1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, 1 she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
“The voice 8 of one shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make 9 his paths straight.’” 10
3:7 But when he saw many Pharisees 11 and Sadducees 12 coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
3:11 “I baptize you with water, for repentance, but the one coming after me is more powerful than I am – I am not worthy 13 to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 14
4:18 As 15 he was walking by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon (called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea (for they were fishermen). 16
18:6 “But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, 36 it would be better for him to have a huge millstone 37 hung around his neck and to be drowned in the open sea. 38
24:3 As 50 he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will these things 51 happen? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
24:45 “Who then is the faithful and wise slave, 53 whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves 54 their food at the proper time?
1 tn The connotation of the Greek is “before they came together in marital and domestic union” (so BDAG 970 s.v. συνέρχομαι 3).
2 tn Grk “they fell down.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”
3 sn Frankincense refers to the aromatic resin of certain trees, used as a sweet-smelling incense (L&N 6.212).
4 sn Myrrh consisted of the aromatic resin of certain shrubs (L&N 6.208). It was used in preparing a corpse for burial.
5 sn Archelaus took after his father Herod the Great in terms of cruelty and ruthlessness, so Joseph was afraid to go there. After further direction in a dream, he went instead to Galilee.
6 sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.
7 tn Grk “was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying.” The participle λέγοντος (legonto") is redundant and has not been translated. The passive construction has also been rendered as active in the translation for the sake of English style.
8 tn Or “A voice.”
9 sn This call to “make paths straight” in this context is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance.
10 sn A quotation from Isa 40:3.
11 sn Pharisees were members of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus. There were more Pharisees than Sadducees (according to Josephus, Ant. 17.2.4 [17.42] there were more than 6,000 Pharisees at about this time). Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior. The Pharisees were strict and zealous adherents to the laws of the OT and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.
12 sn The Sadducees controlled the official political structures of Judaism at this time, being the majority members of the Sanhedrin. They were known as extremely strict on law and order issues (Josephus, J. W. 2.8.2 [2.119], 2.8.14 [2.164-166]; Ant. 13.5.9 [13.171-173], 13.10.6 [13.293-298], 18.1.2 [18.11], 18.1.4 [18.16-17], 20.9.1 [20.199]; Life 2 [10-11]). See also Matt 16:1-12; 22:23-34; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-38; Acts 5:17; 23:6-8.
13 tn Grk “of whom I am not worthy.”
sn The humility of John is evident in the statement I am not worthy. This was considered one of the least worthy tasks of a slave, and John did not consider himself worthy to do even that for the one to come, despite the fact he himself was a prophet.
14 sn With the Holy Spirit and fire. There are differing interpretations for this phrase regarding the number of baptisms and their nature. (1) Some see one baptism here, and this can be divided further into two options. (a) The baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire could refer to the cleansing, purifying work of the Spirit in the individual believer through salvation and sanctification, or (b) it could refer to two different results of Christ’s ministry: Some accept Christ and are baptized with the Holy Spirit, but some reject him and receive judgment. (2) Other interpreters see two baptisms here: The baptism of the Holy Spirit refers to the salvation Jesus brings at his first advent, in which believers receive the Holy Spirit, and the baptism of fire refers to the judgment Jesus will bring upon the world at his second coming. One must take into account both the image of fire and whether individual or corporate baptism is in view. A decision is not easy on either issue. The image of fire is used to refer to both eternal judgment (e.g., Matt 25:41) and the power of the Lord’s presence to purge and cleanse his people (e.g., Isa 4:4-5). The pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost, a fulfillment of this prophecy no matter which interpretation is taken, had both individual and corporate dimensions. It is possible that since Holy Spirit and fire are governed by a single preposition in Greek, the one-baptism view may be more likely, but this is not certain. Simply put, there is no consensus view in scholarship at this time on the best interpretation of this passage.
15 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
16 tn The two phrases in this verse placed in parentheses are explanatory comments by the author, parenthetical in nature.
17 tn Or “their boat.” The phrase ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ (en tw ploiw) can either refer to a generic boat, some boat (as it seems to do here); or it can refer to “their” boat, implying possession. Mark assumes a certain preunderstanding on the part of his readers about the first four disciples and hence the translation “their boat” is justified (cf. also v. 20 in which the “hired men” indicates that Zebedee’s family owned the boats), while Matthew does not.
18 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
19 tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”
20 tc The Greek verb ἔφαγεν (efagen, “he ate”) is found in a majority of witnesses (Ì70 C D L W Θ Ë1,13 33 Ï latt sy co) in place of ἔφαγον (efagon, “they ate”), the wording found in א B pc. ἔφαγεν is most likely motivated by the parallels in Mark and Luke (both of which have the singular).
21 tn Grk “the bread of presentation.”
sn The sacred bread refers to the “bread of presentation,” “showbread,” or “bread of the Presence,” twelve loaves prepared weekly for the tabernacle and later, the temple. See Exod 25:30; 35:13; 39:36; Lev 24:5-9. Each loaf was made from 3 quarts (3.5 liters; Heb “two tenths of an ephah”) of fine flour. The loaves were placed on a table in the holy place of the tabernacle, on the north side opposite the lampstand (Exod 26:35). It was the duty of the priest each Sabbath to place fresh bread on the table; the loaves from the previous week were then given to Aaron and his descendants, who ate them in the holy place, because they were considered sacred (Lev 24:9). See also Mark 2:23-28, Luke 6:1-5.
