Matthew 5:46

5:46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors ¹  do the same, don’t they?

Matthew 8:18

Challenging Professed Followers

8:18 Now when Jesus saw a large crowd ²  around him, he gave orders to go to the other side of the lake. ³ 

Matthew 8:27

8:27 And the men ⁴  were amazed and said, ⁵  “What sort of person is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!” ⁶ 

Matthew 9:23

9:23 When Jesus entered the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the disorderly crowd,

Matthew 9:34

9:34 But the Pharisees ⁷  said, “By the ruler ⁸  of demons he casts out demons.” ⁹ 

Matthew 9:38

9:38 Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest ¹⁰  to send out ¹¹  workers into his harvest.”

Matthew 11:2

Jesus and John the Baptist

11:2 Now when John ¹²  heard in prison about the deeds Christ ¹³  had done, he sent his disciples to ask a question: ¹⁴ 

Matthew 13:10

13:10 Then ¹⁵  the disciples came to him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”

Matthew 13:42

13:42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, ¹⁶  where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 14:6

14:6 But on Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod,

Matthew 14:12

14:12 Then John’s ¹⁷  disciples came and took the body and buried it and went and told Jesus.

Matthew 14:17

14:17 They ¹⁸  said to him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”

Matthew 14:24

14:24 Meanwhile the boat, already far from land, ¹⁹  was taking a beating from the waves because the wind was against it.

Matthew 14:26

14:26 When ²⁰  the disciples saw him walking on the water ²¹  they were terrified and said, “It’s a ghost!” and cried out with fear.

Matthew 16:20

16:20 Then he instructed his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ. ²² 

Matthew 17:23

17:23 They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised.” And they became greatly distressed.

Matthew 19:10

19:10 The ²³  disciples said to him, “If this is the case of a husband with a wife, it is better not to marry!”

Matthew 19:23

19:23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, ²⁴  it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven!

Matthew 21:37

21:37 Finally he sent his son to them, ²⁵  saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

Matthew 22:30

22:30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels ²⁶  in heaven.

Matthew 27:7

27:7 After ²⁷  consulting together they bought the Potter’s Field with it, as a burial place for foreigners.

Matthew 27:10

27:10 and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.” ²⁸ 

Matthew 27:34

27:34 and offered Jesus ²⁹  wine mixed with gall to drink. ³⁰  But after tasting it, he would not drink it.

Matthew 27:65-66

27:65 Pilate said to them, “Take ³¹  a guard of soldiers. Go and make it as secure as you can.” 27:66 So ³²  they went with the soldiers ³³  of the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.

Matthew 28:13

28:13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came at night and stole his body ³⁴  while we were asleep.’

[5:46]  ¹ sn The tax collectors would bid to collect taxes for the Roman government and then add a surcharge, which they kept. Since tax collectors worked for Rome, they were viewed as traitors to their own people and were not well liked.

[8:18]  ² tc ‡ Codex B and some Sahidic mss read simply ὄχλον (oclon, “crowd”), the reading that NA²⁷ follows; the first hand of א, as well as ˹ and a few others, has ὄχλους (oclous, “crowds”); other witnesses read πολὺν ὄχλον (polun oclon, “a large crowd”). But the reading most likely to be original seems to be πολλούς ὄχλους (pollou" oclou"). It is found in א² C L Θ 0233 ˹³ 33 Ï lat; it is judged to be superior on internal grounds (the possibility of accidental omission of πολλούς/πολύν in isolated witnesses) and, to a lesser extent, external grounds (geographically widespread, various texttypes). For reasons of English style, however, this phrase has been translated as “a large crowd.”

[8:18]  ³ tn The phrase “of the lake” is not in the Greek text but is clearly implied; it has been supplied here for clarity.

[8:27]  ⁴ tn It is difficult to know whether ἄνθρωποι (anqrwpoi) should be translated as “men” or “people” (in a generic sense) here. At issue is whether (1) only the Twelve were with Jesus in the boat, as opposed to other disciples (cf. v. 23), and (2) whether any of those other disciples would have been women. The issue is complicated further by the parallel in Mark (4:35-41), where the author writes (4:36) that other boats accompanied them on this journey.

[8:27]  ⁵ tn Grk “the men were amazed, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) has been translated as a finite verb to make the sequence of events clear in English.

[8:27]  ⁶ sn Jesus’ authority over creation raised a question for the disciples about his identity (What sort of person is this?). This verse shows that the disciples followed Jesus even though they did not know all about him yet.

[9:34]  ⁷ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[9:34]  ⁸ tn Or “prince.”

[9:34]  ⁹ tc Although codex Cantabrigiensis (D), along with a few other Western versional and patristic witnesses, lacks this verse, virtually all other witnesses have it. The Western text’s reputation for free alterations as well as the heightened climax if v. 33 concludes this pericope explains why these witnesses omitted the verse.

[9:38]  ¹⁰ sn The phrase Lord of the harvest recognizes God’s sovereignty over the harvest process.

[9:38]  ¹¹ tn Grk “to thrust out.”

[11:2]  ¹² sn John refers to John the Baptist.

