Leviticus 21:1-6

Rules for the Priests

21:1 The Lord said to Moses: “Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron – say to them, ‘For a dead person ¹  no priest ²  is to defile himself among his people, ³  21:2 except for his close relative who is near to him: ⁴  his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, 21:3 and his virgin sister who is near to him, ⁵  who has no husband; he may defile himself for her. 21:4 He must not defile himself as a husband among his people so as to profane himself. ⁶  21:5 Priests ⁷  must not have a bald spot shaved on their head, they must not shave the corner of their beard, and they must not cut slashes in their body. ⁸ 

21:6 “‘They must be holy to their God, and they must not profane ⁹  the name of their God, because they are the ones who present the Lord’s gifts, ¹⁰  the food of their God. Therefore they must be holy. ¹¹ 

Leviticus 22:4

22:4 No man ¹²  from the descendants of Aaron who is diseased or has a discharge ¹³  may eat the holy offerings until he becomes clean. The one ¹⁴  who touches anything made unclean by contact with a dead person, ¹⁵  or a man who has a seminal emission, ¹⁶ 

Matthew 8:21-22

8:21 Another ¹⁷  of the ¹⁸  disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 8:22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” ¹⁹ 

Luke 9:59-60

9:59 Jesus ²⁰  said to another, “Follow me.” But he replied, ²¹  “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 9:60 But Jesus ²²  said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, ²³  but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” ²⁴ 

Luke 9:2

9:2 and he sent ²⁵  them out to proclaim ²⁶  the kingdom of God ²⁷  and to heal the sick. ²⁸ 

Colossians 1:16

1:16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, ²⁹  whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him.

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ³⁰  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 4:13-15

4:13 For I can testify that he has worked hard ³¹  for you and for those in Laodicea and Hierapolis. 4:14 Our dear friend Luke the physician and Demas greet you. 4:15 Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters ³²  who are in Laodicea and to Nympha and the church that meets in her ³³  house. ³⁴ 

[21:1]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul, person, life”) can sometimes refer to a “dead person” (cf. Lev 19:28 above and the literature cited there).

[21:1]  ² tn Heb “no one,” but “priest” has been used in the translation to clarify that these restrictions are limited to the priests, not to the Israelites in general (note the introductory formula, “say to the priests, the sons of Aaron”).

[21:1]  ³ tc The MT has “in his peoples,” but Smr, LXX, Syriac, Targum, and Tg. Ps.-J. have “in his people,” referring to the Israelites as a whole.

[21:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “except for his flesh, the one near to him.”

[21:3]  ⁵ tn Cf. v. 2a.

[21:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “He shall not defile himself a husband in his peoples, to profane himself.” The meaning of the line is disputed, but it appears to prohibit a priest from burying any relative by marriage (as opposed to the blood relatives of vv. 2-3), including his wife (compare B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 142-43 with J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 343, 348).

[21:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “they”; the referent (priests, see the beginning of v. 1) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “and in their body they shall not [cut] slash[es]” (cf. Lev 19:28). The context connects these sorts of mutilations with mourning rites (cf. Lev 19:27-28 above).

[21:6]  ⁹ sn Regarding “profane,” see the note on Lev 10:10 above.

[21:6]  ¹⁰ sn Regarding the Hebrew term for “gifts,” see the note on Lev 1:9 above (cf. also 3:11 and 16 in combination with the word for “food” that follows in the next phrase here).

[21:6]  ¹¹ tc Smr and all early versions have the plural adjective “holy” rather than the MT singular noun “holiness.”

[22:4]  ¹² tn Heb “Man man.” The reduplication is a way of saying “any man” (cf. Lev 15:2; 17:3, etc.), but with a negative command it means “No man” (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 147).

[22:4]  ¹³ sn The diseases and discharges mentioned here are those described in Lev 13-15.

[22:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “And the one.”

[22:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in all unclean of a person/soul”; for the Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) meaning “a [dead] person,” see the note on Lev 19:28.

[22:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “or a man who goes out from him a lying of seed.”

[8:21]  ¹⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[8:21]  ¹⁸ tc ‡ Most mss (C L W Θ 0250 Ë^1,13 Ï lat sy mae bo) read αὐτοῦ (autou, “his”) here, but the earliest witnesses, א and B (along with 33 and a few others), lack it. The addition may have been a motivated reading to clarify whose disciples were in view. NA²⁷ includes the pronoun in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.

