Matthew 14:30

14:30 But when he saw the strong wind he became afraid. And starting to sink, he cried out, ¹  “Lord, save me!”

Matthew 27:49

27:49 But the rest said, “Leave him alone! Let’s see if Elijah will come to save him.” ² 

Matthew 1:21

1:21 She will give birth to a son and you will name him ³  Jesus, ⁴  because he will save his people from their sins.”

Matthew 16:25

16:25 For whoever wants to save his life ⁵  will lose it, ⁶  but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Matthew 27:40

27:40 and saying, “You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! ⁷  If you are God’s Son, come down ⁸  from the cross!”

Matthew 27:42

27:42 “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! He is the king of Israel! If he comes down ⁹  now from the cross, we will believe in him!

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¹ tn Grk “he cried out, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant and has not been translated.

² tc Early and important mss (א B C L Γ pc) have another sentence at the end of this verse: “And another [soldier] took a spear and pierced him in the side, and water and blood flowed out.” This comment finds such a strong parallel in John 19:34 that it was undoubtedly lifted from the Fourth Gospel by early, well-meaning scribes and inserted into Matt 27:49. Consequently, even though the support for the shorter reading (A D W Θ Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat sy sa bo) is not nearly as impressive, internal considerations on its behalf are compelling.

³ tn Grk “you will call his name.”

⁴ 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.

⁵ tn Or “soul” (throughout vv. 25-26).

⁶ sn The point of the saying whoever wants to save his life will lose it is that if one comes to Jesus then rejection by many will certainly follow. If self-protection is a key motivation, then one will not respond to Jesus and will not be saved. One who is willing to risk rejection will respond and find true life.

⁷ sn There is rich irony in the statements of those who were passing by, “save yourself!” and “come down from the cross!” In summary, they wanted Jesus to come down from the cross and save his physical life, but it was indeed his staying on the cross and giving his physical life that led to the fact that they could experience a resurrection from death to life.

⁸ tc ‡ Many important witnesses (א* A D pc it sy^[s],p) read καί (kai, here with the force of “then”) before κατάβηθι (katabhqi, “come down”). The shorter reading may well be due to homoioarcton, but judging by the diverse external evidence (א² B L W Θ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat) it is equally possible that the shorter reading is original (and is so considered for this translation). NA²⁷ puts the καί in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

⁹ tn Here the aorist imperative καταβάτω (katabatw) has been translated as a conditional imperative. This fits the pattern of other conditional imperatives (imperative + καί + future indicative) outlined by ExSyn 489.