Matthew 7:4

7:4 Or how can you say ¹  to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while there is a beam in your own?

Matthew 15:2-6

15:2 “Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their ²  hands when they eat.” ³  15:3 He answered them, ⁴  “And why do you disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition? 15:4 For God said, ⁵  ‘Honor your father and mother’ ⁶  and ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’ ⁷  15:5 But you say, ‘If someone tells his father or mother, “Whatever help you would have received from me is given to God,” ⁸  15:6 he does not need to honor his father.’ ⁹  You have nullified the word of God on account of your tradition.

Matthew 19:24

19:24 Again I say, ¹⁰  it is easier for a camel ¹¹  to go through the eye of a needle ¹²  than for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of God.”

Matthew 27:6-8

27:6 The ¹³  chief priests took the silver and said, “It is not lawful to put this into the temple treasury, since it is blood money.” 27:7 After ¹⁴  consulting together they bought the Potter’s Field with it, as a burial place for foreigners. 27:8 For this reason that field has been called the “Field of Blood” to this day.

Luke 6:7-10

6:7 The experts in the law ¹⁵  and the Pharisees ¹⁶  watched ¹⁷  Jesus ¹⁸  closely to see if ¹⁹  he would heal on the Sabbath, ²⁰  so that they could find a reason to accuse him. 6:8 But ²¹  he knew ²²  their thoughts, ²³  and said to the man who had the withered hand, “Get up and stand here.” ²⁴  So ²⁵  he rose and stood there. 6:9 Then ²⁶  Jesus said to them, “I ask you, ²⁷  is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil, to save a life or to destroy it?” 6:10 After ²⁸  looking around ²⁹  at them all, he said to the man, ³⁰  “Stretch out your hand.” The man ³¹  did so, and his hand was restored. ³² 

John 18:28

Jesus Brought Before Pilate

18:28 Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the Roman governor’s residence. ³³  (Now it was very early morning.) ³⁴  They ³⁵  did not go into the governor’s residence ³⁶  so they would not be ceremonially defiled, but could eat the Passover meal.

John 18:40

18:40 Then they shouted back, ³⁷  “Not this man, ³⁸  but Barabbas!” ³⁹  (Now Barabbas was a revolutionary. ⁴⁰ ) ⁴¹ 

¹ tn Grk “how will you say?”

² tc ‡ Although most witnesses read the genitive plural pronoun αὐτῶν (autwn, “their”), it may have been motivated by clarification (as it is in the translation above). Several other authorities do not have the pronoun, however (א B Δ 073 ˹ 579 700 892 1424 pc f g¹); the lack of an unintentional oversight as the reason for omission strengthens their combined testimony in this shorter reading. NA²⁷ has the pronoun in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

³ tn Grk “when they eat bread.”

⁴ tn Grk “But answering, he said to them.”

⁵ tc Most mss (א*^,2 C L W 0106 33 Ï) have an expanded introduction here; instead of “For God said,” they read “For God commanded, saying” (ὁ γὰρ θεὸς ἐνετείλατο λέγων, Jo gar qeo" eneteilato legwn). But such expansions are generally motivated readings; in this case, most likely it was due to the wording of the previous verse (“the commandment of God”) that caused early scribes to add to the text. Although it is possible that other witnesses reduced the text to the simple εἶπεν (eipen, “[God] said”) because of perceived redundancy with the statement in v. 3, such is unlikely in light of the great variety and age of these authorities (א¹ B D Θ 073 Ë^1,13 579 700 892 pc lat co, as well as other versions and fathers).

⁶ sn A quotation from Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16.

⁷ sn A quotation from Exod 21:17; Lev 20:9.

⁸ tn Grk “is a gift,” that is, something dedicated to God.

⁹ tc The logic of v. 5 would seem to demand that both father and mother are in view in v. 6. Indeed, the majority of mss (C L W Θ 0106 ˹ Ï) have “or his mother” (ἢ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ, h thn mhtera autou) after “honor his father” here. However, there are significant witnesses that have variations on this theme (καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ [kai thn mhtera autou, “and his mother”] in Φ 565 1241 pc and ἢ τὴν μητέρα [“or mother”] in 073 ˹³ 33 579 700 892 pc), which is usually an indication of a predictable addition to the text rather than an authentic reading. Further, the shorter reading (without any mention of “mother”) is found in early and important witnesses (א B D sa). Although it is possible that the shorter reading came about accidentally (due to the repetition of –ερα αὐτοῦ), the evidence more strongly suggests that the longer readings were intentional scribal alterations.

