Text -- Matthew 23:1-13 (NET)

Seven Woes

23:1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 23:2 “The experts in the law and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. 23:3 Therefore pay attention to what they tell you and do it. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they teach. 23:4 They tie up heavy loads, hard to carry, and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing even to lift a finger to move them. 23:5 They do all their deeds to be seen by people, for they make their phylacteries wide and their tassels long. 23:6 They love the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues 23:7 and elaborate greetings in the marketplaces, and to have people call them ‘Rabbi.’ 23:8 But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher and you are all brothers. 23:9 And call no one your ‘father’ on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 23:10 Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one teacher, the Christ. 23:11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 23:12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. 23:13 “But woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Mat 23:2

¹ tn Grk “saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

² tn Or “The scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

³ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

NET Notes: Mat 23:3

¹ tn Grk “for they say and do not do.”

NET Notes: Mat 23:4

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

NET Notes: Mat 23:5

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

² sn Phylacteries were small leather cases containing OT scripture verses, worn on the arm and forehead by Jews, especially when praying. The custom was derived from such OT passages as Exod 13:9; 16; Deut 6:8; 11:18.

³ tn The term κράσπεδον (kraspedon) in some contexts could refer to the outer fringe of the garment (possibly in Mark 6:56). This edge could have been plain or decorated. L&N 6.180 states, “In Mt 23:5 κράσπεδον denotes the tassels worn at the four corners of the outer garment (see 6.194).”

sn Tassels refer to the tassels that a male Israelite was obligated to wear on the four corners of his outer garment according to the Mosaic law (Num 15:38; Deut 22:12).

NET Notes: Mat 23:6

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

² sn See the note on synagogues in 4:23.

NET Notes: Mat 23:7

¹ sn There is later Jewish material in the Talmud that spells out such greetings in detail. See H. Windisch, TDNT 1:498.

NET Notes: Mat 23:10

¹ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

sn See the note on Christ in 1:16.

NET Notes: Mat 23:11

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

NET Notes: Mat 23:13

¹ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

² tn Grk “Woe to you…because you…” The causal particle ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated here for rhetorical effect (and so throughout this chapter).

³ tn Grk “because you are closing the kingdom of heaven before people.”