22 sn Jesus’ response to the charge that what his disciples were doing was against the law is one of analogy: “If David did it for his troops in a time of need, then so can I with my disciples.” Jesus is clear that on the surface there was a violation here. What is not as clear is whether he is arguing a “greater need” makes this permissible or that this was within the intention of the law all along.
23 sn See 1 Sam 21:1-6.
24 tn Grk “Or how can.”
25 sn The strong man here pictures Satan.
26 sn Some see the imagery here as similar to Eph 4:7-10, although no opponents are explicitly named in that passage. Jesus has the victory over Satan. Jesus’ acts of healing mean that the war is being won and the kingdom is coming.
27 sn Interestingly, the synoptic parallels each use a different word for Satan here: Mark 4:15 has “Satan,” while Luke 8:12 has “the devil.” This illustrates the fluidity of the gospel tradition in often using synonyms at the same point of the parallel tradition.
28 sn The word of Jesus has the potential to save if it germinates in a person’s heart, something the devil is very much against.
29 tn Or “every scribe.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4. It is possible that the term translated “expert in the law” (traditionally, “scribe”) here is a self-description used by the author, Matthew, to represent his role in conveying the traditions about Jesus to his intended audience. See David E. Orton, The Understanding Scribe [JSNTSup].
30 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “Then.”
31 sn Jesus’ hometown (where he spent his childhood years) was Nazareth, about 20 miles (30 km) southwest of Capernaum.
32 tn Grk “them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
33 sn See the note on synagogues in 4:23. Jesus undoubtedly took the opportunity on this occasion to speak about his person and mission, and the relation of both to OT fulfillment.
34 tn Grk “synagogue, so that they.” Here ὥστε (Jwste) has not been translated. Instead a new sentence was started in the translation.
35 tn Or “a desert” (meaning a deserted or desolate area with sparse vegetation).
36 tn The Greek term σκανδαλίζω (skandalizw), translated here “causes to sin” can also be translated “offends” or “causes to stumble.”
37 tn Grk “the millstone of a donkey.” This refers to a large flat stone turned by a donkey in the process of grinding grain (BDAG 661 s.v. μύλος 2; L&N 7.68-69). The same term is used in the parallel account in Mark 9:42.
sn The punishment of drowning with a heavy weight attached is extremely gruesome and reflects Jesus’ views concerning those who cause others who believe in him to sin.
38 tn The term translated “open” here (πελάγει, pelagei) refers to the open sea as opposed to a stretch of water near a coastline (BDAG 794 s.v. πέλαγος). A similar English expression would be “the high seas.”
39 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
40 tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
41 tn Grk “and his wife.”
42 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
43 tn Grk “one hundred denarii.” The denarius was a silver coin worth about a day’s wage for a laborer; this would be about three month’s pay.
44 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so.” A new sentence was started at this point in the translation in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.
45 tn Grk “and he grabbed him and started choking him.”
46 tn The word “me” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
47 tc Verses 29-31 involve a rather complex and difficult textual problem. The variants cluster into three different groups: (1) The first son says “no” and later has a change of heart, and the second son says “yes” but does not go. The second son is called the one who does his father’s will. This reading is found in the Western
48 tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”
49 sn See the note on tax collectors in 5:46.
50 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
51 sn Because the phrase these things is plural, more than the temple’s destruction is in view. The question may presuppose that such a catastrophe signals the end.
52 sn On Jesus pictured as a returning thief, see 1 Thess 5:2, 4; 2 Pet 3:10; Rev 3:3; 16:15.
53 tn See the note on the word “slave” in 8:9.
54 tn Grk “give them.”
55 tn Grk “His master said to him.”
56 tn Grk “ground, praying and saying.” Here the participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
57 tn Grk “if it is possible.”
58 sn This cup alludes to the wrath of God that Jesus would experience (in the form of suffering and death) for us. See Ps 11:6; 75:8-9; Isa 51:17, 19, 22 for this figure.
59 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
60 tn Or “the judge’s seat.”
sn The judgment seat (βῆμα, bhma) was a raised platform mounted by steps and usually furnished with a seat. It was used by officials in addressing an assembly or making official pronouncements, often of a judicial nature.
61 tn The word “message” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
62 tn Grk “saying.” The participle λέγουσα (legousa) is redundant here in contemporary English and has not been translated.
63 tn The Greek particle γάρ (gar, “for”) has not been translated here.
64 tn Or “suffered greatly in a dream.” See the discussion on the construction κατ᾿ ὄναρ (kat’ onar) in BDAG 710 s.v. ὄναρ.
65 tc ‡ αὐτό (auto, “it”) is found after ἔθηκεν (eqhken, “placed”) in the majority of witnesses, including many important ones, though it seems to be motivated by a need for clarification and cannot therefore easily explain the rise of the shorter reading (which is read by א L Θ Ë13 33 892 pc). Regardless of which reading is original (though with a slight preference for the shorter reading), English style requires the pronoun. NA27 includes αὐτό here, no doubt due to the overwhelming external attestation.
66 tn That is, cut or carved into an outcropping of natural rock, resulting in a cave-like structure (see L&N 19.25).
67 tn Or “to the door,” “against the door.”
68 tn Grk “And behold he.” 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).