Matthew 10:12-15

10:12 As you enter the house, give it greetings. 1  10:13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come on it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 2  10:14 And if anyone will not welcome you or listen to your message, shake the dust off 3  your feet as you leave that house or that town. 10:15 I tell you the truth, 4  it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom and Gomorrah 5  on the day of judgment than for that town!

1 tn This is a metonymy; the “house” is put for those who live in it.

2 sn The response to these messengers determines how God’s blessing is bestowed – if the messengers are not welcomed, their blessing will return to them. Jesus shows just how important their mission is by this remark.

3 sn To shake the dust off represented shaking off the uncleanness from one’s feet; see Luke 10:11; Acts 13:51; 18:6. It was a sign of rejection.

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

5 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.