5:11 “Blessed are you when people 4 insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things about you falsely 5 on account of me.
12:38 Then some of the experts in the law 17 along with some Pharisees 18 answered him, 19 “Teacher, we want to see a sign 20 from you.”
21:12 Then 28 Jesus entered the temple area 29 and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple courts, 30 and turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves.
23:16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple is bound by nothing. 32 But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound by the oath.’
1 tn Grk “you will call his name.”
2 sn The Greek form of the name Ihsous, which was translated into Latin as Jesus, is the same as the Hebrew Yeshua (Joshua), which means “Yahweh saves” (Yahweh is typically rendered as “Lord” in the OT). It was a fairly common name among Jews in 1st century Palestine, as references to a number of people by this name in the LXX and Josephus indicate.
3 sn Laid at the root. That is, placed and aimed, ready to begin cutting.
4 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.
5 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 sys 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.
6 tn Or “that of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
7 sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.
8 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
9 tn Or “unbelievers”; Grk “Gentiles.”
10 tn Grk “Sufficient for the day is its evil.”
11 tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”
12 sn The allusion to Sodom and Gomorrah, the most wicked of OT cities from Gen 19:1-29, shows that to reject the current message is even more serious than the worst sins of the old era and will result in more severe punishment.
13 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
14 sn Judaism had a similar exhortation in 4 Macc 13:14-15.
15 sn See the note on the word hell in 5:22.
16 tn Grk “every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men.”
17 tn Or “Then some of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
18 tn Grk “and Pharisees.” The word “some” before “Pharisees” has been supplied for clarification.
sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.
19 tn Grk “answered him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant, but the syntax of the sentence was changed to conform to English style.
20 sn What exactly this sign would have been, given what Jesus was already doing, is not clear. But here is where the fence-sitters reside, refusing to commit to him.
21 sn An allusion to Dan 12:3.
22 tn The translation “had better listen!” captures the force of the third person imperative more effectively than the traditional “let him hear,” which sounds more like a permissive than an imperative to the modern English reader. This was Jesus’ common expression to listen and heed carefully (cf. Matt 11:15, 13:9; Mark 4:9, 23; Luke 8:8, 14:35).
23 tn Grk “answering, Jesus said to him.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant, but the syntax of this phrase has been modified for clarity.
24 tn The expression “flesh and blood” could refer to “any human being” (so TEV, NLT; cf. NIV “man”), but it could also refer to Peter himself (i.e., his own intuition; cf. CEV “You didn’t discover this on your own”). Because of the ambiguity of the referent, the phrase “flesh and blood” has been retained in the translation.
25 tn Grk “a man,” but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to refer to both men and women.
26 tc A few important
tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
27 tn Grk “heart” (a collective singular).
28 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
29 tn Grk “the temple.”
sn The merchants (those who were selling) would have been located in the Court of the Gentiles.
30 tn Grk “the temple.”
sn Matthew (here, 21:12-27), Mark (11:15-19) and Luke (19:45-46) record this incident of the temple cleansing at the end of Jesus’ ministry. John (2:13-16) records a cleansing of the temple at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. See the note on the word temple courts in John 2:14 for a discussion of the relationship of these accounts to one another.
31 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
32 tn Grk “Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing.”
33 sn A quotation from Ps 118:26.