¹ tn Heb “the blessing and the curse.”

² tn Heb “and you bring (them) back to your heart.”

³ tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “children.”

⁴ tn Or “heart and soul” (also in vv. 6, 10).

⁵ tn Heb “according to all.”

⁶ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

⁷ tn Heb “are at the farthest edge of the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

⁸ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on the second occurrence of the word “he” in v. 3.

⁹ tn Heb “fathers” (also later in this verse and in vv. 9, 20).

¹⁰ tn Heb “circumcise” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “will give you and your descendents obedient hearts.” See note on the word “cleanse” in Deut 10:16.

¹¹ tn Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).

¹² tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on the second occurrence of the word “he” in v. 3.

¹³ tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I now enjoin on you.”

¹⁴ tc The MT reads “hand” (singular). Most versions read the plural.

¹⁵ tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV); NRSV “of your body.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “return and.” The Hebrew verb is used idiomatically here to indicate the repetition of the following action.

¹⁷ tn The Hebrew text includes “for good.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “to the Lord your God.” See note on the second occurrence of the word “he” in v. 3.

¹⁹ tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you.”

²⁰ tn Heb “heart.”

²¹ tc A number of LXX mss insert before this verse, “if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God,” thus translating אֲשֶׁר (’asher) as “which” and the rest as “I am commanding you today, to love,” etc., “then you will live,” etc.

²² tn Heb “which you are going there to possess it.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

²³ tn Heb “your heart,” as a metonymy for the person.

²⁴ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “certainly.”

²⁵ tn Heb “to go there to possess it.”

²⁶ tn The words “I also call on you” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 19-20 are one long sentence, which the translation divides into two.

²⁷ tn Heb “he is your life and the length of your days to live.”

²⁸ tn Heb “made me and established me.” The two verbs also appear together in Deut 32:6, where God, compared to a father, is said to have “made and established” Israel.

²⁹ tn The cohortative verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

³⁰ tn Heb “those who fear you will see me and rejoice.”

³¹ tn In this context (note the second line) the Hebrew term מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim), which so often refers to the regulations of God’s law elsewhere in this psalm, may refer instead to his decisions or disciplinary judgment.

³² tn Heb “and [in] faithfulness you afflicted me.”

³³ tn Heb “according to your word to your servant.”

³⁴ tn Heb “and may your compassion come to me.”

³⁵ tn Heb “for [with] falsehood they have denied me justice.”

³⁶ tn Heb “those who fear you.”

³⁷ tn Heb “may my heart be complete in your statutes.”

³⁸ tn Heb “my soul pines for.” See Ps 84:2.

³⁹ tn Heb “my eyes fail for your word.” The psalmist has intently kept his eyes open, looking for God to intervene, but now his eyes are watery and bloodshot, impairing his vision. See Ps 69:3.

⁴⁰ tn Heb “saying.”

⁴¹ tn Or “even though.”

⁴² tn The Hebrew word נֹאד (no’d, “leather container”) refers to a container made from animal skin which is used to hold wine or milk (see Josh 9:4, 13; Judg 4:19; 1 Sam 16:20).

⁴³ tn Heb “in the smoke.”

⁴⁴ tn Heb “How long are the days of your servant?”

⁴⁵ tn Heb “for me.”

⁴⁶ tn Heb “which [is] not according to your law.”

⁴⁷ sn God’s commands are a reliable guide to right and wrong. By keeping them the psalmist is doing what is right, yet he is still persecuted.

⁴⁸ tn Heb “according to.”

⁴⁹ tn The cohortative verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

⁵⁰ tn Heb “of your mouth.”

⁵¹ tn Heb “Forever, O Lord, your word stands firm in heaven,” or “Forever, O Lord, [is] your word; it stands firm in heaven.” The translation assumes that “your word” refers here to the body of divine instructions contained in the law (note the frequent references to the law in vv. 92-96). See vv. 9, 16-17, 57, 101, 105, 130, 139 and 160-61. The reference in v. 86 to God’s law being faithful favors this interpretation. Another option is that “your word” refers to God’s assuring word of promise, mentioned in vv. 25, 28, 42, 65, 74, 81, 107, 114, 147 and 169. In this case one might translate, “O Lord, your promise is reliable, it stands firm in heaven.”

