Matthew 2:4

2:4 After assembling all the chief priests and experts in the law, ¹  he asked them where the Christ ²  was to be born.

Matthew 12:30

12:30 Whoever is not with me is against me, ³  and whoever does not gather with me scatters. ⁴ 

Matthew 18:20

18:20 For where two or three are assembled in my name, I am there among them.”

Matthew 27:62

The Guard at the Tomb

27:62 The ⁵  next day (which is after the day of preparation) the chief priests and the Pharisees ⁶  assembled before Pilate

Matthew 28:12

28:12 After ⁷  they had assembled with the elders and formed a plan, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,

¹ tn Or “and scribes of the people.” The traditional rendering of γραμματεύς (grammateu") as “scribe” does not communicate much to the modern English reader, for whom the term might mean “professional copyist,” if it means anything at all. The people referred to here were recognized experts in the law of Moses and in traditional laws and regulations. Thus “expert in the law” comes closer to the meaning for the modern reader.

² tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

³ sn Whoever is not with me is against me. The call here is to join the victor. Failure to do so means that one is being destructive. Responding to Jesus is the issue.

⁴ sn For the image of scattering, see Pss. Sol. 17:18.

⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁶ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.