Matthew 10:13-16

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. ¹  10:14 And if anyone will not welcome you or listen to your message, shake the dust off ²  your feet as you leave that house or that town. 10:15 I tell you the truth, ³  it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom and Gomorrah ⁴  on the day of judgment than for that town!

Persecution of Disciples

10:16 “I ⁵  am sending you out like sheep surrounded by wolves, ⁶  so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

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.

² 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.

³ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

⁴ 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.

⁴ 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).

⁵ sn This imagery of wolves is found in intertestamental Judaism; see Pss. Sol. 8:23, 30.