Yesaya 8:16

8:16 Tie up the scroll as legal evidence, ¹ 

seal the official record of God’s instructions and give it to my followers. ² 

Daniel 8:26

8:26 The vision of the evenings and mornings that was told to you is correct. ³  But you should seal up the vision, for it refers to a time many days from now.”

Daniel 12:9

12:9 He said, “Go, Daniel. For these matters are closed and sealed until the time of the end.

Matius 13:11

13:11 He replied, ⁴  “You have been given ⁵  the opportunity to know ⁶  the secrets ⁷  of the kingdom of heaven, but they have not.

Matius 5:1-2

The Beatitudes

5:1 When ⁸  he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain. ⁹  After he sat down his disciples came to him. 5:2 Then ¹⁰  he began to teach ¹¹  them by saying:

¹ tn Heb “tie up [the] testimony.” The “testimony” probably refers to the prophetic messages God has given him. When the prophecies are fulfilled, he will be able to produce this official, written record to confirm the authenticity of his ministry and to prove to the people that God is sovereign over events.

² tn Heb “seal [the] instruction among my followers.” The “instruction” probably refers to the prophet’s exhortations and warnings. When the people are judged for the sins, the prophet can produce these earlier messages and essentially say, “I told you so.” In this way he can authenticate his ministry and impress upon the people the reality of God’s authority over them.

³ tn Heb “truth.”

⁴ tn Grk “And answering, he said to them.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁵ tn This is an example of a “divine passive,” with God understood to be the source of the revelation (see ExSyn 437-38).

⁶ tn Grk “to you it has been given to know.” The dative pronoun occurs first, in emphatic position in the Greek text, although this position is awkward in contemporary English.

⁷ tn Grk “the mysteries.”

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 it suggests a secret which people have tried to uncover but which they have failed to understand (L&N 28.77).

⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁹ tn Or “up a mountain” (εἰς τὸ ὄρος, eis to oro").

sn The expression up the mountain here may be idiomatic or generic, much like the English “he went to the hospital” (cf. 15:29), or even intentionally reminiscent of Exod 24:12 (LXX), since the genre of the Sermon on the Mount seems to be that of a new Moses giving a new law.

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

¹¹ tn Grk “And opening his mouth he taught them, saying.” The imperfect verb ἐδίδασκεν (edidasken) has been translated ingressively.