Matius 23:16-28

23:16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple is bound by nothing. ¹  But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound by the oath.’ 23:17 Blind fools! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 23:18 And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar is bound by nothing. ²  But if anyone swears by the gift on it he is bound by the oath.’ 23:19 You are blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 23:20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 23:21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and the one who dwells in it. 23:22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and the one who sits on it.

23:23 “Woe to you, experts in the law ³  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth ⁴  of mint, dill, and cumin, ⁵  yet you neglect what is more important in the law – justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You ⁶  should have done these things without neglecting the others. 23:24 Blind guides! You strain out a gnat yet swallow a camel! ⁷ 

23:25 “Woe to you, experts in the law ⁸  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 23:26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, ⁹  so that the outside may become clean too!

23:27 “Woe to you, experts in the law ¹⁰  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean. ¹¹  23:28 In the same way, on the outside you look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Amsal 26:12

26:12 Do you see ¹²  a man wise in his own eyes? ¹³ 

There is more hope for a fool ¹⁴  than for him.

Yesaya 5:20-21

5:20 Those who call evil good and good evil are as good as dead, ¹⁵ 

who turn darkness into light and light into darkness,

who turn bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter. ¹⁶ 

5:21 Those who think they are wise are as good as dead, ¹⁷ 

those who think they possess understanding. ¹⁸ 

Yesaya 8:20

8:20 Then you must recall the Lord’s instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. ¹⁹  Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened. ²⁰ 

Yeremia 4:22

4:22 The Lord answered, ²¹ 

“This will happen ²²  because my people are foolish.

They do not know me.

They are like children who have no sense. ²³ 

They have no understanding.

They are skilled at doing evil.

They do not know how to do good.”

Yeremia 8:8-9

8:8 How can you say, “We are wise!

We have the law of the Lord”?

The truth is, ²⁴  those who teach it ²⁵  have used their writings

to make it say what it does not really mean. ²⁶ 

8:9 Your wise men will be put to shame.

They will be dumbfounded and be brought to judgment. ²⁷ 

Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,

what wisdom do they really have?

Lukas 8:10

8:10 He ²⁸  said, “You have been given ²⁹  the opportunity to know ³⁰  the secrets ³¹  of the kingdom of God, ³²  but for others they are in parables, so that although they see they may not see, and although they hear they may not understand. ³³ 

Yohanes 9:39-41

9:39 Jesus ³⁴  said,] ³⁵  “For judgment I have come into this world, so that those who do not see may gain their sight, ³⁶  and the ones who see may become blind.”

9:40 Some of the Pharisees ³⁷  who were with him heard this ³⁸  and asked him, ³⁹  “We are not blind too, are we?” ⁴⁰  9:41 Jesus replied, ⁴¹  “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, ⁴²  but now because you claim that you can see, ⁴³  your guilt ⁴⁴  remains.” ⁴⁵ 

Roma 1:22

1:22 Although they claimed ⁴⁶  to be wise, they became fools

Roma 2:17-23

The Condemnation of the Jew

2:17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law ⁴⁷  and boast of your relationship to God ⁴⁸  2:18 and know his will ⁴⁹  and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law, ⁵⁰  2:19 and if you are convinced ⁵¹  that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 2:20 an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth – 2:21 therefore ⁵²  you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 2:22 You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor ⁵³  idols, do you rob temples? 2:23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law!

Roma 2:1

The Condemnation of the Moralist

2:1 ⁵⁴ Therefore ⁵⁵  you are without excuse, ⁵⁶  whoever you are, ⁵⁷  when you judge someone else. ⁵⁸  For on whatever grounds ⁵⁹  you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.

Kolose 1:18-20

1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn ⁶⁰  from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. ⁶¹ 

1:19 For God ⁶²  was pleased to have all his ⁶³  fullness dwell ⁶⁴  in the Son ⁶⁵ 

1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, ⁶⁶  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Kolose 2:14

2:14 He has destroyed ⁶⁷  what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness ⁶⁸  expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.

Kolose 3:18-19

Exhortation to Households

3:18 Wives, submit to your ⁶⁹  husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 3:19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them.

