Matthew 23:30-37

23:30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, ¹  we would not have participated with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 23:31 By saying this you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 23:32 Fill up then the measure of your ancestors! 23:33 You snakes, you offspring of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? ² 

23:34 “For this reason I ³  am sending you prophets and wise men and experts in the law, ⁴  some of whom you will kill and crucify, ⁵  and some you will flog ⁶  in your synagogues ⁷  and pursue from town to town, 23:35 so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, ⁸  whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 23:36 I tell you the truth, ⁹  this generation will be held responsible for all these things! ¹⁰ 

Judgment on Israel

23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ¹¹  you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! ¹²  How often I have longed ¹³  to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but ¹⁴  you would have none of it! ¹⁵ 

Acts 7:52

7:52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors ¹⁶  not persecute? ¹⁷  They ¹⁸  killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One, ¹⁹  whose betrayers and murderers you have now become! ²⁰ 

Acts 7:1

Stephen’s Defense Before the Council

7:1 Then the high priest said, “Are these things true?” ²¹ 

Acts 2:2

2:2 Suddenly ²²  a sound ²³  like a violent wind blowing ²⁴  came from heaven ²⁵  and filled the entire house where they were sitting.

Hebrews 11:36-37

11:36 And others experienced mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 11:37 They were stoned, sawed apart, ²⁶  murdered with the sword; they went about in sheepskins and goatskins; they were destitute, afflicted, ill-treated

¹ tn Grk “fathers” (so also in v. 32).

² tn Grk “the judgment of Gehenna.”

³ tn Grk “behold I am sending.” 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).

⁴ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

⁵ sn See the note on crucified in 20:19.

⁶ tn BDAG 620 s.v. μαστιγόω 1.a states, “of flogging as a punishment decreed by the synagogue (Dt 25:2f; s. the Mishna Tractate Sanhedrin-Makkoth, edited w. notes by SKrauss ’33) w. acc. of pers. Mt 10:17; 23:34.”

⁷ sn See the note on synagogues in 4:23.

⁸ sn Spelling of this name (Βαραχίου, Baraciou) varies among the English versions: “Barachiah” (RSV, NRSV); “Berechiah” (NASB); “Berachiah” (NIV).

⁹ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “all these things will come on this generation.”

¹¹ sn The double use of the city’s name betrays intense emotion.

¹² tn Although the opening address (“Jerusalem, Jerusalem”) is direct (second person), the remainder of this sentence in the Greek text is third person (“who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her”). The following sentences then revert to second person (“your… you”), so to keep all this consistent in English, the third person pronouns in the present verse were translated as second person (“you who kill… sent to you”).

¹³ sn How often I have longed to gather your children. Jesus, like a lamenting prophet, speaks for God here, who longed to care tenderly for Israel and protect her.

¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

¹⁵ tn Grk “you were not willing.”

¹⁶ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

¹⁷ sn Which…persecute. The rhetorical question suggests they persecuted them all.

¹⁸ tn Grk “And they.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

¹⁹ sn The Righteous One is a reference to Jesus Christ.

²⁰ sn Whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. The harsh critique has OT precedent (1 Kgs 19:10-14; Neh 9:26; 2 Chr 36:16).

²¹ tn Grk “If it is so concerning these things” (see BDAG 422 s.v. ἔχω 10.a for this use).

²² tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated for stylistic reasons. It occurs as part of the formula καὶ ἐγένετο (kai egeneto) which is often left untranslated in Luke-Acts because it is redundant in contemporary English. Here it is possible (and indeed necessary) to translate ἐγένετο as “came” so that the initial clause of the English translation contains a verb; nevertheless the translation of the conjunction καί is not necessary.

²³ tn Or “a noise.”

²⁴ tn While φέρω (ferw) generally refers to movement from one place to another with the possible implication of causing the movement of other objects, in Acts 2:2 φέρομαι (feromai) should probably be understood in a more idiomatic sense of “blowing” since it is combined with the noun for wind (πνοή, pnoh).

²⁵ tn Or “from the sky.” The Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven” depending on the context.

²⁶ tc The reading ἐπρίσθησαν (ejprisqhsan, “they were sawed apart”) is found in some important witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ [D* twice reads ἐπίρσθησαν, “they were burned”?] pc sy^p sa Or^pt Eus). Other mss have ἐπειράσθησαν (ejpeirasqhsan, “they were tempted”), either before “sawed apart” ([א] L P [048] 33 81 326 1505 pc sy^h), after “sawed apart” (Ì^13vid A D¹ Ψ 1739 1881 Ï lat bo Or^pt), or altogether in place of “sawed apart” (0150 vg^mss Cl). Since the two words ἐπρίσθησαν and ἐπειράσθησαν are so much alike in sight and sound, and since the position of “they were tempted” varies in the mss, it seems best to say that ἐπειράσθησαν is an accidental corruption of ἐπρίσθησαν or an intentional change to a more common word (the root of ἐπρίσθησαν [πρίζω, prizw] occurs only here in the NT, while the root of ἐπειράσθησαν [πειράζω, peirazw] occurs 38 times). The best reading here seems to be “sawed apart” without any addition before or after. (See TCGNT 603-4, for a discussion of emendations that scholars have proposed for this difficult problem.)