Matthew 23:16-18

23:16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple is bound by nothing. ¹  But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound by the oath.’ 23:17 Blind fools! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 23:18 And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar is bound by nothing. ²  But if anyone swears by the gift on it he is bound by the oath.’

Amos 7:15-17

7:15 Then the Lord took me from tending ³  flocks and gave me this commission, ⁴  ‘Go! Prophesy to my people Israel!’ 7:16 So now listen to the Lord’s message! You say, ‘Don’t prophesy against Israel! Don’t preach ⁵  against the family of Isaac!’

7:17 “Therefore this is what the Lord says:

‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the streets ⁶ 

and your sons and daughters will die violently. ⁷ 

Your land will be given to others ⁸ 

and you will die in a foreign ⁹  land.

Israel will certainly be carried into exile ¹⁰  away from its land.’”

Mark 7:10-13

7:10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ ¹¹  and, ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’ ¹²  7:11 But you say that if anyone tells his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you would have received from me is corban’ ¹³  (that is, a gift for God), 7:12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother. 7:13 Thus you nullify ¹⁴  the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like this.”

Acts 4:19

4:19 But Peter and John replied, ¹⁵  “Whether it is right before God to obey ¹⁶  you rather than God, you decide,

Acts 5:29

5:29 But Peter and the apostles replied, ¹⁷  “We must obey ¹⁸  God rather than people. ¹⁹ 

¹ tn Grk “Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing.”

² tn Grk “Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing.”

³ tn Heb “from [following] after.”

⁴ tn Heb “and the Lord said to me.”

⁵ tn The verb, which literally means “to drip,” appears to be a synonym of “to prophesy,” but it might carry a derogatory tone here, perhaps alluding to the impassioned, frenzied way in which prophets sometimes delivered their messages. If so, one could translate, “to drivel; to foam at the mouth” (see HALOT 694 s.v. נטף).

⁶ tn Heb “in the city,” that is, “in public.”

⁷ tn Heb “will fall by the sword.”

⁸ tn Heb “will be divided up with a [surveyor’s] measuring line.”

⁹ tn Heb “[an] unclean”; or “[an] impure.” This fate would be especially humiliating for a priest, who was to distinguish between the ritually clean and unclean (see Lev 10:10).

¹⁰ tn See the note on the word “exile” in 5:5.

¹¹ sn A quotation from Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16.

¹² sn A quotation from Exod 21:17; Lev 20:9.

¹³ sn Corban is a Hebrew loanword (transliterated in the Greek text and in most modern English translations) referring to something that has been set aside as a gift to be given to God at some later date, but which is still in the possession of the owner (L&N 53.22). According to contemporary Jewish tradition the person who made this claim was absolved from responsibility to support or assist his parents, a clear violation of the Mosaic law to honor one’s parents (v. 10).

¹⁴ tn Grk “nullifying.” This participle shows the results of the Pharisees’ command.

¹⁵ tn Grk “answered and said to them.”

¹⁶ tn Grk “hear,” but the idea of “hear and obey” or simply “obey” is frequently contained in the Greek verb ἀκούω (akouw; see L&N 36.14).

¹⁷ tn Grk “apostles answered and said.”

¹⁸ sn Obey. See 4:19. This response has Jewish roots (Dan 3:16-18; 2 Macc 7:2; Josephus, Ant. 17.6.3 [17.159].

¹⁹ tn Here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") has been translated as a generic noun (“people”).