Matthew 16:1

The Demand for a Sign

16:1 Now when the Pharisees ¹  and Sadducees ²  came to test Jesus, ³  they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. ⁴ 

Matthew 22:16-18

22:16 They sent to him their disciples along with the Herodians, ⁵  saying, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful, and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. ⁶  You do not court anyone’s favor because you show no partiality. ⁷  22:17 Tell us then, what do you think? Is it right ⁸  to pay taxes ⁹  to Caesar ¹⁰  or not?”

22:18 But Jesus realized their evil intentions and said, “Hypocrites! Why are you testing me?

Matthew 22:35

22:35 And one of them, an expert in religious law, ¹¹  asked him a question to test ¹²  him:

Mark 10:2

10:2 Then some Pharisees ¹³  came, and to test him ¹⁴  they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his ¹⁵  wife?” ¹⁶ 

Mark 12:13

Paying Taxes to Caesar

12:13 Then ¹⁷  they sent some of the Pharisees ¹⁸  and Herodians ¹⁹  to trap him with his own words. ²⁰ 

Mark 12:15

12:15 But he saw through their hypocrisy and said ²¹  to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius ²²  and let me look at it.”

Luke 11:53-54

11:53 When he went out from there, the experts in the law ²³  and the Pharisees began to oppose him bitterly, ²⁴  and to ask him hostile questions ²⁵  about many things, 11:54 plotting against ²⁶  him, to catch ²⁷  him in something he might say.

John 8:6

8:6 (Now they were asking this in an attempt to trap him, so that they could bring charges against ²⁸  him.) ²⁹  Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger. ³⁰ 

Hebrews 3:9

3:9 “There your fathers tested me and tried me, ³¹  and they saw my works for forty years.

[16:1]  ¹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[16:1]  ² sn See the note on Sadducees in 3:7.

[16:1]  ³ tn The object of the participle πειράζοντες (peirazontes) is not given in the Greek text but has been supplied here for clarity.

[16:1]  ⁴ sn What exactly this sign would have been, given what Jesus was already doing, is not clear. But here is where the fence-sitters reside, refusing to commit to him.

[22:16]  ⁵ sn The Herodians are mentioned in the NT only once in Matt (22:16 = Mark 12:13) and twice in Mark (3:6; 12:13; some mss also read “Herodians” instead of “Herod” in Mark 8:15). It is generally assumed that as a group the Herodians were Jewish supporters of the Herodian dynasty (or of Herod Antipas in particular). In every instance they are linked with the Pharisees. This probably reflects agreement regarding political objectives (nationalism as opposed to submission to the yoke of Roman oppression) rather than philosophy or religious beliefs.

[22:16]  ⁶ sn Teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Very few comments are as deceitful as this one; they did not really believe this at all. The question of the Pharisees and Herodians was specifically designed to trap Jesus.

[22:16]  ⁷ tn Grk “And it is not a concern to you about anyone because you do not see the face of men.”

[22:17]  ⁸ tn Or “lawful,” that is, in accordance with God’s divine law. On the syntax of ἔξεστιν (exestin) with an infinitive and accusative, see BDF §409.3.

[22:17]  ⁹ tn According to L&N 57.180 the term κῆνσος (khnso") was borrowed from Latin and referred to a poll tax, a tax paid by each adult male to the Roman government.

[22:17]  ¹⁰ tn Or “to the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

[22:35]  ¹¹ tn Traditionally, “a lawyer.” This was an expert in the interpretation of the Mosaic law.

[22:35]  ¹² tn Grk “testing.” The participle, however, is telic in force.

