Matius 23:34-37

23:34 “For this reason I ¹  am sending you prophets and wise men and experts in the law, ²  some of whom you will kill and crucify, ³  and some you will flog ⁴  in your synagogues ⁵  and pursue from town to town, 23:35 so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, ⁶  whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 23:36 I tell you the truth, ⁷  this generation will be held responsible for all these things! ⁸ 

Judgment on Israel

23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ⁹  you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! ¹⁰  How often I have longed ¹¹  to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but ¹²  you would have none of it! ¹³ 

Matius 26:69-74

Peter’s Denials

26:69 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A ¹⁴  slave girl ¹⁵  came to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” 26:70 But he denied it in front of them all: ¹⁶  “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” 26:71 When ¹⁷  he went out to the gateway, another slave girl ¹⁸  saw him and said to the people there, “This man was with Jesus the Nazarene.” 26:72 He denied it again with an oath, “I do not know the man!” 26:73 After ¹⁹  a little while, those standing there came up to Peter and said, “You really are one of them too – even your accent ²⁰  gives you away!” 26:74 At that he began to curse, and he swore with an oath, “I do not know the man!” At that moment a rooster crowed. ²¹ 

[23:34]  ¹ tn Grk “behold I am sending.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

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

[23:34]  ³ sn See the note on crucified in 20:19.

[23:34]  ⁴ tn BDAG 620 s.v. μαστιγόω 1.a states, “of flogging as a punishment decreed by the synagogue (Dt 25:2f; s. the Mishna Tractate Sanhedrin-Makkoth, edited w. notes by SKrauss ’33) w. acc. of pers. Mt 10:17; 23:34.”

[23:34]  ⁵ sn See the note on synagogues in 4:23.

[23:35]  ⁶ sn Spelling of this name (Βαραχίου, Baraciou) varies among the English versions: “Barachiah” (RSV, NRSV); “Berechiah” (NASB); “Berachiah” (NIV).

[23:36]  ⁷ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[23:36]  ⁸ tn Grk “all these things will come on this generation.”

[23:37]  ⁹ sn The double use of the city’s name betrays intense emotion.

[23:37]  map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[23:37]  ¹⁰ tn Although the opening address (“Jerusalem, Jerusalem”) is direct (second person), the remainder of this sentence in the Greek text is third person (“who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her”). The following sentences then revert to second person (“your… you”), so to keep all this consistent in English, the third person pronouns in the present verse were translated as second person (“you who kill… sent to you”).

[23:37]  ¹¹ sn How often I have longed to gather your children. Jesus, like a lamenting prophet, speaks for God here, who longed to care tenderly for Israel and protect her.

[23:37]  ¹² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[23:37]  ¹³ tn Grk “you were not willing.”

[26:69]  ¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[26:69]  ¹⁵ tn The Greek term here is παιδίσκη (paidiskh), referring to a slave girl or slave woman.

[26:70]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “he denied it…saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[26:71]  ¹⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[26:71]  ¹⁸ tn The words “slave girl” are not in the Greek text, but are implied by the feminine singular form ἄλλη (allh).

[26:73]  ¹⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[26:73]  ²⁰ tn Grk “your speech.”

[26:74]  ²¹ tn It seems most likely that this refers to a real rooster crowing, although a number of scholars have suggested that “cockcrow” is a technical term referring to the trumpet call which ended the third watch of the night (from midnight to 3 a.m.). This would then be a reference to the Roman gallicinium (ἀλεκτοροφωνία, alektorofwnia; the term is used in Mark 13:35 and is found in some mss [Ì^37vid,45 ˹] in Matt 26:34) which would have been sounded at 3 a.m.; in this case Jesus would have prophesied a precise time by which the denials would have taken place. For more details see J. H. Bernard, St. John (ICC), 2:604. However, in light of the fact that Mark mentions the rooster crowing twice (Mark 14:72) and in Luke 22:60 the words are reversed (ἐφώνησεν ἀλέκτωρ, efwnhsen alektwr), it is more probable that a real rooster is in view. In any event natural cockcrow would have occurred at approximately 3 a.m. in Palestine at this time of year (March-April) anyway.