¹ tn Heb “from a pit of lowest places.”

³ tn Grk “lowest place” (also in the repetition of the phrase in the next verse).

¹ tn The text just has “maggot” and in the second half “worm.” Something has to be added to make it a bit clearer. The terms “maggot” and “worm” describe man in his lowest and most ignominious shape.

¹ tn Or “to the lowest depths of the earth”; cf. NAB “to the depths of the nether world”; NIV “to the realm of the dead below”; NLT “to the depths of the grave.”

¹ sn Elijah’s days. Jesus, by discussing Elijah and Elisha, pictures one of the lowest periods in Israel’s history. These examples, along with v. 24, also show that Jesus is making prophetic claims as well as messianic ones. See 1 Kgs 17-18.

⁵ tn Ruth here uses a word (שִׁפְחָה, shifkhah) that describes the lowest level of female servant (see 1 Sam 25:41). Note Ruth 3:9 where she uses the word אָמָה (ʾamah), which refers to a higher class of servant.

³ sn After John comes a shift of eras. John stands at the end of the old era (those born of women), and is to some extent a pivotal or transitional figure. The new era which John heralds 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. (The parallel passage Matt 11:11 reads kingdom of heaven.)

² sn After John comes a shift of eras. John stands at the end of the old era (those born of women), and is to some extent a pivotal or transitional figure. The new era which John heralds is so great that the lowest member of it (the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven) is greater than the greatest one of the previous era. (The parallel passage Luke 7:28 reads kingdom of God.)