[10:2]  ¹³ tc The Western text (D it) and a few others have only καί (kai) here, rather than καὶ προσελθόντες Φαρισαῖοι (kai proselqonte" Farisaioi, here translated as “then some Pharisees came”). The longer reading, a specific identification of the subject, may have been prompted by the parallel in Matt 19:3. The fact that the mss vary in how they express this subject lends credence to this judgment: οἱ δὲ Φαρισαῖοι προσελθόντες (Joi de Farisaioi proselqonte", “now the Pharisees came”) in W Θ 565 2542 pc; καὶ προσελθόντες οἱ Φαρισαῖοι (kai proselqonte" Joi Farisaioi, “then the Pharisees came”) in א C N (˹: καὶ προσελθόντες ἐπηρώτησαν αὐτὸν οἱ Φαρισαῖοι) 579 1241 1424 pm; and καὶ προσελθόντες Φαρισαῖοι in A B K L Γ Δ Ψ Ë¹³ 28 700 892 2427 pm. Further, the use of an indefinite plural (a general “they”) is a Markan feature, occurring over twenty times. Thus, internally the evidence looks rather strong for the shorter reading, in spite of the minimal external support for it. However, if scribes assimilated this text to Matt 19:3, a more exact parallel might have been expected: Matthew has καὶ προσῆλθον αὐτῷ Φαρισαῖοι (kai proshlqon aujtw Farisaioi, “then Pharisees came to him”). Although the verb form needs to be different according to syntactical requirements of the respective sentences, the word order variety, as well as the presence or absence of the article and the alternation between δέ and καί as the introductory conjunction, all suggest that the variety of readings might not be due to scribal adjustments toward Matthew. At the same time, the article with Φαρισαῖοι is found in both Gospels in many of the same witnesses (א Ï in Matt; א pm in Mark), and the anarthrous Φαρισαῖοι is likewise parallel in many mss (B L ˹³ 700 892). Another consideration is the possibility that very early in the transmissional history, scribes naturally inserted the most obvious subject (the Pharisees would be the obvious candidates as the ones to test Jesus). This may account for the reading with δέ, since Mark nowhere else uses this conjunction to introduce the Pharisees into the narrative. As solid as the internal arguments against the longer reading seem to be, the greatest weakness is the witnesses that support it. The Western mss are prone to alter the text by adding, deleting, substituting, or rearranging large amounts of material. There are times when the rationale for this seems inexplicable. In light of the much stronger evidence for “the Pharisees came,” even though it occurs in various permutations, it is probably wisest to retain the words. This judgment, however, is hardly certain.

[10:2]  ¹⁴ tn In Greek this phrase occurs at the end of the sentence. It has been brought forward to conform to English style.

[10:2]  ¹⁵ tn The personal pronoun “his” is not in the Greek text, but is certainly implied and has been supplied in the English translation to clarify the sense of the statement (cf. “his wife” in 10:7).

[10:2]  ¹⁶ tn The particle εἰ (ei) is often used to introduce both indirect and direct questions. Thus, another possible translation is to take this as an indirect question: “They asked him if it were lawful for a man to divorce his wife.” See BDF §440.3.

[12:13]  ¹⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[12:13]  ¹⁸ sn See the note on Pharisees in 2:16.

[12:13]  ¹⁹ sn Pharisees and Herodians made a very interesting alliance. W. W. Wessel (“Mark,” EBC 8:733) comments: “The Herodians were as obnoxious to the Pharisees on political grounds as the Sadducees were on theological grounds. Yet the two groups united in their opposition to Jesus. Collaboration in wickedness, as well as goodness, has great power. Their purpose was to trip Jesus up in his words so that he would lose the support of the people, leaving the way open for them to destroy him.” See also the note on “Herodians” in Mark 3:6.

[12:13]  ²⁰ tn Grk “trap him in word.”

[12:15]  ²¹ tn Grk “Aware of their hypocrisy he said.”

[12:15]  ²² tn Here the specific name of the coin was retained in the translation, because not all coins in circulation in Palestine at the time carried the image of Caesar. In other places δηνάριον (dhnarion) has been translated simply as “silver coin” with an explanatory note.

[11:53]  ²³ tn Or “the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

[11:53]  ²⁴ tn Or “terribly.”

[11:53]  ²⁵ tn For this term see L&N 33.183.

[11:54]  ²⁶ tn Grk “lying in ambush against,” but this is a figurative extension of that meaning.

[11:54]  ²⁷ tn This term was often used in a hunting context (BDAG 455 s.v. θηρεύω; L&N 27.30). Later examples of this appear in Luke 20.

[8:6]  ²⁸ tn Grk “so that they could accuse.”

[8:6]  ²⁹ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author of 7:53–8:11.

[8:6]  ³⁰ tn Or possibly “Jesus bent down and wrote an accusation on the ground with his finger.” The Greek verb καταγράφω (katagrafw) may indicate only the action of writing on the ground by Jesus, but in the overall context (Jesus’ response to the accusation against the woman) it can also be interpreted as implying that what Jesus wrote was a counteraccusation against the accusers (although there is no clue as to the actual content of what he wrote, some scribes added “the sins of each one of them” either here or at the end of v. 8 [U 264 700 al]).

[3:9]  ³¹ tn Grk “tested me by trial.”