Text -- Matthew 12:47-50 (NET)

12:47 Someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside wanting to speak to you.” 12:48 To the one who had said this, Jesus replied, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” 12:49 And pointing toward his disciples he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 12:50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Mat 12:47

¹ tc A few ancient mss and versions lack this verse (א* B L Γ pc ff¹ k sy^s,c sa). The witness of א and B is especially strong, but internal considerations override this external evidence. Both v. 46 and 47 end with the word λαλῆσαι (“to speak”), so early scribes probably omitted the verse through homoioteleuton. The following verses make little sense without v. 47; its omission is too hard a reading. Thus v. 47 was most likely part of the original text.

² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

³ tn Grk “seeking.”

NET Notes: Mat 12:48

¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Grk “And answering, he said to the one who had said this.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation. Here δέ (de) at the beginning of the clause has not been translated.

NET Notes: Mat 12:49

¹ tn Grk “extending his hand.”

² tn Grk “Behold my mother and my brothers.”

NET Notes: Mat 12:50

¹ tn The pleonastic pronoun αὐτός (autos, “he”) which precedes this verb has not been translated.