Wahyu 3:17-18

3:17 Because you say, “I am rich and have acquired great wealth, ⁷⁰  and need nothing,” but ⁷¹  do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, ⁷²  poor, blind, and naked, 3:18 take my advice ⁷³  and buy gold from me refined by fire so you can become rich! Buy from me ⁷⁴  white clothing so you can be clothed and your shameful nakedness ⁷⁵  will not be exposed, and buy eye salve ⁷⁶  to put on your eyes so you can see!

[23:16]  ¹ tn Grk “Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing.”

[23:18]  ² tn Grk “Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing.”

[23:23]  ³ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:23]  ⁴ tn Or “you tithe mint.”

[23:23]  ⁵ sn Cumin (alternately spelled cummin) was an aromatic herb native to the Mediterranean region. Its seeds were used for seasoning.

[23:23]  ⁶ tc ‡ Many witnesses (B C K L W Δ 0102 33 565 892 pm) have δέ (de, “but”) after ταῦτα (tauta, “these things”), while many others lack it (א D Γ Θ Ë^1,13 579 700 1241 1424 pm). Since asyndeton was relatively rare in Koine Greek, the conjunction may be an intentional alteration, and is thus omitted from the present translation. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[23:24]  ⁷ tn Grk “Blind guides who strain out a gnat yet who swallow a camel!”

[23:25]  ⁸ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:26]  ⁹ tc A very difficult textual problem is found here. The most important Alexandrian and Byzantine, as well as significant Western, witnesses (א B C L W 0102 0281 ˹³ 33 Ï lat co) have “and the dish” (καὶ τῆς παροψίδος, kai th" paroyido") after “cup,” while few important witnesses (D Θ Ë¹ 700 and some versional and patristic authorities) omit the phrase. On the one hand, scribes sometimes tended to eliminate redundancy; since “and the dish” is already present in v. 25, it may have been deleted in v. 26 by well-meaning scribes. On the other hand, as B. M. Metzger notes, the singular pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou, “its”) with τὸ ἐκτός (to ekto", “the outside”) in some of the same witnesses that have the longer reading (viz., B* ˹³ al) hints that their archetype lacked the words (TCGNT 50). Further, scribes would be motivated both to add the phrase from v. 25 and to change αὐτοῦ to the plural pronoun αὐτῶν (aujtwn, “their”). Although the external evidence for the shorter reading is not compelling in itself, combined with these two prongs of internal evidence, it is to be slightly preferred.

[23:27]  ¹⁰ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:27]  ¹¹ sn This was an idiom for hypocrisy – just as the wall was painted on the outside but something different on the inside, so this person was not what he appeared or pretended to be (for discussion of a similar metaphor, see L&N 88.234; BDAG 1010 s.v. τοῖχος). See Deut 28:22; Ezek 13:10-16; Acts 23:3.

[26:12]  ¹² tn The verse simply uses a perfect tense. The meaning of the verse would be the same if this were interpreted as an affirmation rather than as an interrogative. The first line calls such a person to one’s attention.

[26:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “in his own eyes” (so NAB, NASB, NIV).

[26:12]  sn The subject matter of the verse is the person who is wise in his own opinion. Self-conceit is actually part of the folly that the book of Proverbs criticizes; those who think they are wise even though they are not are impossible to help. For someone to think he is wise when he is not makes him a conceited ignoramus (W. G. Plaut, Proverbs, 268).

[26:12]  ¹⁴ sn Previous passages in the book of Proverbs all but deny the possibility of hope for the fool. So this proverb is saying there is absolutely no hope for the self-conceited person, and there might be a slight hope for the fool – he may yet figure out that he really is a fool.

[5:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who call.” See the note at v. 8.

[5:20]  ¹⁶ sn In this verse the prophet denounces the perversion of moral standards. Darkness and bitterness are metaphors for evil; light and sweetness symbolize uprightness.

[5:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Woe [to] the wise in their own eyes.” See the note at v. 8.

[5:21]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “[who] before their faces are understanding.”

