Matthew 10:13-16
Context10:13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come on it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 1 10:14 And if anyone will not welcome you or listen to your message, shake the dust off 2 your feet as you leave that house or that town. 10:15 I tell you the truth, 3 it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom and Gomorrah 4 on the day of judgment than for that town!
10:16 “I 5 am sending you out like sheep surrounded by wolves, 6 so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
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[10:13] 1 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] 2 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] 3 tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”
[10:15] 4 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.
[10:16] 4 tn Grk “Behold I.” 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).
[10:16] 5 sn This imagery of wolves is found in intertestamental Judaism; see Pss. Sol. 8:23, 30.