⁵² tn Heb “to a generation and a generation [is] your faithfulness.”

⁵³ tn Heb “if your law had not been my delight.”

⁵⁴ tn Or “my suffering.”

⁵⁵ tn Heb “the wicked wait for me to kill me.”

⁵⁶ tn Heb “to every perfection I have seen an end, your command is very wide.” God’s law is beyond full comprehension, which is why the psalmist continually studies it (vv. 95, 97).

⁵⁷ tn Or “righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the just man”; TEV “Good people.”

⁵⁸ tn Or perhaps, “understands.” Heb “and there is no man who sets [it] upon [his] heart.”

⁵⁹ tn Heb “Men of loyalty are taken away.” The Niphal of אָסַף (’asaf) here means “to die.”

⁶⁰ tn The Hebrew term בְּאֵין (bÿ’en) often has the nuance “when there is no.” See Prov 8:24; 11;14; 14:4; 15:22; 26:20; 29:18.

⁶¹ tn Or “realizes”; Heb “understands” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

⁶² tn Or “righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the just man.”

⁶³ tn Heb “are taken away.” The Niphal of אָסַף (’asaf) here means “to die.”

⁶⁴ tn The term מִפְּנֵי (mippÿne, “from the face of”) often has a causal nuance. It also appears with the Niphal of אָסַף (’asaph, “gather”) in 2 Chr 12:5: אֲשֶׁר־נֶאֶסְפוּ אֶל־יְרוּשָׁלַם מִפְּנֵי שִׁישָׁק (’asher-ne’esphu ’el-yÿrushalam mippÿney shishaq, “who had gathered at Jerusalem because of [i.e., due to fear of] Shishak”).

⁶⁵ tn The translation assumes that this verse, in proverbial fashion, laments society’s apathy over the persecution of the godly. The second half of the verse observes that such apathy results in more widespread oppression. Since the next verse pictures the godly being taken to a place of rest, some interpret the second half of v. 1 in a more positive vein. According to proponents of this view, God removes the godly so that they might be spared suffering and calamity, a fact which the general populace fails to realize.

⁶⁶ tn Heb “he enters peace, they rest on their beds, the one who walks straight ahead of himself.” The tomb is here viewed in a fairly positive way as a place where the dead are at peace and sleep undisturbed.

⁶⁷ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “offspring of an adulterer [masculine] and [one who] has committed adultery.” Perhaps the text has suffered from transposition of vav (ו) and tav (ת) and מְנָאֵף וַתִּזְנֶה (mÿna’ef vattizneh) should be emended to מְנָאֶפֶת וְזֹנָה (mÿna’efet vÿzonah, “an adulteress and a prostitute”). Both singular nouns would be understood in a collective sense. Most modern English versions render both forms as nouns.

⁶⁸ tn Heb “Are you not children of rebellion, offspring of a lie?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “Of course you are!”

⁶⁹ tn Heb “inflame yourselves”; NRSV “burn with lust.” This verse alludes to the practice of ritual sex that accompanied pagan fertility rites.

⁷⁰ sn This apparently alludes to the practice of child sacrifice (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).

⁷¹ tn Heb “among the smooth stones of the stream [is] your portion, they, they [are] your lot.” The next line indicates idols are in view.

⁷² tn The text reads literally, “Because of these am I relenting?” If the prefixed interrogative particle is retained at the beginning of the sentence, then the question would be rhetorical, with the Niphal of נָחָם (nakham) probably being used in the sense of “relent, change one’s mind.” One could translate: “Because of these things, how can I relent?” However, the initial letter he may be dittographic (note the final he [ה] on the preceding word). In this case one may understand the verb in the sense of “console oneself, seek vengeance,” as in 1:24.