[5:21]  sn Verses 18-21 contain three “woe-sayings” that are purely accusatory and have no formal announcement of judgment attached (as in the “woe-sayings” recorded in vv. 8-17). While this lack of symmetry is odd, it has a clear rhetorical purpose. Having established a pattern in vv. 8-17, the prophet deviates from it in vv. 18-21 to grab his audience’s attention. By placing the “woes” in rapid succession and heaping up the accusatory elements, he highlights the people’s guilt and introduces an element of tension and anticipation. One is reasonably certain that judgment will come, and when it does, it will be devastating. This anticipated devastation is described in frightening detail after the sixth and final woe (see vv. 22-30).

[8:20]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to [the] instruction and to [the] testimony.” The words “then you must recall” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 19-20a are one long sentence, reading literally, “When they say to you…, to the instruction and to the testimony.” On the identity of the “instruction” and “testimony” see the notes at v. 16.

[8:20]  ²⁰ tn Heb “If they do not speak according to this word, [it is] because it has no light of dawn.” The literal translation suggests that “this word” refers to the instruction/testimony. However, it is likely that אִם־לֹא (’im-lo’) is asseverative here, as in 5:9. In this case “this word” refers to the quotation recorded in v. 19. For a discussion of the problem see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 230, n. 9. The singular pronoun in the second half of the verse is collective, referring back to the nation (see v. 19b).

[4:22]  ²¹ tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to show clearly the shift in speaker. Jeremiah has been speaking; now the Lord answers, giving the reason for the devastation Jeremiah foresees.

[4:22]  ²² tn Heb “For….” This gives the explanation for the destruction envisaged in 4:20 to which Jeremiah responds in 4:19, 21.

[4:22]  ²³ tn Heb “They are senseless children.”

[8:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Surely, behold!”

[8:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the scribes.”

[8:8]  ²⁶ tn Heb “The lying pen of the scribes have made [it] into a lie.” The translation is an attempt to make the most common interpretation of this passage understandable for the average reader. This is, however, a difficult passage whose interpretation is greatly debated and whose syntax is capable of other interpretations. The interpretation of the NJPS, “Assuredly, for naught has the pen labored, for naught the scribes,” surely deserves consideration within the context; i.e. it hasn’t done any good for the scribes to produce a reliable copy of the law, which the people have refused to follow. That interpretation has the advantage of explaining the absence of an object for the verb “make” or “labored” but creates a very unbalanced poetic couplet.

[8:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “be trapped.” However, the word “trapped” generally carries with it the connotation of divine judgment. See BDB 540 s.v. לָכַד Niph.2, and compare usage in Jer 6:11 for support. The verbs in the first two lines are again the form of the Hebrew verb that emphasizes that the action is as good as done (Hebrew prophetic perfects).

[8:10]  ²⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[8:10]  ²⁹ tn This is an example of a so-called “divine passive,” with God understood to be the source of the revelation (see ExSyn 437-38).

[8:10]  ³⁰ tn Grk “it has been given to you to know.” The dative pronoun occurs first, in emphatic position in the Greek text, although this position is awkward in contemporary English.

[8:10]  ³¹ tn Grk “the mysteries.”

[8:10]  sn The key term secrets (μυστήριον, musthrion) can mean either (1) a new revelation or (2) a revealing interpretation of existing revelation as in Dan 2:17-23, 27-30. Jesus seems to be explaining how current events develop old promises, since the NT consistently links the events of Jesus’ ministry and message with old promises (Rom 1:1-4; Heb 1:1-2). The traditional translation of this word, “mystery,” is misleading to the modern English reader because this English word suggests a secret which people have tried to uncover but which they have failed to understand (L&N 28.77).

[8:10]  ³² sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21.

[8:10]  ³³ sn A quotation from Isa 6:9. Thus parables both conceal or reveal depending on whether one is open to hearing what they teach.

