Matthew 19:3

19:3 Then some Pharisees ¹  came to him in order to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful ²  to divorce a wife for any cause?” ³ 

Matthew 22:18

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, ⁴  asked him a question to test ⁵  him:

Mark 10:2

10:2 Then some Pharisees ⁶  came, and to test him ⁷  they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his ⁸  wife?” ⁹ 

Mark 12:15

12:15 But he saw through their hypocrisy and said ¹⁰  to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius ¹¹  and let me look at it.”

Luke 10:25

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

10:25 Now ¹²  an expert in religious law ¹³  stood up to test Jesus, ¹⁴  saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁵ 

Luke 11:16

11:16 Others, to test ¹⁶  him, ¹⁷  began asking for ¹⁸  a sign ¹⁹  from heaven.

Luke 11:53-54

11:53 When he went out from there, the experts in the law ²⁰  and the Pharisees began to oppose him bitterly, ²¹  and to ask him hostile questions ²²  about many things, 11:54 plotting against ²³  him, to catch ²⁴  him in something he might say.

Luke 20:23

20:23 But Jesus ²⁵  perceived their deceit ²⁶  and said to them,

John 8:6

8:6 (Now they were asking this in an attempt to trap him, so that they could bring charges against ²⁷  him.) ²⁸  Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger. ²⁹ 

[19:3]  ¹ tn Grk “And Pharisees.”

[19:3]  ² tc ‡ Most mss have either ἀνθρώπῳ (anqrwpw, “for a man” [so א² C D W Θ 087 Ë^1,13 33 Ï latt]) or ἀνδρί (andri, “for a husband” [1424^c pc]) before the infinitive ἀπολῦσαι (apolusai, “to divorce”). The latter reading is an assimilation to the parallel in Mark; the former reading may have been motivated by the clarification needed (especially to give the following αὐτοῦ [autou, “his”] an antecedent). But a few significant mss (א* B L Γ 579 [700] 1424* pc) have neither noun. As the harder reading, it seems to best explain the rise of the others. NA²⁷, however, reads ἀνθρώπῳ here.

[19:3]  ³ sn The question of the Pharisees was anything but sincere; they were asking it to test him. Jesus was now in the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas (i.e., Judea and beyond the Jordan) and it is likely that the Pharisees were hoping he might answer the question of divorce in a way similar to John the Baptist and so suffer the same fate as John, i.e., death at the hands of Herod (cf. 14:1-12). Jesus answered the question not on the basis of rabbinic custom and the debate over Deut 24:1, but rather from the account of creation and God’s original design.

[22:35]  ⁴ tn Traditionally, “a lawyer.” This was an expert in the interpretation of the Mosaic law.

[22:35]  ⁵ tn Grk “testing.” The participle, however, is telic in force.

[10:2]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn In Greek this phrase occurs at the end of the sentence. It has been brought forward to conform to English style.

[10:2]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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.

[12:15]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “Aware of their hypocrisy he said.”

[12:15]  ¹¹ 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.

[10:25]  ¹² tn Grk “And behold.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic. The Greek word ἰδού (idou) at the beginning of this statement has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[10:25]  ¹³ tn Traditionally, “a lawyer.” This was an expert in the interpretation of the Mosaic law (see also Luke 7:30, where the same term occurs).

[10:25]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:25]  ¹⁵ sn The combination of inherit with eternal life asks, in effect, “What must I do to be saved?”

[11:16]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “testing”; the participle is taken as indicating the purpose of the demand.

[11:16]  ¹⁷ tn The pronoun “him” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[11:16]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “seeking from him.” The imperfect ἐζήτουν (ezhtoun) is taken ingressively. It is also possible to regard it as iterative (“kept on asking”).

[11:16]  ¹⁹ 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.

[11:53]  ²⁰ tn Or “the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

[11:53]  ²¹ tn Or “terribly.”

[11:53]  ²² tn For this term see L&N 33.183.

[11:54]  ²³ tn Grk “lying in ambush against,” but this is a figurative extension of that meaning.

[11:54]  ²⁴ 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.

[20:23]  ²⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:23]  ²⁶ tn Or “craftiness.” The term always has negative connotations in the NT (1 Cor 3:19; 2 Cor 4:2; 11:3; Eph 4:14).

[8:6]  ²⁷ tn Grk “so that they could accuse.”

[8:6]  ²⁸ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author of 7:53–8:11.

[8:6]  ²⁹ 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]).