⁷³ tn The precise referent of זִכָּרוֹן (zikkaron) in this context is uncertain. Elsewhere the word refers to a memorial or commemorative sign. Here it likely refers to some type of idolatrous symbol.

⁷⁴ tn Or “for” (KJV, NRSV).

⁷⁵ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “from me you uncover.” The translation assumes an emendation of the Piel form גִּלִּית (gillit, “you uncover”), which has no object expressed here, to the Qal גָּלִית (galit, “you depart”).

⁷⁶ tn Heb “you make wide your bed” (NASB similar).

⁷⁷ tc Heb “and you [second masculine singular, unless the form be taken as third feminine singular] cut for yourself [feminine singular] from them.” Most English translations retain the MT reading in spite of at least three problems. This section makes significant use of feminine verbs and noun suffixes because of the sexual imagery. The verb in question is likely a 2nd person masculine singular verb. Nevertheless, this kind of fluctuation in gender appears elsewhere (GKC 127-28 §47.k and 462 §144.p; cf. Jer 3:5; Ezek 22:4; 23:32; cf. J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 2:473, n. 13). Secondly, when this verbal root signifies establishing a covenant, it is normally accompanied by the noun for “covenant” (בְּרִית, bÿrit). Finally, this juxtaposition of the verb “to cut” and “covenant” normally is followed by the preposition “with,” while here it is “from.” The translation above assumes an emendation of וַתִּכְרָת (vatikhrah, “and you cut”) to וְכָרִית (vÿkharit, “and you purchase”) from the root כָּרָה (kharah); see HALOT 497 s.v. II כרה.

⁷⁸ tn The Hebrew text has simply חָזָה (khazah, “gaze”). The adverb “longingly” is interpretive (see the context, where sexual lust is depicted).

⁷⁹ tn Heb “[at] a hand you gaze.” The term יָד (yad, “hand”) probably has the sense of “power, manhood” here, where it is used, as in Ugaritic, as a euphemism for the genitals. See HALOT 387 s.v. I יָד.

⁸⁰ tn Heb “you journey with oil.”

⁸¹ tn Heb “the king.” Since the context refers to idolatry and child sacrifice (see v. 5), some emend מֶלֶך (melekh, “king”) to “Molech.” Perhaps Israel’s devotion to her idols is likened here to a subject taking tribute to a ruler.

⁸² tn Heb “and you multiply your perfumes.”

⁸³ sn Israel’s devotion to her idols is inordinate, irrational, and self-destructive.

⁸⁴ tn Heb “by the greatness [i.e., “length,” see BDB 914 s.v. רֹב 2] of your way you get tired.”

⁸⁵ tn Heb “it is hopeless” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); NRSV “It is useless.”

⁸⁶ tn Heb “the life of your hand you find.” The term חַיָּה (khayyah, “life”) is here used in the sense of “renewal” (see BDB 312 s.v.) while יָד (yad) is used of “strength.”

⁸⁷ tn Heb “you do not grow weak.”

⁸⁸ tn Heb “you do not place [it] on your heart.”

⁸⁹ tn Heb “Is it not [because] I have been silent, and from long ago?”

⁹⁰ sn God’s patience with sinful Israel has caused them to think that they can sin with impunity and suffer no consequences.

⁹¹ tn Heb “I, I will declare your righteousness and your deeds.”

⁹² tn The Hebrew text has קִבּוּצַיִךְ (qibbutsayikh, “your gatherings”), an otherwise unattested noun from the verbal root קָבַץ (qavats, “gather”). Perhaps this alludes to their religious assemblies and by metonymy to their rituals. Since idolatry is a prominent theme in the context, some understand this as a reference to a collection of idols. The second half of the verse also favors this view.

⁹³ tn Heb “all of them a wind lifts up.”

⁹⁴ tn Heb “a breath takes [them] away.”

⁹⁵ tn Or “seeks refuge in me.” “Seeking refuge” is a metonymy for “being loyal to.”

