Matthew 2:18

2:18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,

weeping and loud wailing, ¹ 

Rachel weeping for her children,

and she did not want to be comforted, because they were ²  gone.” ³ 

Matthew 10:21

10:21 “Brother ⁴  will hand over brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise against ⁵  parents and have them put to death.

Matthew 11:16

11:16 “To ⁶  what should I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to one another, ⁷ 

Matthew 18:3

18:3 and said, “I tell you the truth, ⁸  unless you turn around and become like little children, ⁹  you will never ¹⁰  enter the kingdom of heaven!

Matthew 19:13-14

Jesus and Little Children

19:13 Then little children were brought to him for him to lay his hands on them and pray. ¹¹  But the disciples scolded those who brought them. ¹²  19:14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” ¹³ 

Matthew 22:25

22:25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children he left his wife to his brother.

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¹ tc The LXX of Jer 38:15 (31:15 ET) has “lamentation, weeping, and loud wailing”; most later mss (C D L W 0233 ˹³ 33 Ï) have a quotation in Matthew which conforms to that of the LXX (θρῆνος καὶ κλαυθμός καὶ ὀδυρμός; qrhno" kai klauqmo" kai odurmo"). But such assimilations were routine among the scribes; as such, they typically should be discounted because they are both predictable and motivated. The shorter reading, without “lamentation and,” is thus to be preferred, especially since it cannot easily be accounted for unless it is the original wording here. Further, it is found in the better mss along with a good cross-section of other witnesses (א B Z 0250 ˹ pc lat co).

² tn Grk “are”; the Greek text uses a present tense verb.

³ sn A quotation from Jer 31:15.

⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁵ tn Or “will rebel against.”

⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁷ tn Grk “who call out to one another, saying.” The participle λέγουσιν (legousin) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

⁸ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

⁹ sn The point of the comparison become like little children has more to do with a child’s trusting spirit, as well as willingness to be dependent and receive from others, than any inherent humility the child might possess.

¹⁰ tn The negation in Greek (οὐ μή, ou mh) is very strong here.

¹¹ tn Grk “so that he would lay his hands on them and pray.”

¹² tn Grk “the disciples scolded them.” In the translation the referent has been specified as “those who brought them,” since otherwise the statement could be understood to mean that the disciples scolded the children rather than their parents who brought them.

¹³ sn The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Children are a picture of those whose simple trust illustrates what faith is all about. The remark illustrates how everyone is important to God, even those whom others regard as insignificant.