Text -- Matthew 10:1-31 (NET)

Sending Out the Twelve Apostles

10:1 Jesus called his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits so they could cast them out and heal every kind of disease and sickness. 10:2 Now these are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (called Peter), and Andrew his brother; James son of Zebedee and John his brother; 10:3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 10:4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. 10:5 Jesus sent out these twelve, instructing them as follows: “Do not go to Gentile regions and do not enter any Samaritan town. 10:6 Go instead to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 10:7 As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near!’ 10:8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. 10:9 Do not take gold, silver, or copper in your belts, 10:10 no bag for the journey, or an extra tunic, or sandals or staff, for the worker deserves his provisions. 10:11 Whenever you enter a town or village, find out who is worthy there and stay with them until you leave. 10:12 As you enter the house, give it greetings. 10:13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come on it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 10:14 And if anyone will not welcome you or listen to your message, shake the dust off your feet as you leave that house or that town. 10:15 I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town!

Persecution of Disciples

10:16 “I am sending you out like sheep surrounded by wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 10:17 Beware of people, because they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues. 10:18 And you will be brought before governors and kings because of me, as a witness to them and the Gentiles. 10:19 Whenever they hand you over for trial, do not worry about how to speak or what to say, for what you should say will be given to you at that time. 10:20 For it is not you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 10:21 “Brother will hand over brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise against parents and have them put to death. 10:22 And you will be hated by everyone because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 10:23 Whenever they persecute you in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. 10:24 “A disciple is not greater than his teacher, nor a slave greater than his master. 10:25 It is enough for the disciple to become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house ‘Beelzebul,’ how much more will they defame the members of his household!

Fear God, Not Man

10:26 “Do not be afraid of them, for nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing is secret that will not be made known. 10:27 What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light, and what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops. 10:28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 10:29 Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. 10:30 Even all the hairs on your head are numbered. 10:31 So do not be afraid; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Mat 10:1

¹ tn Grk “And he.”

² sn Unclean spirits refers to evil spirits.

³ tn Grk “and every [kind of] sickness.” Here “every” was not repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

NET Notes: Mat 10:2

¹ sn The term apostles is rare in the gospels, found only here, Mark 3:14, and six more times in Luke (6:13; 9:10; 11:49; 17:5; 22:14; 24:10).

² sn In the various lists of the twelve, Simon (that is, Peter) is always mentioned first (see also Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:13-16; Acts 1:13) and the first four are always the same, though not in the same order after Peter.

NET Notes: Mat 10:3

¹ sn Bartholomew (meaning “son of Tolmai” in Aramaic) could be another name for Nathanael mentioned in John 1:45.

² sn This is the “doubting Thomas” of John 20:24-29.

³ sn See the note on tax collectors in 5:46.

⁴ tc Witnesses differ on the identification of the last disciple mentioned in v. 3: He is called Λεββαῖος (Lebbaio", “Lebbaeus”) in D, Judas Zelotes in it, and not present in sy^s. The Byzantine text, along with a few others (C^[*^],2 L W Θ Ë¹ 33 Ï), conflates earlier readings by calling him “Lebbaeus, who was called Thaddaeus,” while codex 13 pc conflate by way of transposition (“Thaddaeus, who was called Lebbaeus”). But excellent witnesses of the earliest texttypes (א B ˹³ 892 pc lat co) call him merely Θαδδαῖος (Qaddaio", “Thaddaeus”), a reading which, because of this support, is most likely correct.

NET Notes: Mat 10:4

¹ tn Grk “the Cananean,” but according to both BDAG 507 s.v. Καναναῖος and L&N 11.88, this term has no relation at all to the geographical terms for Cana or Canaan, but is derived from the Aramaic term for “enthusiast, zealot” (see Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13), possibly because of an earlier affiliation with the party of the Zealots. He may not have been technically a member of the particular Jewish nationalistic party known as “Zealots” (since according to some scholars this party had not been organized at that time), but simply someone who was zealous for Jewish independence from Rome, in which case the term would refer to his temperament.

² sn There is some debate about what the name Iscariot means. It probably alludes to a region in Judea and thus might make Judas the only non-Galilean in the group. Several explanations for the name Iscariot have been proposed, but it is probably transliterated Hebrew with the meaning “man of Kerioth” (there are at least two villages that had that name). For further discussion see D. L. Bock, Luke (BECNT), 1:546; also D. A. Carson, John, 304.

³ tn Grk “who even betrayed him.”

NET Notes: Mat 10:5

¹ tn Grk “instructing them, saying.”

² tn Grk “on the road of the Gentiles.” That is, a path that leads to Gentile regions.

³ tn Grk “town [or city] of the Samaritans.”

NET Notes: Mat 10:6

¹ tn Grk “But go.” The Greek μᾶλλον (mallon, “rather, instead”) conveys the adversative nuance here so that δέ (de) has not been translated.

