹⁶  them another parable: ¹⁷  “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed ¹⁸  that a man took and sowed in his field.

Matius 13:33

The Parable of the Yeast

13:33 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with ¹⁹  three measures ²⁰  of flour until all the dough had risen.” ²¹ 

Matius 18:3

18:3 and said, “I tell you the truth, ²²  unless you turn around and become like little children, ²³  you will never ²⁴  enter the kingdom of heaven!

Matius 18:7

18:7 Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! It ²⁵  is necessary that stumbling blocks come, but woe to the person through whom they come.

Matius 18:25

18:25 Because ²⁶  he was not able to repay it, ²⁷  the lord ordered him to be sold, along with ²⁸  his wife, children, and whatever he possessed, and repayment to be made.

Matius 22:24

22:24 “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and father children ²⁹  for his brother.’ ³⁰ 

Matius 24:6

24:6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Make sure that you are not alarmed, for this must happen, but the end is still to come. ³¹ 

Matius 25:14-15

The Parable of the Talents

25:14 “For it is like a man going on a journey, who summoned his slaves ³²  and entrusted his property to them. 25:15 To ³³  one he gave five talents, ³⁴  to another two, and to another one, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.

Matius 27:19

27:19 As ³⁵  he was sitting on the judgment seat, ³⁶  his wife sent a message ³⁷  to him: ³⁸  “Have nothing to do with that innocent man; ³⁹  I have suffered greatly as a result of a dream ⁴⁰  about him today.”

[3:12]  ¹ sn A winnowing fork was a pitchfork-like tool used to toss threshed grain in the air so that the wind blew away the chaff, leaving the grain to fall to the ground. The note of purging is highlighted by the use of imagery involving sifting though threshed grain for the useful kernels.

[3:12]  ² tn Or “granary,” “barn” (referring to a building used to store a farm’s produce rather than a building to house livestock).

[3:12]  ³ sn The image of fire that cannot be extinguished is from the OT: Job 20:26; Isa 34:8-10; 66:24.

[4:4]  ⁴ tn Grk “answering, he said.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant, but the syntax of the phrase has been changed for clarity.

[4:4]  ⁵ tn Or “a person.” Greek ὁ ἄνθρωπος (Jo anqrwpo") is used generically for humanity. The translation “man” is used because the emphasis in Jesus’ response seems to be on his dependence on God as a man.

[4:4]  ⁶ tn Grk “will not live.” The verb in Greek is a future tense, but it is unclear whether it is meant to be taken as a command (also known as an imperatival future) or as a statement of reality (predictive future).

[4:4]  ⁷ sn A quotation from Deut 8:3.

[5:15]  ⁸ tn Grk “Nor do they light.” The plural in Greek is indefinite, referring to people in general.

[5:15]  ⁹ tn Or “a bowl”; this refers to any container for dry material of about eight liters (two gallons) capacity. It could be translated “basket, box, bowl” (L&N 6.151).

[9:5]  ¹⁰ sn Which is easier is a reflective kind of question. On the one hand to declare sins are forgiven is easier, since one does not need to see it, unlike telling a paralyzed person to walk. On the other hand, it is harder, because for it to be true one must possess the authority to forgive the sin.

[10:29]  ¹¹ sn The penny refers to an assarion, a small Roman copper coin. One of them was worth one-sixteenth of a denarius or less than a half hour’s average wage. Sparrows were the cheapest items sold in the market. God knows about even the most financially insignificant things; see Isa 49:15.

[10:29]  ¹² tn Or “to the ground without the knowledge and consent of your Father.”

[12:27]  ¹³ sn Most read your sons as a reference to Jewish exorcists (cf. “your followers,” L&N 9.4), but more likely this is a reference to the disciples of Jesus themselves, who are also Jewish and have been healing as well (R. J. Shirock, “Whose Exorcists are they? The Referents of οἱ υἱοὶ ὑμῶν at Matthew 12:27/Luke 11:19,” JSNT 46 [1992]: 41-51). If this is a reference to the disciples, then Jesus’ point is that it is not only him, but those associated with him whose power the hearers must assess. The following reference to judging also favors this reading.

[12:27]  ¹⁴ tn The pronoun “them” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[13:12]  ¹⁵ sn What he has will be taken from him. The meaning is that the one who accepts Jesus’ teaching concerning his person and the kingdom will receive a share in the kingdom now and even more in the future, but for the one who rejects Jesus’ words, the opportunity that that person presently possesses with respect to the kingdom will someday be taken away forever.

[13:31]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “put before.”

[13:31]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “He set before them another parable, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant and has not been translated.

[13:31]  ¹⁸ sn The mustard seed was noted for its tiny size.

[13:33]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “hid in.”

[13:33]  ²⁰ sn This measure was a saton, the Greek name for the Hebrew term “seah.” Three of these was a very large quantity of flour, since a saton is a little over 16 pounds (7 kg) of dry measure (or 13.13 liters). So this was over 47 lbs (21 kg) of flour total, enough to feed over a hundred people.

[13:33]  ²¹ tn Grk “it was all leavened.”

[13:33]  sn The parable of the yeast and the dough teaches that the kingdom of God will start small but eventually grow to permeate everything. Jesus’ point was not to be deceived by its seemingly small start, the same point made in the parable of the mustard seed, which preceded this one.

[18:3]  ²² tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[18:3]  ²³ sn The point of the comparison become like little children has more to do with a child’s trusting spirit, as well as willingness to be dependent and receive from others, than any inherent humility the child might possess.

[18:3]  ²⁴ tn The negation in Greek (οὐ μή, ou mh) is very strong here.

[18:7]  ²⁵ tn Grk “For it.” Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated.

[18:25]  ²⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[18:25]  ²⁷ tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[18:25]  ²⁸ tn Grk “and his wife.”

[22:24]  ²⁹ tn Grk “and raise up seed,” an idiom for fathering children (L&N 23.59).

[22:24]  ³⁰ sn A quotation from Deut 25:5. This practice is called levirate marriage (see also Ruth 4:1-12; Mishnah, m. Yevamot; Josephus, Ant. 4.8.23 [4.254-256]). The levirate law is described in Deut 25:5-10. The brother of a man who died without a son had an obligation to marry his brother’s widow. This served several purposes: It provided for the widow in a society where a widow with no children to care for her would be reduced to begging, and it preserved the name of the deceased, who would be regarded as the legal father of the first son produced from that marriage.

[24:6]  ³¹ tn Grk “it is not yet the end.”

[25:14]  ³² tn See the note on the word “slave” in 8:9.

[25:15]  ³³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[25:15]  ³⁴ sn A talent was equal to 6000 denarii. See the note on this term in 18:24.

[27:19]  ³⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:19]  ³⁶ tn Or “the judge’s seat.”

[27:19]  sn The judgment seat (βῆμα, bhma) was a raised platform mounted by steps and usually furnished with a seat. It was used by officials in addressing an assembly or making official pronouncements, often of a judicial nature.

[27:19]  ³⁷ tn The word “message” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[27:19]  ³⁸ tn Grk “saying.” The participle λέγουσα (legousa) is redundant here in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[27:19]  ³⁹ tn The Greek particle γάρ (gar, “for”) has not been translated here.

[27:19]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “suffered greatly in a dream.” See the discussion on the construction κατ᾿ ὄναρ (kat’ onar) in BDAG 710 s.v. ὄναρ.