Matthew 3:9

3:9 and don’t think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!

Matthew 3:16

3:16 After ¹  Jesus was baptized, just as he was coming up out of the water, the ²  heavens ³  opened ⁴  and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove ⁵  and coming on him.

Matthew 6:24

6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate ⁶  the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise ⁷  the other. You cannot serve God and money. ⁸ 

Matthew 6:30

6:30 And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, ⁹  which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, ¹⁰  won’t he clothe you even more, ¹¹  you people of little faith?

Matthew 12:4

12:4 how he entered the house of God and they ate ¹²  the sacred bread, ¹³  which was against the law ¹⁴  for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests? ¹⁵ 

Matthew 15:31

15:31 As a result, the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they praised the God of Israel.

Matthew 27:54

27:54 Now when the centurion ¹⁶  and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and what took place, they were extremely terrified and said, “Truly this one was God’s Son!”

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² tn Grk “behold the heavens.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

³ tn Or “sky.” The Greek word οὐρανός (ourano") may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The same word is used in v. 17.

⁴ tc ‡ αὐτῷ (autw, “to/before him”) is found in the majority of witnesses (א¹ C D^s L W 0233 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat), perhaps added as a point of clarification or emphasis. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

⁵ sn The phrase like a dove is a descriptive comparison. The Spirit is not a dove, but descended like one in some sort of bodily representation.

¹ sn The contrast between hate and love here is rhetorical. The point is that one will choose the favorite if a choice has to be made.

² tn Or “and treat [the other] with contempt.”

³ tn Grk “God and mammon.”

¹ tn Grk “grass of the field.”

² tn Grk “into the oven.” The expanded translation “into the fire to heat the oven” has been used to avoid misunderstanding; most items put into modern ovens are put there to be baked, not burned.

³ sn The phrase even more is a typical form of rabbinic argumentation, from the lesser to the greater. If God cares for the little things, surely he will care for the more important things.

¹ tc The Greek verb ἔφαγεν (efagen, “he ate”) is found in a majority of witnesses (Ì⁷⁰ C D L W Θ Ë^1,13 33 Ï latt sy co) in place of ἔφαγον (efagon, “they ate”), the wording found in א B pc. ἔφαγεν is most likely motivated by the parallels in Mark and Luke (both of which have the singular).

² tn Grk “the bread of presentation.”

³ sn Jesus’ response to the charge that what his disciples were doing was against the law is one of analogy: “If David did it for his troops in a time of need, then so can I with my disciples.” Jesus is clear that on the surface there was a violation here. What is not as clear is whether he is arguing a “greater need” makes this permissible or that this was within the intention of the law all along.

⁴ sn See 1 Sam 21:1-6.

¹ sn See the note on the word centurion in Matt 8:5.