6:12 Those who want to make a good showing in external matters 5 are trying to force you to be circumcised. They do so 6 only to avoid being persecuted 7 for the cross of Christ. 6:13 For those who are circumcised do not obey the law themselves, but they want you to be circumcised so that they can boast about your flesh. 8 6:14 But may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which 9 the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
23:34 “For this reason I 10 am sending you prophets and wise men and experts in the law, 11 some of whom you will kill and crucify, 12 and some you will flog 13 in your synagogues 14 and pursue from town to town, 23:35 so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, 15 whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 23:36 I tell you the truth, 16 this generation will be held responsible for all these things! 17
23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 18 you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! 19 How often I have longed 20 to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but 21 you would have none of it! 22
23:1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples,
1 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:11.
2 sn That is, if Paul still teaches observance of the Mosaic law (preaches circumcision), why is he still being persecuted by his opponents, who insist that Gentile converts to Christianity must observe the Mosaic law?
3 sn The offense of the cross refers to the offense to Jews caused by preaching Christ crucified.
4 tn Or “nullified.”
5 tn Grk “in the flesh.” L&N 88.236 translates the phrase “those who force you to be circumcised are those who wish to make a good showing in external matters.”
6 tn Grk “to be circumcised, only.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started with the words “They do so,” which were supplied to make a complete English sentence.
7 tc ‡ Grk “so that they will not be persecuted.” The indicative after ἵνα μή (Jina mh) is unusual (though not unexampled elsewhere in the NT), making it the harder reading. The evidence is fairly evenly split between the indicative διώκονται (diwkontai; Ì46 A C F G K L P 0278 6 81 104 326 629 1175 1505 pm) and the subjunctive διώκωνται (diwkwntai; א B D Ψ 33 365 1739 pm), with a slight preference for the subjunctive. However, since scribes would tend to change the indicative to a subjunctive due to syntactical requirements, the internal evidence is decidedly on the side of the indicative, suggesting that it is original.
8 tn Or “boast about you in external matters,” “in the outward rite” (cf. v. 12).
9 tn Or perhaps, “through whom,” referring to the Lord Jesus Christ rather than the cross.
10 tn Grk “behold I am sending.” 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).
11 tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
12 sn See the note on crucified in 20:19.
13 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.”
14 sn See the note on synagogues in 4:23.
15 sn Spelling of this name (Βαραχίου, Baraciou) varies among the English versions: “Barachiah” (RSV, NRSV); “Berechiah” (NASB); “Berachiah” (NIV).
16 tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”
17 tn Grk “all these things will come on this generation.”
18 sn The double use of the city’s name betrays intense emotion.
19 tn Although the opening address (“Jerusalem, Jerusalem”) is direct (second person), the remainder of this sentence in the Greek text is third person (“who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her”). The following sentences then revert to second person (“your… you”), so to keep all this consistent in English, the third person pronouns in the present verse were translated as second person (“you who kill… sent to you”).
20 sn How often I have longed to gather your children. Jesus, like a lamenting prophet, speaks for God here, who longed to care tenderly for Israel and protect her.
21 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
22 tn Grk “you were not willing.”
23 tn The feminine singular genitive noun νυκτός (nuktos, “night”) indicates the time during which the action of the main verb takes place (ExSyn 124).
24 sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.
25 sn A quotation from Hos 11:1.
26 tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א D2 1881 Ï), read δεσμοῖς μου (desmoi" mou, “my imprisonment”) here, a reading that is probably due to the widespread belief in the early Christian centuries that Paul was the author of Hebrews (cf. Phil 1:7; Col 4:18). It may have been generated by the reading δεσμοῖς without the μου (so Ì46 Ψ 104 pc), the force of which is so ambiguous (lit., “you shared the sufferings with the bonds”) as to be virtually nonsensical. Most likely, δεσμοῖς resulted when a scribe made an error in copying δεσμίοις (desmioi"), a reading which makes excellent sense (“[of] those in prison”) and is strongly supported by early and significant witnesses of the Alexandrian and Western texttypes (A D* H 6 33 81 1739 lat sy co). Thus, δεσμίοις best explains the rise of the other readings on both internal and external grounds and is strongly preferred.
27 tn Grk “you yourselves.”