7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ 5 will enter into the kingdom of heaven – only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
7:24 “Everyone 6 who hears these words of mine and does them is like 7 a wise man 8 who built his house on rock.
12:43 “When 12 an unclean spirit 13 goes out of a person, 14 it passes through waterless places 15 looking for rest but 16 does not find it.
1 tn Grk “answering, he said.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant, but the syntax of the phrase has been changed for clarity.
2 tn Or “a person.” Greek ὁ ἄνθρωπος (Jo anqrwpo") is used generically for humanity. The translation “man” is used because the emphasis in Jesus’ response seems to be on his dependence on God as a man.
3 tn Grk “will not live.” The verb in Greek is a future tense, but it is unclear whether it is meant to be taken as a command (also known as an imperatival future) or as a statement of reality (predictive future).
4 sn A quotation from Deut 8:3.
5 sn The double use of the vocative is normally used in situations of high emotion or emphasis. Even an emphatic confession without action means little.
6 tn Grk “Therefore everyone.” Here οὖν (oun) has not been translated.
7 tn Grk “will be like.” The same phrase occurs in v. 26.
8 tn Here and in v. 26 the Greek text reads ἀνήρ (anhr), while the parallel account in Luke 6:47-49 uses ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") in vv. 48 and 49.
9 sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.
10 tn Grk “except by Beelzebul.”
sn Beelzebul is another name for Satan. So some people recognized Jesus’ work as supernatural, but called it diabolical.
11 tn Or “prince.”
12 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
13 sn Unclean spirit refers to an evil spirit.
14 tn Grk “man.” This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), referring to both males and females. This same use occurs in v. 45.
15 sn The background for the reference to waterless places is not entirely clear, though some Jewish texts suggest spirits must have a place to dwell, but not with water (Luke 8:29-31; Tob 8:3). Some suggest that the image of the desert or deserted cities as the places demons dwell is where this idea started (Isa 13:21; 34:14).
16 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
17 sn What he has will be taken from him. The meaning is that the one who accepts Jesus’ teaching concerning his person and the kingdom will receive a share in the kingdom now and even more in the future, but for the one who rejects Jesus’ words, the opportunity that that person presently possesses with respect to the kingdom will someday be taken away forever.
18 tn Grk “is temporary.”
19 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
20 tn Grk “a man,” but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to refer to both men and women.
21 sn A quotation from Deut 19:15.
22 tn Grk “his.” The pronoun has been translated to follow English idiom (the last pronoun of the verse [“from your heart”] is second person plural in the original).
23 tn Here the term “brother” means “fellow believer” or “fellow Christian” (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 2.a), whether male or female. Concerning the familial connotations, see also the note on the first occurrence of this term in v. 15.