[11:2]  ¹³ tc The Western codex D and a few other mss (0233 1424 al) read “Jesus” here instead of “Christ.” This is not likely to be original because it is not found in the earliest and most important mss, nor in the rest of the ms tradition.

[11:2]  ¹⁴ tc Instead of “by his disciples” (see the tn below for the reading of the Greek), the majority of later mss (C³ L ˹ Ï lat bo) have “two of his disciples.” The difference in Greek, however, is only two letters: διὰ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ vs. δύο τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ (dia twn maqhtwn autou vs. duo twn maqhtwn autou). Although an accidental alteration could account for either of these readings, it is more likely that δύο is an assimilation to the parallel in Luke 7:18. Further, διά is read by a good number of early and excellent witnesses (א B C* D P W Z Δ Θ 0233 ˹³ 33 sa), and thus should be considered original.

[13:10]  ¹⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[13:42]  ¹⁶ sn A quotation from Dan 3:6.

[14:12]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “his”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here καί (kai) has been translated as “Then.”

[14:17]  ¹⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[14:24]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “The boat was already many stades from the land.” A stade (στάδιον, stadion) was a unit of distance about 607 feet (187 meters) long.

[14:26]  ²⁰ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[14:26]  ²¹ tn Grk “on the sea”; or “on the lake.” The translation “water” has been used here for stylistic reasons (cf. the same phrase in v. 25).

[16:20]  ²² tc Most mss (א² C W Ï lat bo) have “Jesus, the Christ” (᾿Ιησοῦς ὁ Χριστός, Ihsou" Jo Cristo") here, while D has “Christ Jesus” (ὁ Χριστὸς ᾿Ιησοῦς). On the one hand, this is a much harder reading than the mere Χριστός, because the name Jesus was already well known for the disciples’ master – both to them and to others. Whether he was the Messiah is the real focus of the passage. But this is surely too hard a reading: There are no other texts in which the Lord tells his disciples not to disclose his personal name. Further, it is plainly a motivated reading in that scribes had the proclivity to add ᾿Ιησοῦς to Χριστός or to κύριος (kurio", “Lord”), regardless of whether such was appropriate to the context. In this instance it clearly is not, and it only reveals that scribes sometimes, if not often, did not think about the larger interpretive consequences of their alterations to the text. Further, the shorter reading is well supported by א* B L Δ Θ Ë^1,13 565 700 1424 al it sa.

[19:10]  ²³ tc ‡ Some significant witnesses, along with the majority of later mss (̲⁵ C D L W Z 078 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat sy sa^mss bo), read αὐτοῦ (autou, “his”) after μαθηταί (maqhtai, “disciples”), but this looks to be a clarifying reading. Other early and important witnesses lack the pronoun (Ì^71vid א B Θ e ff¹ g¹ sa^ms mae), the reading adopted here. NA²⁷ includes the pronoun in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[19:23]  ²⁴ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[21:37]  ²⁵ sn The owner’s decision to send his son represents God sending Jesus.

[22:30]  ²⁶ tc Most witnesses have “of God” after “angels,” although some mss read ἄγγελοι θεοῦ (angeloi qeou; א L ˹³ {28} 33 892 1241 1424 al) while others have ἄγγελοι τοῦ θεοῦ (angeloi tou qeou; W 0102 0161 Ï). Whether with or without the article, the reading “of God” appears to be motivated as a natural expansion. A few important witnesses lack the adjunct (B D Θ {0233} ˹ 700 {sa}); this coupled with strong internal evidence argues for the shorter reading.

[27:7]  ²⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:10]  ²⁸ sn The source of this citation is debated (see the tc note on Jeremiah in v. 9 above for a related discussion). The quotation is most closely related to Zech 11:12-13, but the reference to Jeremiah in v. 9 as the source leads one to look there as well. There is no exact match for this text in Jeremiah, but there are some conceptual parallels: In Jer 18:2-6 the prophet visits a potter, and in Jer 32:6-15 he buys a field. D. A. Carson argues that Jer 19:1-13 is the source of the quotation augmented with various phrases drawn from Zech 11:12-13 (“Matthew,” EBC 8:563). W. D. Davies and D. C. Allison argue that the reference to Jeremiah is not meant to refer to one specific text from that prophet, but instead to signal that his writings as a whole are a source from which the quotation is drawn (Matthew [ICC], 3:568-69). Although the exact source of the citation is uncertain, it is reasonable to see texts from the books of Jeremiah and Zechariah both coming into play here.

[27:34]  ²⁹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:34]  ³⁰ sn It is difficult to say for certain who gave Jesus this drink of wine mixed with gall (e.g., the executioner, or perhaps women from Jerusalem). In any case, whoever gave it to him most likely did so in order to relieve his pain, but Jesus was unwilling to take it.

[27:65]  ³¹ tn Grk “You have a guard.”

[27:66]  ³² tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of Pilate’s order.

[27:66]  ³³ tn Grk “with the guard.” The words “soldiers of the” have been supplied in the translation to prevent “guard” from being misunderstood as a single individual.

[28:13]  ³⁴ tn Grk “him.”