⁹⁶ tn Heb “possess, own.” The point seems to be that he will have free access to God’s presence, as if God’s temple mount were his personal possession.

⁹⁷ tn Since God is speaking throughout this context, perhaps we should emend the text to “and I say.” However, divine speech is introduced in v. 15.

⁹⁸ tn Heb “the one who dwells forever.” שֹׁכֵן עַד (shokhen ’ad) is sometimes translated “the one who lives forever,” and understood as a reference to God’s eternal existence. However, the immediately preceding and following descriptions (“high and exalted” and “holy”) emphasize his sovereign rule. In the next line, he declares, “I dwell in an exalted and holy [place],” which refers to the place from which he rules. Therefore it is more likely that שֹׁכֵן עַד (shokhen ’ad) means “I dwell [in my lofty palace] forever” and refers to God’s eternal kingship.

⁹⁹ tn Heb “and also with the crushed and lowly of spirit.” This may refer to the repentant who have humbled themselves (see 66:2) or more generally to the exiles who have experienced discouragement and humiliation.

¹⁰⁰ tn Heb “to restore the lowly of spirit and to restore the heart of the crushed.”

¹⁰¹ tn Or perhaps, “argue,” or “accuse” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

¹⁰² tn Heb “for a spirit from before me would be faint.”

¹⁰³ tn Heb “and I struck him, hiding, and I was angry.” פָּנַיִם (panayim, “face”) is the implied object of “hiding.”

¹⁰⁴ tn Heb “and he walked [as an] apostate in the way of his heart.”

¹⁰⁵ tn Heb “his ways” (so KJV, NASB, NIV); TEV “how they acted.”

¹⁰⁶ tn Heb “and I will restore consolation to him, to his mourners.”

¹⁰⁷ tc The Hebrew text has literally, “one who creates fruit of lips.” Perhaps the pronoun אֲנִי (’ani) should be inserted after the participle; it may have been accidentally omitted by haplography: נוּב שְׂפָתָיִם[אֲנִי] בּוֹרֵא (bore’ [’ani] nuv sÿfatayim). “Fruit of the lips” is often understood as a metonymy for praise; perhaps it refers more generally to joyful shouts (see v. 18).

¹⁰⁸ tn Heb “Peace, peace.” The repetition of the noun emphasizes degree.

¹⁰⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹¹⁰ 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.

¹¹¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

¹¹² tn Grk “And opening his mouth he taught them, saying.” The imperfect verb ἐδίδασκεν (edidasken) has been translated ingressively.

¹¹³ sn The term Blessed introduces the first of several beatitudes promising blessing to those whom God cares for. They serve as an invitation to come into the grace God offers.

¹¹⁴ sn The poor in spirit is a reference to the “pious poor” for whom God especially cares. See Ps 14:6; 22:24; 25:16; 34:6; 40:17; 69:29.

¹¹⁵ sn The present tense (belongs) here is significant. Jesus makes the kingdom and its blessings currently available. This phrase is unlike the others in the list with the possessive pronoun being emphasized.

¹¹⁶ sn The promise they will be comforted is the first of several “reversals” noted in these promises. The beatitudes and the reversals that accompany them serve in the sermon as an invitation to enter into God’s care, because one can know God cares for those who turn to him.

¹¹⁷ sn Those who hunger are people like the poor Jesus has already mentioned. The term has OT roots both in conjunction with the poor (Isa 32:6-7; 58:6-7, 9-10; Ezek 18:7, 16) or by itself (Ps 37:16-19; 107:9).

¹¹⁸ tn Grk “sons,” though traditionally English versions have taken this as a generic reference to both males and females, hence “children” (cf. KJV, NAB, NRSV, NLT).

¹¹⁹ tn Grk “when they insult you.” The third person pronoun (here implied in the verb ὀνειδίσωσιν [ojneidiswsin]) has no specific referent, but refers to people in general.

¹²⁰ tc Although ψευδόμενοι (yeudomenoi, “bearing witness falsely”) could be a motivated reading, clarifying that the disciples are unjustly persecuted, its lack in only D it sy^s Tert does not help its case. Since the Western text is known for numerous free alterations, without corroborative evidence the shorter reading must be judged as secondary.

