Matthew 18:7

18:7 Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! It ¹  is necessary that stumbling blocks come, but woe to the person through whom they come.

Matthew 24:19

24:19 Woe ²  to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing their babies in those days!

Matthew 11:21

11:21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! ³  Woe to you, Bethsaida! If ⁴  the miracles ⁵  done in you had been done in Tyre ⁶  and Sidon, ⁷  they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

Matthew 23:25

23:25 “Woe to you, experts in the law ⁸  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

Matthew 23:27

23:27 “Woe to you, experts in the law ⁹  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean. ¹⁰ 

Matthew 23:29

23:29 “Woe to you, experts in the law ¹¹  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You ¹²  build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves ¹³  of the righteous.

Matthew 23:13

23:13 “But woe to you, experts in the law ¹⁴  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! ¹⁵  You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! ¹⁶  For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in.

Matthew 23:15-16

23:15 “Woe to you, experts in the law ¹⁷  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You cross land and sea to make one convert, ¹⁸  and when you get one, ¹⁹  you make him twice as much a child of hell ²⁰  as yourselves!

23:16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple is bound by nothing. ²¹  But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound by the oath.’

Matthew 26:24

26:24 The Son of Man will go as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for him if he had never been born.”

Matthew 23:23

23:23 “Woe to you, experts in the law ²²  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth ²³  of mint, dill, and cumin, ²⁴  yet you neglect what is more important in the law – justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You ²⁵  should have done these things without neglecting the others.

[18:7]  ¹ tn Grk “For it.” Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated.

[24:19]  ² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[11:21]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn This introduces a second class (contrary to fact) condition in the Greek text.

[11:21]  ⁵ tn Or “powerful deeds.”

[11:21]  ⁶ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[11:21]  ⁷ 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!”

[23:25]  ⁴ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:27]  ⁵ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:27]  ⁶ sn This was an idiom for hypocrisy – just as the wall was painted on the outside but something different on the inside, so this person was not what he appeared or pretended to be (for discussion of a similar metaphor, see L&N 88.234; BDAG 1010 s.v. τοῖχος). See Deut 28:22; Ezek 13:10-16; Acts 23:3.

[23:29]  ⁶ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:29]  ⁷ tn Grk “Because you.” Here ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated.

[23:29]  ⁸ tn Or perhaps “the monuments” (see L&N 7.75-76).

[23:13]  ⁷ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:13]  ⁸ tn Grk “Woe to you…because you…” The causal particle ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated here for rhetorical effect (and so throughout this chapter).

[23:13]  ⁹ tn Grk “because you are closing the kingdom of heaven before people.”

[23:15]  ⁸ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:15]  ⁹ tn Or “one proselyte.”

[23:15]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “when he becomes [one].”

[23:15]  ¹¹ tn Grk “a son of Gehenna.” Expressions constructed with υἱός (Juios) followed by a genitive of class or kind denote a person belonging to the class or kind specified by the following genitive (L&N 9.4). Thus the phrase here means “a person who belongs to hell.”

[23:16]  ⁹ tn Grk “Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing.”

[23:23]  ¹⁰ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:23]  ¹¹ tn Or “you tithe mint.”

[23:23]  ¹² sn Cumin (alternately spelled cummin) was an aromatic herb native to the Mediterranean region. Its seeds were used for seasoning.

[23:23]  ¹³ tc ‡ Many witnesses (B C K L W Δ 0102 33 565 892 pm) have δέ (de, “but”) after ταῦτα (tauta, “these things”), while many others lack it (א D Γ Θ Ë^1,13 579 700 1241 1424 pm). Since asyndeton was relatively rare in Koine Greek, the conjunction may be an intentional alteration, and is thus omitted from the present translation. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.