Text -- Matthew 10:26-33 (NET)

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. 10:32 “Whoever, then, acknowledges me before people, I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 10:33 But whoever denies me before people, I will deny him also before my Father in heaven.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

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.

NET Notes: Mat 10:32

¹ tn Or “confesses.”

² tn Grk “I will acknowledge him also.”

sn This acknowledgment will take place at the judgment. On Jesus and judgment, see Luke 22:69; Acts 10:42-43; 17:31.