Matius 4:16

4:16 the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light,

and on those who sit in the region and shadow of death a light has dawned.” ¹ 

Matius 9:5

9:5 Which is easier, ²  to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’?

Matius 12:32

12:32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. ³  But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, ⁴  either in this age or in the age to come.

Matius 12:40

12:40 For just as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish ⁵  for three days and three nights, ⁶  so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.

Matius 12:44

12:44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the home I left.’ ⁷  When it returns, ⁸  it finds the house ⁹  empty, swept clean, and put in order. ¹⁰ 

Matius 13:13

13:13 For this reason I speak to them in parables: Although they see they do not see, and although they hear they do not hear nor do they understand.

Matius 13:35

13:35 This fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet: ¹¹ 

“I will open my mouth in parables,

I will announce what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.” ¹² 

Matius 13:48

13:48 When it was full, they pulled it ashore, sat down, and put the good fish into containers and threw the bad away.

Matius 16:3

16:3 and in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, because the sky is red and darkening.’ ¹³  You know how to judge correctly the appearance of the sky, ¹⁴  but you cannot evaluate the signs of the times.

Matius 20:12

20:12 saying, ‘These last fellows worked one hour, and you have made them equal to us who bore the hardship and burning heat of the day.’

Matius 24:38

24:38 For in those days before the flood, people ¹⁵  were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark.

Matius 27:42-43

27:42 “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! He is the king of Israel! If he comes down ¹⁶  now from the cross, we will believe in him! 27:43 He trusts in God – let God, if he wants to, deliver him now ¹⁷  because he said, ‘I am God’s Son’!”

[4:16]  ¹ sn A quotation from Isa 9:1.

[9:5]  ² 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.

[12:32]  ³ tn Grk “it will be forgiven him.”

[12:32]  ⁴ tn Grk “it will not be forgiven him.”

[12:32]  sn Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. This passage has troubled many people, who have wondered whether or not they have committed this sin. Three things must be kept in mind: (1) the nature of the sin is to ascribe what is the obvious work of the Holy Spirit (e.g., releasing people from Satan’s power) to Satan himself; (2) it is not simply a momentary doubt or sinful attitude, but is indeed a settled condition which opposes the Spirit’s work, as typified by the religious leaders who opposed Jesus; and (3) a person who is concerned about it has probably never committed this sin, for those who commit it here (i.e., the religious leaders) are not in the least concerned about Jesus’ warning.

[12:40]  ⁵ tn Grk “large sea creature.”

[12:40]  ⁶ sn A quotation from Jonah 1:17.

[12:44]  ⁷ tn Grk “I will return to my house from which I came.”

[12:44]  ⁸ tn Grk “comes.”

[12:44]  ⁹ tn The words “the house” are not in Greek but are implied.

[12:44]  ¹⁰ sn The image of the house empty, swept clean, and put in order refers to the life of the person from whom the demon departed. The key to the example appears to be that no one else has been invited in to dwell. If an exorcism occurs and there is no response to God, then the way is free for the demon to return. Some see the reference to exorcism as more symbolic; thus the story’s only point is about responding to Jesus. This is possible and certainly is an application of the passage.

[13:35]  ¹¹ tc A few important mss (א* Θ Ë^1,13 33) identify the prophet as Isaiah, a reading that is significantly harder than the generic “prophet” because the source of this prophecy is not Isaiah but Asaph in Ps 78. Jerome mentioned some mss that had “Asaph” here, though none are known to exist today. This problem is difficult because of the temptation for scribes to delete the reference to Isaiah in order to clear up a discrepancy. Indeed, the vast majority of witnesses have only “the prophet” here (א¹ B C D L W 0233 0242 Ï lat sy co). However, as B. M. Metzger points out, “if no prophet were originally named, more than one scribe might have been prompted to insert the name of the best known prophet – something which has, in fact, happened elsewhere more than once” (TCGNT 27). In light of the paucity of evidence for the reading ᾿Ησαΐου, as well as the proclivity of scribes to add his name, it is probably best to consider the shorter reading as authentic.

[13:35]  tn Grk “was spoken by the prophet, saying.” The participle λέγοντος (legontos) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[13:35]  ¹² sn A quotation from Ps 78:2.

[16:3]  ¹³ tn Or “red and gloomy” (L&N 14.56).

[16:3]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “The face of the sky you know how to discern.”

[24:38]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “they,” but in an indefinite sense, “people.”

[27:42]  ¹⁶ tn Here the aorist imperative καταβάτω (katabatw) has been translated as a conditional imperative. This fits the pattern of other conditional imperatives (imperative + καί + future indicative) outlined by ExSyn 489.

[27:43]  ¹⁷ sn An allusion to Ps 22:8.