6:5 “Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues 7 and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.
6:16 “When 8 you fast, do not look sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unattractive 9 so that people will see them fasting. I tell you the truth, 10 they have their reward.
13:33 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with 11 three measures 12 of flour until all the dough had risen.” 13
13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, hidden in a field, that a person found and hid. Then because of joy he went and sold all that he had and bought that field.
23:27 “Woe to you, experts in the law 20 and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean. 21
1 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
2 tn Grk “behold the heavens.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).
3 tn Or “sky.” The Greek word οὐρανός (ourano") may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The same word is used in v. 17.
4 tc ‡ αὐτῷ (autw, “to/before him”) is found in the majority of witnesses (א1 C Ds L W 0233 Ë1,13 33 Ï lat), perhaps added as a point of clarification or emphasis. NA27 includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.
5 sn The phrase like a dove is a descriptive comparison. The Spirit is not a dove, but descended like one in some sort of bodily representation.
6 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.
7 sn See the note on synagogues in 4:23.
8 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
9 tn Here the term “disfigure” used in a number of translations was not used because it could convey to the modern reader the notion of mutilation. L&N 79.17 states, “‘to make unsightly, to disfigure, to make ugly.’ ἀφανίζουσιν γὰρ τὰ πρόσωπα αὐτῶν ‘for they make their faces unsightly’ Mt 6:16.”
10 tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”
11 tn Grk “hid in.”
12 sn This measure was a saton, the Greek name for the Hebrew term “seah.” Three of these was a very large quantity of flour, since a saton is a little over 16 pounds (7 kg) of dry measure (or 13.13 liters). So this was over 47 lbs (21 kg) of flour total, enough to feed over a hundred people.
13 tn Grk “it was all leavened.”
sn The parable of the yeast and the dough teaches that the kingdom of God will start small but eventually grow to permeate everything. Jesus’ point was not to be deceived by its seemingly small start, the same point made in the parable of the mustard seed, which preceded this one.
14 tn Or “every scribe.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4. It is possible that the term translated “expert in the law” (traditionally, “scribe”) here is a self-description used by the author, Matthew, to represent his role in conveying the traditions about Jesus to his intended audience. See David E. Orton, The Understanding Scribe [JSNTSup].
15 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
16 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
17 tn Grk “let him be to you as.”
18 tn Or “a pagan.”
19 sn To treat him like a Gentile or a tax collector means not to associate with such a person. See the note on tax collectors in 5:46.
20 tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
21 sn This was an idiom for hypocrisy – just as the wall was painted on the outside but something different on the inside, so this person was not what he appeared or pretended to be (for discussion of a similar metaphor, see L&N 88.234; BDAG 1010 s.v. τοῖχος). See Deut 28:22; Ezek 13:10-16; Acts 23:3.
22 tn Or “a revolutionary.” This term can refer to one who stirs up rebellion: BDAG 594 s.v. λῃστής 2 has “revolutionary, insurrectionist, guerrilla” citing evidence from Josephus (J. W. 2.13.2-3 [2.253-254]). However, this usage generally postdates Jesus’ time. It does refer to a figure of violence. Luke uses the same term for the highwaymen who attack the traveler in the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:30).
23 tn Grk “and” (καί, kai), a conjunction that is elastic enough to be used to indicate a contrast, as here.