Jeremiah 23:2

23:2 So the Lord God of Israel has this to say about the leaders who are ruling over his people: “You have caused my people ¹  to be dispersed and driven into exile. You have not taken care of them. So I will punish you for the evil that you have done. ²  I, the Lord, affirm it! ³ 

Jeremiah 23:22

23:22 But if they had stood in my inner circle, ⁴ 

they would have proclaimed my message to my people.

They would have caused my people to turn from their wicked ways

and stop doing the evil things they are doing.

Ezekiel 34:2-6

34:2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds ⁵  of Israel; prophesy, and say to them – to the shepherds: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not shepherds feed the flock? 34:3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the choice animals, but you do not feed the sheep! 34:4 You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost, but with force and harshness ⁶  you have ruled over them. 34:5 They were scattered because they had no shepherd, and they became food for every wild beast. ⁷  34:6 My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over the entire face of the earth with no one looking or searching for them.

Ezekiel 34:16

34:16 I will seek the lost and bring back the strays; I will bandage the injured and strengthen the sick, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them – with judgment!

Matthew 23:2-4

23:2 “The ⁸  experts in the law ⁹  and the Pharisees ¹⁰  sit on Moses’ seat. 23:3 Therefore pay attention to what they tell you and do it. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they teach. ¹¹  23:4 They ¹²  tie up heavy loads, hard to carry, and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing even to lift a finger to move them.

Matthew 23:13-29

23:13 “But woe to you, experts in the law ¹³  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! ¹⁴  You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! ¹⁵  For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in.

23:14 [[EMPTY]] ¹⁶ 

23:15 “Woe to you, experts in the law ¹⁷  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You cross land and sea to make one convert, ¹⁸  and when you get one, ¹⁹  you make him twice as much a child of hell ²⁰  as yourselves!

23:16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple is bound by nothing. ²¹  But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound by the oath.’ 23:17 Blind fools! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 23:18 And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar is bound by nothing. ²²  But if anyone swears by the gift on it he is bound by the oath.’ 23:19 You are blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 23:20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 23:21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and the one who dwells in it. 23:22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and the one who sits on it.

23:23 “Woe to you, experts in the law ²³  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth ²⁴  of mint, dill, and cumin, ²⁵  yet you neglect what is more important in the law – justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You ²⁶  should have done these things without neglecting the others. 23:24 Blind guides! You strain out a gnat yet swallow a camel! ²⁷ 

23:25 “Woe to you, experts in the law ²⁸  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 23:26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, ²⁹  so that the outside may become clean too!

23:27 “Woe to you, experts in the law ³⁰  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean. ³¹  23:28 In the same way, on the outside you look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

23:29 “Woe to you, experts in the law ³²  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You ³³  build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves ³⁴  of the righteous.

Luke 12:45-46

12:45 But if ³⁵  that ³⁶  slave should say to himself, ³⁷  ‘My master is delayed ³⁸  in returning,’ and he begins to beat ³⁹  the other ⁴⁰  slaves, both men and women, ⁴¹  and to eat, drink, and get drunk, 12:46 then the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not foresee, and will cut him in two, ⁴²  and assign him a place with the unfaithful. ⁴³ 

John 10:12-13

10:12 The hired hand, ⁴⁴  who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons ⁴⁵  the sheep and runs away. ⁴⁶  So the wolf attacks ⁴⁷  the sheep and scatters them. 10:13 Because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep, ⁴⁸  he runs away. ⁴⁹ 

[23:2]  ¹ tn Heb “about the shepherds who are shepherding my people. ‘You have caused my sheep….’” For the metaphor see the study note on the previous verse.

[23:2]  ² tn Heb “Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who should be shepherding my people: You have scattered my sheep and driven them away and you have not taken care of them. Behold I will visit upon you the evil of your deeds.” “Therefore” announces the judgment which does not come until “Behold.” It is interrupted by the messenger formula and a further indictment. The original has been broken up to conform more to contemporary English style, the metaphors have been interpreted for clarity and the connections between the indictments and the judgments have been carried by “So.”

[23:2]  ³ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[23:22]  ⁴ tn Or “had been my confidant.” See the note on v. 18.

[34:2]  ⁵ tn The term shepherd is applied to kings in the ancient Near East. In the OT the Lord is often addressed as shepherd of Israel (Gen 49:24; Ps 8:1). The imagery of shepherds as Israel’s leaders is also employed (Jer 23:1-2).

[34:4]  ⁶ tn The term translated “harshness” is used to describe the oppression the Israelites suffered as slaves in Egypt (Exod 1:13).

[34:5]  ⁷ tn As a case of dittography, the MT repeats “and they were scattered” at the end of the verse.

[23:2]  ⁸ tn Grk “saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[23:2]  ⁹ tn Or “The scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:2]  ¹⁰ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[23:3]  ¹¹ tn Grk “for they say and do not do.”

[23:4]  ¹² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[23:13]  ¹³ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:13]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “Woe to you…because you…” The causal particle ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated here for rhetorical effect (and so throughout this chapter).

[23:13]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “because you are closing the kingdom of heaven before people.”

[23:14]  ¹⁶ tc The most important mss (א B D L Z Θ Ë¹ 33 892* pc and several versional witnesses) do not have 23:14 “Woe to you experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You devour widows’ property, and as a show you pray long prayers! Therefore you will receive a more severe punishment.” Part or all of the verse is contained (either after v. 12 or after v. 13) in W 0102 0107 ˹³ Ï and several versions, but it is almost certainly not original. The present translation follows NA²⁷ in omitting the verse number as well, a procedure also followed by a number of other modern translations. Note also that Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47 are very similar in wording and are not disputed textually.

