Matthew 3:3

3:3 For he is the one about whom Isaiah the prophet had spoken: 1 

“The voice 2  of one shouting in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make 3  his paths straight.’” 4 

Matthew 27:9

27:9 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah 5  the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty silver coins, the price of the one whose price had been set by the people of Israel, 6 

1 tn Grk “was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying.” The participle λέγοντος (legonto") is redundant and has not been translated. The passive construction has also been rendered as active in the translation for the sake of English style.

2 tn Or “A voice.”

3 sn This call to “make paths straight” in this context is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance.

4 sn A quotation from Isa 40:3.

5 tc The problematic citing of Jeremiah for a text which appears to come from Zechariah has prompted certain scribes to alter it. Codex 22 has Ζαχαρίου (Zacariou, “Zechariah”) while Φ 33 omit the prophet’s name altogether. And codex 21 and the Latin ms l change the prophet’s name to “Isaiah,” in accordance with natural scribal proclivities to alter the text toward the most prominent OT prophet. But unquestionably the name Jeremiah is the wording of the original here, because it is supported by virtually all witnesses and because it is the harder reading. See D. A. Carson, “Matthew,” EBC 8:562-63, for a discussion of the textual and especially hermeneutical problem.

6 tn Grk “the sons of Israel,” an idiom referring to the people of Israel as an ethnic entity (L&N 11.58).