[9:39]  ³⁴ tn Grk “And Jesus.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[9:39]  ³⁵ tc ‡ Some early and important witnesses (Ì⁷⁵ א* W b sa^ms ac² mf) lack the words, “He said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshiped him. Jesus said,” (vv. 38-39a). This is weighty evidence for the omission of these words. It is difficult to overstate the value of Ì⁷⁵ here, since it is the only currently available papyrus ms extant for the text of John 9:38-39. Further, א is an important and early Alexandrian witness for the omission. The versional testimony and codex W also give strong support to the omission. Nearly all other mss, however, include these words. The omission may have been occasioned by parablepsis (both vv. 37 and 39 begin with “Jesus said to him”), though it is difficult to account for such an error across such a wide variety of witnesses. On the other hand, the longer reading appears to be motivated by liturgical concerns (so R. E. Brown, John [AB], 1:375), since the verb προσκυνέω (proskunew, “I worship”) is used in John 4:20-25 of worshiping God, and again with the same sense in 12:20. If these words were authentic here, this would be the only place in John’s Gospel where Jesus is the explicit object of προσκυνέω. Even if these words are not authentic, such an omission would nevertheless hardly diminish John’s high Christology (cf. 1:1; 5:18-23; 14:6-10; 20:28), nor the implicit worship of him by Thomas (20:28). Nevertheless, a decision is difficult, and the included words may reflect a very early tradition about the blind man’s response to Jesus.

[9:39]  ³⁶ tn Or “that those who do not see may see.”

[9:40]  ³⁷ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[9:40]  ³⁸ tn Grk “heard these things.”

[9:40]  ³⁹ tn Grk “and said to him.”

[9:40]  ⁴⁰ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “are we?”).

[9:41]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”

[9:41]  ⁴² tn Grk “you would not have sin.”

[9:41]  ⁴³ tn Grk “now because you say, ‘We see…’”

[9:41]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “your sin.”

[9:41]  ⁴⁵ sn Because you claim that you can see, your guilt remains. The blind man received sight physically, and this led him to see spiritually as well. But the Pharisees, who claimed to possess spiritual sight, were spiritually blinded. The reader might recall Jesus’ words to Nicodemus in 3:10, “Are you the teacher of Israel and don’t understand these things?” In other words, to receive Jesus was to receive the light of the world, to reject him was to reject the light, close one’s eyes, and become blind. This is the serious sin of which Jesus had warned before (8:21-24). The blindness of such people was incurable since they had rejected the only cure that exists (cf. 12:39-41).

[1:22]  ⁴⁶ tn The participle φάσκοντες (faskonte") is used concessively here.

[2:17]  ⁴⁷ sn The law refers to the Mosaic law, described mainly in the OT books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

[2:17]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “boast in God.” This may be an allusion to Jer 9:24.

[2:18]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “the will.”

[2:18]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “because of being instructed out of the law.”

[2:19]  ⁵¹ tn This verb is parallel to the verbs in vv. 17-18a, so it shares the conditional meaning even though the word “if” is not repeated.

[2:21]  ⁵² tn The structure of vv. 21-24 is difficult. Some take these verses as the apodosis of the conditional clauses (protases) in vv. 17-20; others see vv. 17-20 as an instance of anacoluthon (a broken off or incomplete construction).

[2:22]  ⁵³ tn Or “detest.”

[2:1]  ⁵⁴ sn Rom 2:1-29 presents unusual difficulties for the interpreter. There have been several major approaches to the chapter and the group(s) it refers to: (1) Rom 2:14 refers to Gentile Christians, not Gentiles who obey the Jewish law. (2) Paul in Rom 2 is presenting a hypothetical viewpoint: If anyone could obey the law, that person would be justified, but no one can. (3) The reference to “the ones who do the law” in 2:13 are those who “do” the law in the right way, on the basis of faith, not according to Jewish legalism. (4) Rom 2:13 only speaks about Christians being judged in the future, along with such texts as Rom 14:10 and 2 Cor 5:10. (5) Paul’s material in Rom 2 is drawn heavily from Diaspora Judaism, so that the treatment of the law presented here cannot be harmonized with other things Paul says about the law elsewhere (E. P. Sanders, Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People, 123); another who sees Rom 2 as an example of Paul’s inconsistency in his treatment of the law is H. Räisänen, Paul and the Law [WUNT], 101-9. (6) The list of blessings and curses in Deut 27–30 provide the background for Rom 2; the Gentiles of 2:14 are Gentile Christians, but the condemnation of Jews in 2:17-24 addresses the failure of Jews as a nation to keep the law as a whole (A. Ito, “Romans 2: A Deuteronomistic Reading,” JSNT 59 [1995]: 21-37).

