Matthew 10:29

10:29 Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? ¹  Yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. ² 

Matthew 13:4-5

13:4 And as he sowed, some seeds ³  fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 13:5 Other ⁴  seeds fell on rocky ground ⁵  where they did not have much soil. They sprang up quickly because the soil was not deep. ⁶ 

Matthew 13:8

13:8 But other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.

Matthew 15:27

15:27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, ⁷  “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

Matthew 17:15

17:15 and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, because he has seizures ⁸  and suffers terribly, for he often falls into the fire and into the water.

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.”

³ tn In Matthew’s version of this parable, plural pronouns are used to refer to the seed in v. 4 (ἅ…αὐτά [Ja…auta]), although the collective singular is used in v. 5 and following (indicated by the singular verbs like ἔπεσεν [epesen]). For the sake of consistency in English, plural pronouns referring to the seed are used in the translation throughout the Matthean account. In both Mark and Luke the collective singular is used consistently throughout (cf. Mark 4:1-9; Luke 8:4-8).

⁵ tn Here and in vv. 7 and 8 δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁶ sn The rocky ground in Palestine would be a limestone base lying right under the soil.

⁷ tn Grk “it did not have enough depth of earth.”

⁷ tn Grk “she said.”

⁹ tn Grk “he is moonstruck,” possibly meaning “lunatic” (so NAB, NASB), although now the term is generally regarded as referring to some sort of seizure disorder such as epilepsy (L&N 23.169; BDAG 919 s.v. σεληνιάζομαι).