¹²¹ sn Salt was used as seasoning or fertilizer (BDAG 41 s.v. ἅλας a), or as a preservative. If salt ceased to be useful, it was thrown away. With this illustration Jesus warned about a disciple who ceased to follow him.

¹²² sn The difficulty of this saying is understanding how salt could lose its flavor since its chemical properties cannot change. It is thus often assumed that Jesus was referring to chemically impure salt, perhaps a natural salt which, when exposed to the elements, had all the genuine salt leached out, leaving only the sediment or impurities behind. Others have suggested that the background of the saying is the use of salt blocks by Arab bakers to line the floor of their ovens; under the intense heat these blocks would eventually crystallize and undergo a change in chemical composition, finally being thrown out as unserviceable. A saying in the Talmud (b. Bekhorot 8b) attributed to R. Joshua ben Chananja (ca. a.d. 90), when asked the question “When salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again?” is said to have replied, “By salting it with the afterbirth of a mule.” He was then asked, “Then does the mule (being sterile) bear young?” to which he replied: “Can salt lose its flavor?” The point appears to be that both are impossible. The saying, while admittedly late, suggests that culturally the loss of flavor by salt was regarded as an impossibility. Genuine salt can never lose its flavor. In this case the saying by Jesus here may be similar to Matt 19:24, where it is likewise impossible for the camel to go through the eye of a sewing needle.

¹²³ tn Grk “Nor do they light.” The plural in Greek is indefinite, referring to people in general.

¹²⁴ tn Or “a bowl”; this refers to any container for dry material of about eight liters (two gallons) capacity. It could be translated “basket, box, bowl” (L&N 6.151).

¹²⁵ tn Grk “not come to abolish but to fulfill.” Direct objects (“these things,” “them”) were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but have been supplied here to conform to contemporary English style.

¹²⁶ tn Grk “For I tell.” Here an explanatory γάρ (gar) has not been translated.

¹²⁷ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

¹²⁸ tn Grk “Not one iota or one serif.”

sn The smallest letter refers to the smallest Hebrew letter (yod) and the stroke of a letter to a serif (a hook or projection on a Hebrew letter).

¹²⁹ tn Grk “teaches men” ( in a generic sense, people).

¹³⁰ tn Or “that of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

¹³¹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

¹³² tn Grk “to the ancient ones.”

¹³³ sn A quotation from Exod 20:13; Deut 5:17.

¹³⁴ tc The majority of mss read the word εἰκῇ (eikh, “without cause”) here after “brother.” This insertion has support from א² D L W Θ 0233 Ë^1,13 33 Ï it sy co Ir^lat Or^mss Cyp Cyr. Thus the Western, Caesarean, and Byzantine texttypes all include the word, while the best Alexandrian and some other witnesses (Ì⁶⁴ א* B 1424^mg pc aur vg Or Hier^mss) lack it. The ms evidence favors its exclusion, though there is a remote possibility that εἰκῇ could have been accidentally omitted from these witnesses by way of homoioarcton (the next word, ἔνοχος [enocos, “guilty”], begins with the same letter). An intentional change would likely arise from the desire to qualify “angry,” especially in light of the absolute tone of Jesus’ words. While “without cause” makes good practical sense in this context, and must surely be a true interpretation of Jesus’ meaning (cf. Mark 3:5), it does not commend itself as original.

¹³⁵ tn Grk “whoever says to his brother ‘Raca,’” an Aramaic word of contempt or abuse meaning “fool” or “empty head.”

¹³⁶ tn Grk “subjected,” “guilty,” “liable.”

¹³⁷ tn Grk “the Sanhedrin.”

¹³⁸ tn The meaning of the term μωρός (mwros) is somewhat disputed. Most take it to mean, following the Syriac versions, “you fool,” although some have argued that it represents a transliteration into Greek of the Hebrew term מוֹרֵה (moreh) “rebel” (Deut 21:18, 20; cf. BDAG 663 s.v. μωρός c).