[2:1]  ⁵⁵ tn Some interpreters (e.g., C. K. Barrett, Romans [HNTC], 43) connect the inferential Διό (dio, “therefore”) with 1:32a, treating 1:32b as a parenthetical comment by Paul.

[2:1]  ⁵⁶ tn That is, “you have nothing to say in your own defense” (so translated by TCNT).

[2:1]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk “O man.”

[2:1]  ⁵⁸ tn Grk “Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone [of you] who judges.”

[2:1]  ⁵⁹ tn Grk “in/by (that) which.”

[1:18]  ⁶⁰ tn See the note on the term “firstborn” in 1:15. Here the reference to Jesus as the “firstborn from among the dead” seems to be arguing for a chronological priority, i.e., Jesus was the first to rise from the dead.

[1:18]  ⁶¹ tn Grk “in order that he may become in all things, himself, first.”

[1:19]  ⁶² tn The noun “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but since God is the one who reconciles the world to himself (cf. 2 Cor 5:19), he is clearly the subject of εὐδόκησεν (eudokhsen).

[1:19]  ⁶³ tn The Greek article τό (to), insofar as it relates to God, may be translated as a possessive pronoun, i.e., “his.” BDAG 404 s.v. εὐδοκέω 1 translates the phrase as “all the fullness willed to dwell in him” thus leaving the referent as impersonal. Insofar as Paul is alluding to the so-called emanations from God this is acceptable. But the fact that “the fullness” dwells in a person (i.e., “in him”) seems to argue for the translation “his fullness” where “his” refers to God.

[1:19]  ⁶⁴ tn The aorist verb κατοικῆσαι (katoikhsai) could be taken as an ingressive, in which case it refers to the incarnation and may be translated as “begin to dwell, to take up residence.” It is perhaps better, though, to take it as a constative aorist and simply a reference to the fact that the fullness of God dwells in Jesus Christ. This is a permanent dwelling, though, not a temporary one, as the present tense in 2:9 makes clear.

[1:19]  ⁶⁵ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the Son; see v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:20]  ⁶⁶ tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì⁴⁶ א A C D¹ Ψ 048^vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.

[2:14]  ⁶⁷ tn The participle ἐξαλείψας (exaleiyas) is a temporal adverbial participle of contemporaneous time related to the previous verb συνεζωοποίησεν (sunezwopoihsen), but has been translated as a finite verb because of the complexity of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences. For the meaning “destroy” see BDAG 344-45 s.v. ἐξαλείφω 2.

[2:14]  ⁶⁸ tn On the translation of χειρόγραφον (ceirografon), see BDAG 1083 s.v. which refers to it as “a certificate of indebtedness.”

[3:18]  ⁶⁹ tn The article τοῖς (tois) with ἀνδράσιν (andrasin, “husbands”) has been translated as a possessive pronoun (“your”); see ExSyn 215.

[3:17]  ⁷⁰ tn Grk “and have become rich.” The semantic domains of the two terms for wealth here, πλούσιος (plousios, adjective) and πλουτέω (ploutew, verb) overlap considerably, but are given slightly different English translations for stylistic reasons.

[3:17]  ⁷¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[3:17]  ⁷² tn All the terms in this series are preceded by καί (kai) in the Greek text, but contemporary English generally uses connectives only between the last two items in such a series.

[3:18]  ⁷³ tn Grk “I counsel you to buy.”

[3:18]  ⁷⁴ tn Grk “rich, and.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation, repeating the words “Buy from me” to make the connection clear for the English reader.

[3:18]  ⁷⁵ tn Grk “the shame of the nakedness of you,” which has been translated as an attributed genitive like καινότητι ζωῆς (kainothti zwh") in Rom 6:4 (ExSyn 89-90).

[3:18]  ⁷⁶ sn The city of Laodicea had a famous medical school and exported a powder (called a “Phrygian powder”) that was widely used as an eye salve. It was applied to the eyes in the form of a paste the consistency of dough (the Greek term for the salve here, κολλούριον, kollourion [Latin collyrium], is a diminutive form of the word for a long roll of bread).