Matthew 10:5-16

10:5 Jesus sent out these twelve, instructing them as follows: ¹  “Do not go to Gentile regions ²  and do not enter any Samaritan town. ³  10:6 Go ⁴  instead to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 10:7 As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near!’ 10:8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, ⁵  cleanse lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. 10:9 Do not take gold, silver, or copper in your belts, 10:10 no bag ⁶  for the journey, or an extra tunic, ⁷  or sandals or staff, ⁸  for the worker deserves his provisions. 10:11 Whenever ⁹  you enter a town or village, ¹⁰  find out who is worthy there ¹¹  and stay with them ¹²  until you leave. 10:12 As you enter the house, give it greetings. ¹³  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. ¹⁴  10:14 And if anyone will not welcome you or listen to your message, shake the dust off ¹⁵  your feet as you leave that house or that town. 10:15 I tell you the truth, ¹⁶  it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom and Gomorrah ¹⁷  on the day of judgment than for that town!

Persecution of Disciples

10:16 “I ¹⁸  am sending you out like sheep surrounded by wolves, ¹⁹  so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

[10:5]  ¹ tn Grk “instructing them, saying.”

[10:5]  ² tn Grk “on the road of the Gentiles.” That is, a path that leads to Gentile regions.

[10:5]  ³ tn Grk “town [or city] of the Samaritans.”

[10:6]  ⁴ tn Grk “But go.” The Greek μᾶλλον (mallon, “rather, instead”) conveys the adversative nuance here so that δέ (de) has not been translated.

[10:8]  ⁵ tc The majority of Byzantine minuscules, along with a few other witnesses (C³ K L Γ Θ 700* al), lack νεκροὺς ἐγείρετε (nekrou" ejgeirete, “raise the dead”), most likely because of oversight due to a string of similar endings (-ετε in the second person imperatives, occurring five times in v. 8). The longer version of this verse is found in several diverse and ancient witnesses such as א B C* (D) N 0281^vid Ë^1,13 33 565 al lat; P W Δ 348 have a word-order variation, but nevertheless include νεκροὺς ἐγείρετε. Although some Byzantine-text proponents charge the Alexandrian witnesses with theologically-motivated alterations toward heterodoxy, it is interesting to find a variant such as this in which the charge could be reversed (do the Byzantine scribes have something against the miracle of resurrection?). In reality, such charges of wholesale theologically-motivated changes toward heterodoxy are immediately suspect due to lack of evidence of intentional changes (here the change is evidently due to accidental omission).

[10:10]  ⁶ tn Or “no traveler’s bag”; or possibly “no beggar’s bag” (L&N 6.145; BDAG 811 s.v. πήρα).

[10:10]  ⁷ tn Grk “two tunics.” See the note on the word “tunic” in Matt 5:40.

[10:10]  ⁸ sn Mark 6:8 allows one staff. It might be that Matthew’s summary (cf. Luke 9:3) means not taking an extra staff or that the expression is merely rhetorical for “traveling light” which has been rendered in two slightly different ways.

[10:11]  ⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

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

[10:11]  ¹¹ tn Grk “in it” (referring to the city or village).

[10:11]  ¹² tn Grk “there.” This was translated as “with them” to avoid redundancy in English and to clarify where the disciples were to stay.

[10:12]  ¹³ tn This is a metonymy; the “house” is put for those who live in it.

[10:13]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[10:15]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ sn This imagery of wolves is found in intertestamental Judaism; see Pss. Sol. 8:23, 30.