23:23 “Woe to you, experts in the law 11 and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth 12 of mint, dill, and cumin, 13 yet you neglect what is more important in the law – justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You 14 should have done these things without neglecting the others.
1 tc The majority of
2 tn Grk “whoever says to his brother ‘Raca,’” an Aramaic word of contempt or abuse meaning “fool” or “empty head.”
3 tn Grk “subjected,” “guilty,” “liable.”
4 tn Grk “the Sanhedrin.”
5 tn The meaning of the term μωρός (mwros) is somewhat disputed. Most take it to mean, following the Syriac versions, “you fool,” although some have argued that it represents a transliteration into Greek of the Hebrew term מוֹרֵה (moreh) “rebel” (Deut 21:18, 20; cf. BDAG 663 s.v. μωρός c).
6 tn Grk “subjected,” “guilty,” “liable.”
7 tn Grk “the Gehenna of fire.”
8 sn On the queen of the South see 1 Kgs 10:1-3 and 2 Chr 9:1-12, as well as Josephus, Ant. 8.6.5-6 (8.165-175). The South most likely refers to modern southwest Arabia, possibly the eastern part of modern Yemen, although there is an ancient tradition reflected in Josephus which identifies this geo-political entity as Ethiopia.
9 tn Grk “behold.”
15 tc See the tc note on “about to drink” in v. 22.
22 tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
23 tn Or “you tithe mint.”
24 sn Cumin (alternately spelled cummin) was an aromatic herb native to the Mediterranean region. Its seeds were used for seasoning.
25 tc ‡ Many witnesses (B C K L W Δ 0102 33 565 892 pm) have δέ (de, “but”) after ταῦτα (tauta, “these things”), while many others lack it (א D Γ Θ Ë1,13 579 700 1241 1424 pm). Since asyndeton was relatively rare in Koine Greek, the conjunction may be an intentional alteration, and is thus omitted from the present translation. NA27 includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.