¹⁰ tn Grk “I say to you.”

¹¹ tc A few late witnesses (579 1424 pc) read κάμιλον (kamilon, “rope”) for κάμηλον (kamhlon, “camel”), either through accidental misreading of the text or intentionally so as to soften Jesus’ words.

¹² sn The eye of a needle refers to a sewing needle. (The gate in Jerusalem known as “The Needle’s Eye” was built during the middle ages and was not in existence in Jesus’ day.) Jesus was saying rhetorically that it is impossible for a rich person to enter God’s kingdom, unless God (v. 26) intervenes.

¹³ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹⁵ tn Or “The scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

¹⁶ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

¹⁷ sn The term translated watched…closely is emotive, since it carries negative connotations. It means they were watching him out of the corner of their eye or spying on him.

¹⁸ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁹ tn This is a first class condition in the Greek text; Jesus’ opponents anticipated he would do this.

²⁰ sn The background for this is the view that only if life was endangered should one attempt to heal on the Sabbath (see the Mishnah, m. Shabbat 6.3; 12.1; 18.3; 19.2; m. Yoma 8.6).

²¹ tn Here the conjunction δέ (de) has been translated as contrastive.

²² sn The statement that Jesus knew their thoughts adds a prophetic note to his response; see Luke 5:22.

²³ tn Grk “their reasonings.” The implication is that Jesus knew his opponents’ plans and motives, so the translation “thoughts” was used here.

²⁴ sn Most likely synagogues were arranged with benches along the walls and open space in the center for seating on the floor.

²⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the man’s action was a result of Jesus’ order.

²⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

²⁷ sn With the use of the plural pronoun (“you”), Jesus addressed not just the leaders but the crowd with his question to challenge what the leadership was doing. There is irony as well. As Jesus sought to restore on the Sabbath (but improperly according to the leaders’ complaints) the leaders were seeking to destroy, which surely is wrong. The implied critique recalls the OT: Isa 1:1-17; 58:6-14.

²⁸ tn Grk “And after.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

²⁹ tn The aorist participle περιβλεψάμενος (peribleyameno") has been translated as antecedent (prior) to the action of the main verb. It could also be translated as contemporaneous (“Looking around… he said”).

³⁰ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the man with the withered hand) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

³² sn The passive was restored points to healing by God. Now the question became: Would God exercise his power through Jesus, if what Jesus was doing were wrong? Note also Jesus’ “labor.” He simply spoke and it was so.

³³ tn Grk “to the praetorium.”

³⁴ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

³⁵ tn Grk “And they.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

³⁶ tn Grk “into the praetorium.”

³⁷ tn Or “they shouted again,” or “they shouted in turn.” On the difficulty of translating πάλιν (palin) see BDAG 753 s.v. 5. It is simplest in the context of John’s Gospel to understand the phrase to mean “they shouted back” as a reply to Pilate’s question.

³⁸ tn Grk “this one.”

³⁹ sn The name Barabbas in Aramaic means “son of abba,” that is, “son of the father,” and presumably the man in question had another name (it may also have been Jesus, according to the textual variant in Matt 27:16, although this is uncertain). For the author this name held ironic significance: The crowd was asking for the release of a man called Barabbas, “son of the father,” while Jesus, who was truly the Son of the Father, was condemned to die instead.

⁴⁰ tn Or “robber.” It is possible that Barabbas was merely a robber or highwayman, but more likely, given the use of the term ληστής (lhsth") in Josephus and other early sources, that he was a guerrilla warrior or revolutionary leader. See both R. E. Brown (John [AB], 2:857) and K. H. Rengstorf (TDNT 4:258) for more information. The word λῃστής was used a number of times by Josephus (J. W. 2.13.2-3 [2.253-254]) to describe the revolutionaries or guerrilla fighters who, from mixed motives of nationalism and greed, kept the rural districts of Judea in constant turmoil.

⁴¹ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.