Matthew 6:26

6:26 Look at the birds in the sky: ¹  They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds ²  them. Aren’t you more valuable ³  than they are?

Matthew 11:11

11:11 “I tell you the truth, ⁴  among those born of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least ⁵  in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is.

Matthew 17:12

17:12 And I tell you that Elijah has already come. Yet they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted. In ⁶  the same way, the Son of Man will suffer at their hands.”

Matthew 26:39

26:39 Going a little farther, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed, ⁷  “My Father, if possible, ⁸  let this cup ⁹  pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Matthew 26:55

26:55 At that moment Jesus said to the crowd, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me like you would an outlaw? ¹⁰  Day after day I sat teaching in the temple courts, yet ¹¹  you did not arrest me.

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¹ 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).

² 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.”

³ tn Grk “of more value.”

⁴ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

⁵ sn After John comes a shift of eras. The new era is so great that the lowest member of it (the one who is least in the kingdom of God) is greater than the greatest one of the previous era.

⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

⁷ tn Grk “ground, praying and saying.” Here the participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

⁸ tn Grk “if it is possible.”

⁹ 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.

¹⁰ 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).

¹¹ tn Grk “and” (καί, kai), a conjunction that is elastic enough to be used to indicate a contrast, as here.