Matthew 3:14

3:14 But John ¹  tried to prevent ²  him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?”

Matthew 12:44

12:44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the home I left.’ ³  When it returns, ⁴  it finds the house ⁵  empty, swept clean, and put in order. ⁶ 

Matthew 13:35

13:35 This fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet: ⁷ 

“I will open my mouth in parables,

I will announce what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.” ⁸ 

Matthew 18:21

18:21 Then Peter came to him and said, “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother ⁹  who sins against me? As many as seven times?”

Matthew 22:44

22:44 ‘The Lord said to my lord, ¹⁰ 

“Sit at my right hand,

until I put your enemies under your feet”’? ¹¹ 

Matthew 23:30

23:30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, ¹²  we would not have participated with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’

Matthew 25:37

25:37 Then the righteous will answer him, ¹³  ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

Matthew 25:40

25:40 And the king will answer them, ¹⁴  ‘I tell you the truth, ¹⁵  just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters ¹⁶  of mine, you did it for me.’

Matthew 26:15

26:15 and said, “What will you give me to betray him into your hands?” ¹⁷  So they set out thirty silver coins for him.

Matthew 26:53

26:53 Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and that he would send me more than twelve legions ¹⁸  of angels right now?

Matthew 28:20

28:20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, ¹⁹  I am with you ²⁰  always, to the end of the age.” ²¹ 

¹ tc ‡ The earliest mss (א* B sa) lack the name of John here (“but he tried to prevent him,” instead of “but John tried to prevent him”). It is, however, clearly implied (and is thus supplied in translation). Although the longer reading has excellent support (Ì⁹⁶ א¹ C D^s L W 0233 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat[t] sy mae bo), it looks to be a motivated and predictable reading: Scribes apparently could not resist adding this clarification.

² tn The imperfect verb has been translated conatively.

³ tn Grk “I will return to my house from which I came.”

⁴ tn Grk “comes.”

⁵ tn The words “the house” are not in Greek but are implied.

⁶ sn The image of the house empty, swept clean, and put in order refers to the life of the person from whom the demon departed. The key to the example appears to be that no one else has been invited in to dwell. If an exorcism occurs and there is no response to God, then the way is free for the demon to return. Some see the reference to exorcism as more symbolic; thus the story’s only point is about responding to Jesus. This is possible and certainly is an application of the passage.

⁵ tc A few important mss (א* Θ Ë^1,13 33) identify the prophet as Isaiah, a reading that is significantly harder than the generic “prophet” because the source of this prophecy is not Isaiah but Asaph in Ps 78. Jerome mentioned some mss that had “Asaph” here, though none are known to exist today. This problem is difficult because of the temptation for scribes to delete the reference to Isaiah in order to clear up a discrepancy. Indeed, the vast majority of witnesses have only “the prophet” here (א¹ B C D L W 0233 0242 Ï lat sy co). However, as B. M. Metzger points out, “if no prophet were originally named, more than one scribe might have been prompted to insert the name of the best known prophet – something which has, in fact, happened elsewhere more than once” (TCGNT 27). In light of the paucity of evidence for the reading ᾿Ησαΐου, as well as the proclivity of scribes to add his name, it is probably best to consider the shorter reading as authentic.

⁶ sn A quotation from Ps 78:2.

⁷ tn Here the term “brother” means “fellow believer” or “fellow Christian” (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 2.a), whether male or female. Concerning the familial connotations, see also the note on the first occurrence of this term in v. 15.

⁹ sn The Lord said to my Lord. With David being the speaker, this indicates his respect for his descendant (referred to as my Lord). Jesus was arguing, as the ancient exposition assumed, that the passage is about the Lord’s anointed. The passage looks at an enthronement of this figure and a declaration of honor for him as he takes his place at the side of God. In Jerusalem, the king’s palace was located to the right of the temple to indicate this kind of relationship. Jesus was pressing the language here to get his opponents to reflect on how great Messiah is.

¹⁰ sn A quotation from Ps 110:1.

¹¹ tn Grk “fathers” (so also in v. 32).

¹³ tn Grk “answer him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

¹⁵ tn Grk “answering, the king will say to them.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation.

¹⁶ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

¹⁷ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited). In this context Jesus is ultimately speaking of his “followers” (whether men or women, adults or children), but the familial connotation of “brothers and sisters” is also important to retain here.

¹⁷ tn Grk “What will you give to me, and I will betray him to you?”

¹⁹ sn A legion was a Roman army unit of about 6,000 soldiers, so twelve legions would be 72,000.

²¹ tn The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has been translated here as “remember” (BDAG 468 s.v. 1.c).

²² sn I am with you. Matthew’s Gospel begins with the prophecy that the Savior’s name would be “Emmanuel, that is, ‘God with us,’” (1:23, in which the author has linked Isa 7:14 and 8:8, 10 together) and it ends with Jesus’ promise to be with his disciples forever. The Gospel of Matthew thus forms an inclusio about Jesus in his relationship to his people that suggests his deity.

²³ tc Most mss (A^c Θ Ë¹³ Ï it sy) have ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”) at the end of v. 20. Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, no good reason exists for the omission of the particle in significant and early witnesses such as א A* B D W ˹ 33 al lat sa.