[23:15]  ¹⁷ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:15]  ¹⁸ tn Or “one proselyte.”

[23:15]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “when he becomes [one].”

[23:15]  ²⁰ tn Grk “a son of Gehenna.” Expressions constructed with υἱός (Juios) followed by a genitive of class or kind denote a person belonging to the class or kind specified by the following genitive (L&N 9.4). Thus the phrase here means “a person who belongs to hell.”

[23:16]  ²¹ tn Grk “Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing.”

[23:18]  ²² tn Grk “Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing.”

[23:23]  ²³ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:23]  ²⁴ tn Or “you tithe mint.”

[23:23]  ²⁵ sn Cumin (alternately spelled cummin) was an aromatic herb native to the Mediterranean region. Its seeds were used for seasoning.

[23:23]  ²⁶ 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 Ë^1,13 579 700 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.

[23:24]  ²⁷ tn Grk “Blind guides who strain out a gnat yet who swallow a camel!”

[23:25]  ²⁸ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:26]  ²⁹ tc A very difficult textual problem is found here. The most important Alexandrian and Byzantine, as well as significant Western, witnesses (א B C L W 0102 0281 ˹³ 33 Ï lat co) have “and the dish” (καὶ τῆς παροψίδος, kai th" paroyido") after “cup,” while few important witnesses (D Θ Ë¹ 700 and some versional and patristic authorities) omit the phrase. On the one hand, scribes sometimes tended to eliminate redundancy; since “and the dish” is already present in v. 25, it may have been deleted in v. 26 by well-meaning scribes. On the other hand, as B. M. Metzger notes, the singular pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou, “its”) with τὸ ἐκτός (to ekto", “the outside”) in some of the same witnesses that have the longer reading (viz., B* ˹³ al) hints that their archetype lacked the words (TCGNT 50). Further, scribes would be motivated both to add the phrase from v. 25 and to change αὐτοῦ to the plural pronoun αὐτῶν (aujtwn, “their”). Although the external evidence for the shorter reading is not compelling in itself, combined with these two prongs of internal evidence, it is to be slightly preferred.

[23:27]  ³⁰ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:27]  ³¹ sn This was an idiom for hypocrisy – just as the wall was painted on the outside but something different on the inside, so this person was not what he appeared or pretended to be (for discussion of a similar metaphor, see L&N 88.234; BDAG 1010 s.v. τοῖχος). See Deut 28:22; Ezek 13:10-16; Acts 23:3.

[23:29]  ³² tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:29]  ³³ tn Grk “Because you.” Here ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated.

[23:29]  ³⁴ tn Or perhaps “the monuments” (see L&N 7.75-76).

[12:45]  ³⁵ tn In the Greek text this is a third class condition that for all practical purposes is a hypothetical condition (note the translation of the following verb “should say”).

[12:45]  ³⁶ tn The term “that” (ἐκεῖνος, ekeino") is used as a catchword to list out, in the form of a number of hypothetical circumstances, what the possible responses of “that” servant could be. He could be faithful (vv. 43-44) or totally unfaithful (vv. 45-46). He does not complete his master’s will with knowledge (v. 47) or from ignorance (v 48). These differences are indicated by the different levels of punishment in vv. 46-48.

[12:45]  ³⁷ tn Grk “should say in his heart.”

[12:45]  ³⁸ tn Or “is taking a long time.”

[12:45]  ³⁹ sn The slave’s action in beginning to beat the other slaves was not only a failure to carry out what was commanded but involved doing the exact reverse.

[12:45]  ⁴⁰ tn The word “other” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[12:45]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “the menservants and the maidservants.” The term here, used in both masculine and feminine grammatical forms, is παῖς (pais), which can refer to a slave, but also to a slave who is a personal servant, and thus regarded kindly (L&N 87.77).

[12:46]  ⁴² tn The verb διχοτομέω (dicotomew) means to cut an object into two parts (L&N 19.19). This is an extremely severe punishment compared to the other two later punishments. To translate it simply as “punish” is too mild. If taken literally this servant is dismembered, although it is possible to view the stated punishment as hyperbole (L&N 38.12).

[12:46]  ⁴³ tn Or “unbelieving.” Here the translation employs the slightly more ambiguous “unfaithful,” which creates a link with the point of the parable – faithfulness versus unfaithfulness in servants. The example of this verse must be taken together with the examples of vv. 47-48 as part of a scale of reactions with the most disobedient response coming here. The fact that this servant is placed in a distinct group, unlike the one in vv. 47-48, also suggests ultimate exclusion. This is the hypocrite of Matt 24:51.

[10:12]  ⁴⁴ sn Jesus contrasts the behavior of the shepherd with that of the hired hand. This is a worker who is simply paid to do a job; he has no other interest in the sheep and is certainly not about to risk his life for them. When they are threatened, he simply runs away.

[10:12]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “leaves.”

[10:12]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “flees.”

[10:12]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “seizes.” The more traditional rendering, “snatches,” has the idea of seizing something by force and carrying it off, which is certainly possible here. However, in the sequence in John 10:12, this action precedes the scattering of the flock of sheep, so “attacks” is preferable.

[10:13]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “does not have a care for the sheep.”

[10:13]  ⁴⁹ tc The phrase “he runs away” is lacking in several important mss (Ì^{44vid,45,66,75} א A*^vid B D L [W] Θ 1 33 1241 al co). Most likely it was added by a later scribe to improve the readability of vv. 12-13, which is one long sentence in Greek. It has been included in the translation for the same stylistic reasons.