Matthew 15:20

15:20 These are the things that defile a person; it is not eating with unwashed hands that defiles a person.” ¹ 

Matthew 15:11

15:11 What defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what ²  comes out of the mouth that defiles a person.”

Matthew 26:72

26:72 He denied it again with an oath, “I do not know the man!”

Matthew 15:18

15:18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a person.

Matthew 22:11

22:11 But when the king came in to see the wedding guests, he saw a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.

Matthew 26:74

26:74 At that he began to curse, and he swore with an oath, “I do not know the man!” At that moment a rooster crowed. ³ 

Matthew 27:32

The Crucifixion

27:32 As ⁴  they were going out, they found a man from Cyrene named Simon, whom they forced ⁵  to carry his cross. ⁶ 

Matthew 10:35

10:35 For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,

Matthew 11:8

11:8 What ⁷  did you go out to see? A man dressed in fancy clothes? ⁸  Look, those who wear fancy clothes are in the homes of kings! ⁹ 

Matthew 9:9

The Call of Matthew; Eating with Sinners

9:9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth. ¹⁰  “Follow me,” he said to him. And he got up and followed him.

¹ tn Grk “but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a person.”

² tn Grk “but what.”

³ tn It seems most likely that this refers to a real rooster crowing, although a number of scholars have suggested that “cockcrow” is a technical term referring to the trumpet call which ended the third watch of the night (from midnight to 3 a.m.). This would then be a reference to the Roman gallicinium (ἀλεκτοροφωνία, alektorofwnia; the term is used in Mark 13:35 and is found in some mss [Ì^37vid,45 ˹] in Matt 26:34) which would have been sounded at 3 a.m.; in this case Jesus would have prophesied a precise time by which the denials would have taken place. For more details see J. H. Bernard, St. John (ICC), 2:604. However, in light of the fact that Mark mentions the rooster crowing twice (Mark 14:72) and in Luke 22:60 the words are reversed (ἐφώνησεν ἀλέκτωρ, efwnhsen alektwr), it is more probable that a real rooster is in view. In any event natural cockcrow would have occurred at approximately 3 a.m. in Palestine at this time of year (March-April) anyway.

⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁵ tn Or “conscripted”; or “pressed into service.”

⁶ sn Jesus was beaten severely with a whip before this (the prelude to crucifixion, known to the Romans as verberatio, mentioned in Matt 27:26; Mark 15:15; John 19:1), so he would have been weak from trauma and loss of blood. Apparently he was unable to bear the cross himself, so Simon was conscripted to help (in all probability this was only the crossbeam, called in Latin the patibulum, since the upright beam usually remained in the ground at the place of execution). Cyrene was located in North Africa where Tripoli is today. Nothing more is known about this Simon. Mark 15:21 names him as father of two people apparently known to Mark’s audience.

⁵ tn Grk “But what.” Here ἀλλά (alla, a strong contrastive in Greek) produces a somewhat awkward sense in English, and has not been translated. The same situation occurs at the beginning of v. 9.

⁶ sn The reference to fancy clothes makes the point that John was not rich or powerful, in that he did not come from the wealthy classes.

⁷ tn Or “palaces.”

⁶ tn While “tax office” is sometimes given as a translation for τελώνιον (telwnion, so L&N 57.183), this could give the modern reader a false impression of an indoor office with all its associated furnishings.