Matthew 11:20-21

Woes on Unrepentant Cities

11:20 Then Jesus began to criticize openly the cities ¹  in which he had done many of his miracles, because they did not repent. 11:21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! ²  Woe to you, Bethsaida! If ³  the miracles ⁴  done in you had been done in Tyre ⁵  and Sidon, ⁶  they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

Matthew 12:41

12:41 The people ⁷  of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented when Jonah preached to them ⁸  – and now, ⁹  something greater than Jonah is here!

[11:20]  ¹ tn The Greek word here is πόλις (polis) which can be translated “city” or “town.” “Cities” was chosen here to emphasize the size of the places Jesus’ mentions in the following verses.

[11:21]  ² sn Chorazin was a town of Galilee that was probably fairly small in contrast to Bethsaida and is otherwise unattested. Bethsaida was declared a polis by the tetrarch Herod Philip, sometime after a.d. 30.

[11:21]  ³ tn This introduces a second class (contrary to fact) condition in the Greek text.

[11:21]  ⁴ tn Or “powerful deeds.”

[11:21]  ⁵ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[11:21]  ⁶ sn Tyre and Sidon are two other notorious OT cities (Isa 23; Jer 25:22; 47:4). The remark is a severe rebuke, in effect: “Even the sinners of the old era would have responded to the proclamation of the kingdom, unlike you!”

[12:41]  ³ tn Grk “men”; the word here (ἀνήρ, anhr) usually indicates males or husbands, but occasionally is used in a generic sense of people in general, as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 1.a, 2).

[12:41]  ⁴ tn Grk “at the preaching of Jonah.”

[12:41]  ⁵ tn Grk “behold.”