¹³⁹ tn Grk “subjected,” “guilty,” “liable.”

¹⁴⁰ tn Grk “the Gehenna of fire.”

sn The word translated hell is “Gehenna” (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36).

¹⁴¹ tn Grk “Make friends.”

¹⁴² tn The words “to court” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

¹⁴³ tn Grk “the accuser.”

¹⁴⁴ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

¹⁴⁵ tn Here the English word “penny” is used as opposed to the parallel in Luke 12:59 where “cent” appears since the Greek word there is different and refers to a different but similar coin.

sn The penny here was a quadrans, a Roman copper coin worth 1/64 of a denarius (L&N 6.78). The parallel passage in Luke 12:59 mentions the lepton, equal to one-half of a quadrans and thus the smallest coin available.

¹⁴⁶ sn A quotation from Exod 20:14; Deut 5:17.

¹⁴⁷ sn On this word here and in the following verse, see the note on the word hell in 5:22.

¹⁴⁸ sn A quotation from Deut 24:1.

¹⁴⁹ tn Grk “the ancient ones.”

¹⁵⁰ sn A quotation from Lev 19:12.

¹⁵¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

¹⁵² tn The term πονηροῦ (ponhrou) may be understood as specific and personified, referring to the devil, or possibly as a general reference to evil. It is most likely personified, however, since it is articular (τοῦ πονηροῦ, tou ponhrou). Cf. also “the evildoer” in v. 39, which is the same construction.

¹⁵³ sn A quotation from Exod 21:24; Lev 24:20.

¹⁵⁴ tn The articular πονηρός (ponhro", “the evildoer”) cannot be translated simply as “evil” for then the command would be “do not resist evil.” Every instance of this construction in Matthew is most likely personified, referring either to an evildoer (13:49) or, more often, “the evil one” (as in 5:37; 6:13; 13:19, 38).

¹⁵⁵ tc ‡ Many mss (B D K L Δ Θ Ë¹³ 565 579 700 1424 pm) have σου (sou) here (“your right cheek”), but many others lack the pronoun (א W ˹ 33 892 1241 pm). The pronoun was probably added by way of clarification. NA²⁷ has σου in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.

¹⁵⁶ tn Or “shirt” (a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin). The name for this garment (χιτών, citwn) presents some difficulty in translation. Most modern readers would not understand what a “tunic” was any more than they would be familiar with a “chiton.” On the other hand, attempts to find a modern equivalent are also a problem: “Shirt” conveys the idea of a much shorter garment that covers only the upper body, and “undergarment” (given the styles of modern underwear) is more misleading still. “Tunic” was therefore employed, but with a note to explain its nature.

¹⁵⁷ sn If anyone forces you to go one mile. In NT times Roman soldiers had the authority to press civilians into service to carry loads for them.

¹⁵⁸ sn Jesus advocates a generosity and a desire to meet those in dire need with the command give to the one who asks you. This may allude to begging; giving alms was viewed highly in the ancient world (Matt 6:1-4; Deut 15:7-11).

¹⁵⁹ tn Grk “do not turn away from.”

¹⁶⁰ sn A quotation from Lev 19:18.

¹⁶¹ tc Most mss ([D] L [W] Θ Ë¹³ 33 Ï lat) read “bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you,” before “those who persecute you.” But this is surely a motivated reading, importing the longer form of this aphorism from Luke 6:27-28. The shorter text is found in א B ˹ pc sa, as well as several fathers and versional witnesses.

¹⁶² tn Grk “be sons of your Father in heaven.” Here, however, the focus is not on attaining a relationship (becoming a child of God) but rather on being the kind of person who shares the characteristics of God himself (a frequent meaning of the Semitic idiom “son of”). See L&N 58.26.

¹⁶³ 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.

¹⁶⁴ sn This remark echoes the more common OT statements like Lev 19:2 or Deut 18:13: “you must be holy as I am holy.”