Deuteronomy 20:10-11

20:10 When you approach a city to wage war against it, offer it terms of peace. 20:11 If it accepts your terms ¹  and submits to you, all the people found in it will become your slaves. ² 

Esther 9:30

9:30 Letters were sent ³  to all the Jews in the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the empire of Ahasuerus – words of true peace ⁴  –

Matthew 10:12-15

10:12 As you enter the house, give it greetings. ⁵  10:13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come on it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. ⁶  10:14 And if anyone will not welcome you or listen to your message, shake the dust off ⁷  your feet as you leave that house or that town. 10:15 I tell you the truth, ⁸  it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom and Gomorrah ⁹  on the day of judgment than for that town!

Luke 10:5-6

10:5 Whenever ¹⁰  you enter a house, ¹¹  first say, ‘May peace ¹²  be on this house!’ 10:6 And if a peace-loving person ¹³  is there, your peace will remain on him, but if not, it will return to you. ¹⁴ 

Luke 10:10-12

10:10 But whenever ¹⁵  you enter a town ¹⁶  and the people ¹⁷  do not welcome ¹⁸  you, go into its streets ¹⁹  and say, 10:11 ‘Even the dust of your town ²⁰  that clings to our feet we wipe off ²¹  against you. ²²  Nevertheless know this: The kingdom of God has come.’ ²³  10:12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom ²⁴  than for that town! ²⁵ 

[20:11]  ¹ tn Heb “if it answers you peace.”

[20:11]  ² tn Heb “become as a vassal and will serve you.” The Hebrew term translated slaves (מַס, mas) refers either to Israelites who were pressed into civil service, especially under Solomon (1 Kgs 5:27; 9:15, 21; 12:18), or (as here) to foreigners forced as prisoners of war to become slaves to Israel. The Gibeonites exemplify this type of servitude (Josh 9:3-27; cf. Josh 16:10; 17:13; Judg 1:28, 30-35; Isa 31:8; Lam 1:1).

[9:30]  ³ tc The present translation is based on the Niphal form וַיּשָּׁלַח (vayyishalakh, “were sent”; so also NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT) rather than the reading of the MT וַיּשְׁלַח (vayyishlakh, Qal, “and he sent”). The subject of the MT verb would have to be Mordecai (cf. NAB, NIV, NCV), but this is problematic in light of v. 29, where both Esther and Mordecai are responsible for the letters.

[9:30]  ⁴ tn Heb “peace and truth.” The expression is probably a hendiadys (see the note on 5:10 for an explanation of this figure).

[10:12]  ⁵ tn This is a metonymy; the “house” is put for those who live in it.

[10:13]  ⁶ sn The response to these messengers determines how God’s blessing is bestowed – if the messengers are not welcomed, their blessing will return to them. Jesus shows just how important their mission is by this remark.

[10:14]  ⁷ sn To shake the dust off represented shaking off the uncleanness from one’s feet; see Luke 10:11; Acts 13:51; 18:6. It was a sign of rejection.

[10:15]  ⁸ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[10:15]  ⁹ sn The allusion to Sodom and Gomorrah, the most wicked of OT cities from Gen 19:1-29, shows that to reject the current message is even more serious than the worst sins of the old era and will result in more severe punishment.

[10:5]  ¹⁰ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[10:5]  ¹¹ tn Grk “Into whatever house you enter.” This acts as a distributive, meaning every house they enter; this is expressed more naturally in English as “whenever you enter a house.”

[10:5]  ¹² sn The statement ‘May peace be on this house!’ is really a benediction, asking for God’s blessing. The requested shalom (peace) is understood as coming from God.

[10:6]  ¹³ tn Grk “a son of peace,” a Hebrew idiom for a person of a certain class or kind, as specified by the following genitive construction (in this case, “of peace”). Such constructions are discussed further in L&N 9.4. Here the expression refers to someone who responds positively to the disciples’ message, like “wisdom’s child” in Luke 7:30.

[10:6]  ¹⁴ sn The response to these messengers determines how God’s blessing is bestowed – if they are not welcomed with peace, their blessing will return to them. Jesus shows just how important their mission is by this remark.

[10:10]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “whatever town you enter,” but this is more often expressed in English as “whenever you enter a town.”

[10:10]  ¹⁶ tn Or “city.”

[10:10]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “and they”; the referent (the people who live in the town) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:10]  ¹⁸ sn More discussion takes place concerning rejection (the people do not welcome you), as these verses lead into the condemnation of certain towns for their rejection of God’s kingdom.

[10:10]  ¹⁹ tn The term πλατεῖα (plateia) refers to the “broad street,” so this refers to the main roads of the town.

[10:11]  ²⁰ tn Or “city.”

[10:11]  ²¹ sn See Luke 9:5, where the verb is different but the meaning is the same. This was a sign of rejection.

[10:11]  ²² tn Here ὑμῖν (Jumin) has been translated as a dative of disadvantage.

[10:11]  ²³ tn Or “has come near.” As in v. 9 (see above), the combination of ἐγγίζω (engizw) with the preposition ἐπί (epi) is decisive in showing that the sense is “has come” (see BDAG 270 s.v. ἐγγίζω 2, and W. R. Hutton, “The Kingdom of God Has Come,” ExpTim 64 [Dec 1952]: 89-91).

[10:12]  ²⁴ sn The allusion to Sodom, the most wicked of OT cities from Gen 19:1-29, shows that to reject the current message is even more serious than the worst sins of the old era and will result in more severe punishment. The noun Sodom is in emphatic position in the Greek text.

[10:12]  ²⁵ tn Or “city.”