Matthew 15:16

15:16 Jesus ¹  said, “Even after all this, are you still so foolish?

Matthew 23:31

23:31 By saying this you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets.

Matthew 5:14

5:14 You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden.

Matthew 10:20

10:20 For it is not you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Matthew 23:8

23:8 But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher and you are all brothers.

Matthew 23:28

23:28 In the same way, on the outside you look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Matthew 5:11

5:11 “Blessed are you when people ²  insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things about you falsely ³  on account of me.

Matthew 8:26

8:26 But ⁴  he said to them, “Why are you cowardly, you people of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked ⁵  the winds and the sea, ⁶  and it was dead calm.

Matthew 5:13

Salt and Light

5:13 “You are the salt ⁷  of the earth. But if salt loses its flavor, ⁸  how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on by people.

[15:16]  ¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[5:11]  ² tn Grk “when they insult you.” The third person pronoun (here implied in the verb ὀνειδίσωσιν [ojneidiswsin]) has no specific referent, but refers to people in general.

[5:11]  ³ tc Although ψευδόμενοι (yeudomenoi, “bearing witness falsely”) could be a motivated reading, clarifying that the disciples are unjustly persecuted, its lack in only D it sy^s Tert does not help its case. Since the Western text is known for numerous free alterations, without corroborative evidence the shorter reading must be judged as secondary.

[8:26]  ³ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[8:26]  ⁴ tn Or “commanded” (often with the implication of a threat, L&N 33.331).

[8:26]  ⁵ sn Who has authority over the seas and winds is discussed in the OT: Ps 104:3; 135:7; 107:23-30. When Jesus rebuked the winds and the sea he was making a statement about who he was.

[5:13]  ⁴ sn Salt was used as seasoning or fertilizer (BDAG 41 s.v. ἅλας a), or as a preservative. If salt ceased to be useful, it was thrown away. With this illustration Jesus warned about a disciple who ceased to follow him.

[5:13]  ⁵ sn The difficulty of this saying is understanding how salt could lose its flavor since its chemical properties cannot change. It is thus often assumed that Jesus was referring to chemically impure salt, perhaps a natural salt which, when exposed to the elements, had all the genuine salt leached out, leaving only the sediment or impurities behind. Others have suggested that the background of the saying is the use of salt blocks by Arab bakers to line the floor of their ovens; under the intense heat these blocks would eventually crystallize and undergo a change in chemical composition, finally being thrown out as unserviceable. A saying in the Talmud (b. Bekhorot 8b) attributed to R. Joshua ben Chananja (ca. a.d. 90), when asked the question “When salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again?” is said to have replied, “By salting it with the afterbirth of a mule.” He was then asked, “Then does the mule (being sterile) bear young?” to which he replied: “Can salt lose its flavor?” The point appears to be that both are impossible. The saying, while admittedly late, suggests that culturally the loss of flavor by salt was regarded as an impossibility. Genuine salt can never lose its flavor. In this case the saying by Jesus here may be similar to Matt 19:24, where it is likewise impossible for the camel to go through the eye of a sewing needle.