Matthew 2:22

2:22 But when he heard that Archelaus ¹  was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, ²  he was afraid to go there. After being warned in a dream, he went to the regions of Galilee.

Matthew 3:9

3:9 and don’t think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!

Matthew 4:21

4:21 Going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in a boat ³  with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. Then ⁴  he called them.

Matthew 5:45

5:45 so that you may be like ⁵  your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Matthew 6:26

6:26 Look at the birds in the sky: ⁶  They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds ⁷  them. Aren’t you more valuable ⁸  than they are?

Matthew 7:11

7:11 If you then, although you are evil, ⁹  know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts ¹⁰  to those who ask him!

Matthew 11:25

Jesus’ Invitation

11:25 At that time Jesus said, ¹¹  “I praise ¹²  you, Father, Lord ¹³  of heaven and earth, because ¹⁴  you have hidden these things from the wise ¹⁵  and intelligent, and revealed them to little children.

Matthew 16:27

16:27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. ¹⁶ 

Matthew 18:10

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

18:10 “See that you do not disdain one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

Matthew 19:29

19:29 And whoever has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much ¹⁷  and will inherit eternal life.

Matthew 20:23

20:23 He told them, “You will drink my cup, ¹⁸  but to sit at my right and at my left is not mine to give. Rather, it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

Matthew 21:31

21:31 Which of the two did his father’s will?” They said, “The first.” ¹⁹  Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, ²⁰  tax collectors ²¹  and prostitutes will go ahead of you into the kingdom of God!

Matthew 25:34

25:34 Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Matthew 26:29

26:29 I ²²  tell you, from now on I will not drink of this fruit ²³  of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Matthew 26:39

26:39 Going a little farther, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed, ²⁴  “My Father, if possible, ²⁵  let this cup ²⁶  pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

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¹ 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.

² sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.

³ 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.

⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

⁵ tn Grk “be sons of your Father in heaven.” Here, however, the focus is not on attaining a relationship (becoming a child of God) but rather on being the kind of person who shares the characteristics of God himself (a frequent meaning of the Semitic idiom “son of”). See L&N 58.26.

⁶ tn Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).

⁷ tn Or “God gives them food to eat.” L&N 23.6 has both “to provide food for” and “to give food to someone to eat.”

⁸ tn Grk “of more value.”

⁹ tn The participle ὄντες (ontes) has been translated concessively.

¹⁰ sn The provision of the good gifts is probably a reference to the wisdom and guidance supplied in response to repeated requests. The teaching as a whole stresses not that we get everything we want, but that God gives the good that we need.

¹¹ tn Grk “At that time, answering, Jesus said.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.

¹² tn Or “thank.”

¹³ sn The title Lord is an important name for God, showing his sovereignty, but it is interesting that it comes next to a reference to the Father, a term indicative of God’s care. The two concepts are often related in the NT; see Eph 1:3-6.

¹⁴ tn Or “that.”

¹⁵ sn See 1 Cor 1:26-31.

¹⁶ sn An allusion to Pss 28:4; 62:12; cf. Prov 24:12.

¹⁷ sn Jesus reassures his disciples with a promise that (1) much benefit in this life (a hundred times as much) and (2) eternal life will be given.

¹⁸ tc See the tc note on “about to drink” in v. 22.

¹⁹ 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 mss (D it). But the reading is so hard as to be nearly impossible. One can only suspect some tampering with the text, extreme carelessness on the part of the scribe, or possibly a recognition of the importance of not shaming one’s parent in public. (Any of these reasons is not improbable with this texttype, and with codex D in particular.) The other two major variants are more difficult to assess. Essentially, the responses make sense (the son who does his father’s will is the one who changes his mind after saying “no”): (2) The first son says “no” and later has a change of heart, and the second son says “yes” but does not go. But here, the first son is called the one who does his father’s will (unlike the Western reading). This is the reading found in (א) C L W (Z) 0102 0281 ˹ 33 Ï and several versional witnesses. (3) The first son says “yes” but does not go, and the second son says “no” but later has a change of heart. This is the reading found in B Θ Ë¹³ 700 and several versional witnesses. Both of these latter two readings make good sense and have significantly better textual support than the first reading. The real question, then, is this: Is the first son or the second the obedient one? If one were to argue simply from the parabolic logic, the second son would be seen as the obedient one (hence, the third reading). The first son would represent the Pharisees (or Jews) who claim to obey God, but do not (cf. Matt 23:3). This accords well with the parable of the prodigal son (in which the oldest son represents the unbelieving Jews). Further, the chronological sequence of the second son being obedient fits well with the real scene: Gentiles and tax collectors and prostitutes were not, collectively, God’s chosen people, but they did repent and come to God, while the Jewish leaders claimed to be obedient to God but did nothing. At the same time, the external evidence is weaker for this reading (though stronger than the first reading), not as widespread, and certainly suspect because of how neatly it fits. One suspects scribal manipulation at this point. Thus the second reading looks to be superior to the other two on both external and transcriptional grounds. But what about intrinsic evidence? One can surmise that Jesus didn’t always give predictable responses. In this instance, he may well have painted a picture in which the Pharisees saw themselves as the first son, only to stun them with his application (v. 32).

²⁰ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

²¹ sn See the note on tax collectors in 5:46.

²² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

²³ tn Grk “produce” (“the produce of the vine” is a figurative expression for wine).

²⁴ tn Grk “ground, praying and saying.” Here the participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

²⁵ tn Grk “if it is possible.”

²⁶ 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.