NET Notes: Mat 10:8

¹ tc The majority of Byzantine minuscules, along with a few other witnesses (C³ K L Γ Θ 700* al), lack νεκροὺς ἐγείρετε (nekrou" ejgeirete, “raise the dead”), most likely because of oversight due to a string of similar endings (-ετε in the second person imperatives, occurring five times in v. 8). The longer version of this verse is found in several diverse and ancient witnesses such as א B C* (D) N 0281^vid Ë^1,13 33 565 al lat; P W Δ 348 have a word-order variation, but nevertheless include νεκροὺς ἐγείρετε. Although some Byzantine-text proponents charge the Alexandrian witnesses with theologically-motivated alterations toward heterodoxy, it is interesting to find a variant such as this in which the charge could be reversed (do the Byzantine scribes have something against the miracle of resurrection?). In reality, such charges of wholesale theologically-motivated changes toward heterodoxy are immediately suspect due to lack of evidence of intentional changes (here the change is evidently due to accidental omission).

NET Notes: Mat 10:10

¹ tn Or “no traveler’s bag”; or possibly “no beggar’s bag” (L&N 6.145; BDAG 811 s.v. πήρα).

² tn Grk “two tunics.” See the note on the word “tunic” in Matt 5:40.

³ sn Mark 6:8 allows one staff. It might be that Matthew’s summary (cf. Luke 9:3) means not taking an extra staff or that the expression is merely rhetorical for “traveling light” which has been rendered in two slightly different ways.

NET Notes: Mat 10:11

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² tn Grk “Into whatever town or village you enter.” This acts as a distributive, meaning every town or village they enter; this is expressed more naturally in English as “whenever you enter a town or village.”

³ tn Grk “in it” (referring to the city or village).

⁴ tn Grk “there.” This was translated as “with them” to avoid redundancy in English and to clarify where the disciples were to stay.

sn Jesus telling his disciples to stay with them in one house contrasts with the practice of religious philosophers in the ancient world who went from house to house begging.

NET Notes: Mat 10:12

¹ tn This is a metonymy; the “house” is put for those who live in it.

NET Notes: Mat 10:13

¹ sn The response to these messengers determines how God’s blessing is bestowed – if the messengers are not welcomed, their blessing will return to them. Jesus shows just how important their mission is by this remark.

NET Notes: Mat 10:14

¹ sn To shake the dust off represented shaking off the uncleanness from one’s feet; see Luke 10:11; Acts 13:51; 18:6. It was a sign of rejection.

NET Notes: Mat 10:15

¹ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

² sn The allusion to Sodom and Gomorrah, the most wicked of OT cities from Gen 19:1-29, shows that to reject the current message is even more serious than the worst sins of the old era and will result in more severe punishment.

NET Notes: Mat 10:16

¹ tn Grk “Behold I.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

² sn This imagery of wolves is found in intertestamental Judaism; see Pss. Sol. 8:23, 30.

NET Notes: Mat 10:17

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² sn Councils in this context refers to local judicial bodies attached to the Jewish synagogue. This group would be responsible for meting out justice and discipline within the Jewish community.

³ tn BDAG 620 s.v. μαστιγόω 1.a states, “of flogging as a punishment decreed by the synagogue (Dt 25:2f; s. the Mishna Tractate Sanhedrin-Makkoth, edited w. notes by SKrauss ’33) w. acc. of pers. Mt 10:17; 23:34.”

⁴ sn See the note on synagogues in 4:23.

NET Notes: Mat 10:18

¹ sn These statements look at persecution both from a Jewish context as the mention of courts and synagogues suggests, and from a Gentile one as the reference to governors and kings suggests. Some fulfillment of Jewish persecution can be seen in Acts.

NET Notes: Mat 10:19

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² tn Grk “how or what you might speak.”

³ tn Grk “in that hour.”

NET Notes: Mat 10:21

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² tn Or “will rebel against.”

NET Notes: Mat 10:23

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² tn The Greek word here is πόλις (polis), which can mean either “town” or “city.”

³ tn Grk “For truly (ἀμήν, amhn) I say to you.” Here γάρ (gar, “for”) has not been translated.

⁴ tn The Greek word here is πόλις (polis), which can mean either “town” or “city.” “Town” was chosen here to emphasize the extensive nature of the disciples’ ministry. The same word is translated earlier in the verse as “place.”

NET Notes: Mat 10:24

¹ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 8:9.

NET Notes: Mat 10:26

¹ tn Grk “Therefore do not.” Here οὖν (oun) has not been translated.

² tn Or “concealed.”

³ sn I.e., be revealed by God. The passive voice here and in the next verb see the revelation as coming from God. The text is both a warning about bad things being revealed and an encouragement that good things will be made known.

NET Notes: Mat 10:27

¹ tn Grk “what you hear in the ear,” an idiom.

² tn The expression “proclaim from the housetops” is an idiom for proclaiming something publicly (L&N 7.51). Roofs of many first century Jewish houses in Judea and Galilee were flat and had access either from outside or from within the house. Something shouted from atop a house would be heard by everyone in the street below.

NET Notes: Mat 10:28

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

² sn Judaism had a similar exhortation in 4 Macc 13:14-15.

³ sn See the note on the word hell in 5:22.

NET Notes: Mat 10:29

¹ sn The penny refers to an assarion, a small Roman copper coin. One of them was worth one-sixteenth of a denarius or less than a half hour’s average wage. Sparrows were the cheapest items sold in the market. God knows about even the most financially insignificant things; see Isa 49:15.

² tn Or “to the ground without the knowledge and consent of your Father.”

NET Notes: Mat 10:31

¹ sn Do not be afraid. One should respect and show reverence to God, but need not fear his tender care.