[8:22]  ¹⁹ sn There are several options for the meaning of Jesus’ reply Leave the dead to bury their own dead: (1) Recent research suggests that burial customs in the vicinity of Jerusalem from about 20 b.c. to a.d. 70 involved a reinterment of the bones a year after the initial burial, once the flesh had rotted away. At that point the son would have placed his father’s bones in a special box known as an ossuary to be set into the wall of the tomb. Thus Jesus could well be rebuking the man for wanting to wait around for as much as a year before making a commitment to follow him. In 1st century Jewish culture, to have followed Jesus rather than burying one’s father would have seriously dishonored one’s father (cf. Tobit 4:3-4). (2) The remark is an idiom (possibly a proverbial saying) that means, “The matter in question is not the real issue,” in which case Jesus was making a wordplay on the wording of the man’s (literal) request (see L&N 33.137). (3) This remark could be a figurative reference to various kinds of people, meaning, “Let the spiritually dead bury the dead.” (4) It could also be literal and designed to shock the hearer by the surprise of the contrast. Whichever option is preferred, it is clear that the most important priority is to follow Jesus.

[9:59]  ²⁰ tn Grk “And he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[9:59]  ²¹ tn Grk “said.”

[9:60]  ²² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:60]  ²³ sn There are several options for the meaning of Jesus’ reply Leave the dead to bury their own dead: (1) Recent research suggests that burial customs in the vicinity of Jerusalem from about 20 b.c. to a.d. 70 involved a reinterment of the bones a year after the initial burial, once the flesh had rotted away. At that point the son would have placed his father’s bones in a special box known as an ossuary to be set into the wall of the tomb. Thus Jesus could well be rebuking the man for wanting to wait around for as much as a year before making a commitment to follow him. In 1st century Jewish culture, to have followed Jesus rather than burying one’s father would have seriously dishonored one’s father (cf. Tobit 4:3-4). (2) The remark is an idiom (possibly a proverbial saying) that means, “The matter in question is not the real issue,” in which case Jesus was making a wordplay on the wording of the man’s (literal) request (see L&N 33.137). (3) This remark could be a figurative reference to various kinds of people, meaning, “Let the spiritually dead bury the dead.” (4) It could also be literal and designed to shock the hearer by the surprise of the contrast. Whichever option is preferred, it is clear that the most important priority is to preach the gospel (proclaim the kingdom of God).

[9:60]  ²⁴ sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21.

[9:2]  ²⁵ sn “To send out” is often a term of divine commission in Luke: 1:19; 4:18, 43; 7:27; 9:48; 10:1, 16; 11:49; 13:34; 24:49.

[9:2]  ²⁶ tn Or “to preach.”

[9:2]  ²⁷ sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21.

[9:2]  ²⁸ sn As Jesus’ own ministry (Luke 4:16-44) involved both word (to proclaim) and deed (to heal) so also would that of the disciples.

[1:16]  ²⁹ tn BDAG 579 s.v. κυριότης 3 suggests “bearers of the ruling powers, dominions” here.

[1:1]  ³⁰ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[4:13]  ³¹ tn Grk “pain.” This word appears only three times in the NT outside of this verse (Rev 16:10, 11; 21:4) where the translation “pain” makes sense. For the present verse it has been translated “worked hard.” See BDAG 852 s.v. πόνος 1.

[4:15]  ³² tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[4:15]  ³³ tc If the name Nympha is accented with a circumflex on the ultima (Νυμφᾶν, Numfan), then it refers to a man; if it receives an acute accent on the penult (Νύμφαν), the reference is to a woman. Scribes that considered Nympha to be a man’s name had the corresponding masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ here (autou, “his”; so D [F G] Ψ Ï), while those who saw Nympha as a woman read the feminine αὐτῆς here (auth", “her”; B 0278 6 1739^[*^] 1881 sa). Several mss (א A C P 075 33 81 104 326 1175 2464 bo) have αὐτῶν (autwn, “their”), perhaps because of indecisiveness on the gender of Nympha, perhaps because they included ἀδελφούς (adelfou", here translated “brothers and sisters”) as part of the referent. (Perhaps because accents were not part of the original text, scribes were particularly confused here.) The harder reading is certainly αὐτῆς, and thus Nympha should be considered a woman.

[4:15]  ³⁴ tn Grk “the church in her house.” The meaning is that Paul sends greetings to the church that meets at Nympha’s house.