Matthew 10:7-11

10:7 As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near!’ 10:8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, ¹  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 ²  for the journey, or an extra tunic, ³  or sandals or staff, ⁴  for the worker deserves his provisions. 10:11 Whenever ⁵  you enter a town or village, ⁶  find out who is worthy there ⁷  and stay with them ⁸  until you leave.

[10:8]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Or “no traveler’s bag”; or possibly “no beggar’s bag” (L&N 6.145; BDAG 811 s.v. πήρα).

[10:10]  ³ tn Grk “two tunics.” See the note on the word “tunic” in Matt 5:40.

[10:10]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[10:11]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Grk “in it” (referring to the city or village).

[10:11]  ⁸ tn Grk “there.” This was translated as “with them” to avoid redundancy in English and to clarify where the disciples were to stay.