Matthew 2:2

2:2 saying, “Where is the one who is born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose ¹  and have come to worship him.”

Matthew 8:27

8:27 And the men ²  were amazed and said, ³  “What sort of person is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!” ⁴ 

Matthew 8:29

8:29 They ⁵  cried out, “Son of God, leave us alone! ⁶  Have you come here to torment us before the time?” ⁷ 

Matthew 8:31

8:31 Then the demons begged him, ⁸  “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

Matthew 9:14

The Superiority of the New

9:14 Then John’s ⁹  disciples came to Jesus ¹⁰  and asked, “Why do we and the Pharisees ¹¹  fast often, ¹²  but your disciples don’t fast?”

Matthew 9:33

9:33 After the demon was cast out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowds were amazed and said, “Never has anything like this been seen in Israel!”

Matthew 12:10

12:10 A ¹³  man was there who had a withered ¹⁴  hand. And they asked Jesus, ¹⁵  “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” ¹⁶  so that they could accuse him.

Matthew 14:26

14:26 When ¹⁷  the disciples saw him walking on the water ¹⁸  they were terrified and said, “It’s a ghost!” and cried out with fear.

Matthew 15:23

15:23 But he did not answer her a word. Then ¹⁹  his disciples came and begged him, ²⁰  “Send her away, because she keeps on crying out after us.”

Matthew 17:10

17:10 The disciples asked him, ²¹  “Why then do the experts in the law ²²  say that Elijah must come first?”

Matthew 18:1

Questions About the Greatest

18:1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

Matthew 19:3

19:3 Then some Pharisees ²³  came to him in order to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful ²⁴  to divorce a wife for any cause?” ²⁵ 

Matthew 20:12

20:12 saying, ‘These last fellows worked one hour, and you have made them equal to us who bore the hardship and burning heat of the day.’

Matthew 20:30-31

20:30 Two ²⁶  blind men were sitting by the road. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted, ²⁷  “Have mercy ²⁸  on us, Lord, Son of David!” ²⁹  20:31 The ³⁰  crowd scolded ³¹  them to get them to be quiet. But they shouted even more loudly, “Lord, have mercy on us, ³²  Son of David!”

Matthew 25:37

25:37 Then the righteous will answer him, ³³  ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

Matthew 26:17

The Passover

26:17 Now on the first day of the feast of ³⁴  Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and said, ³⁵  “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” ³⁶ 

[2:2]  ¹ tn Or “in its rising,” referring to the astrological significance of a star in a particular portion of the sky. The term used for the “East” in v. 1 is ἀνατολαί (anatolai, a plural form that is used typically of the rising of the sun), while in vv. 2 and 9 the singular ἀνατολή (anatolh) is used. The singular is typically used of the rising of a star and as such should not normally be translated “in the east” (cf. BDAG 74 s.v. 1: “because of the sg. and the article in contrast to ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν, vs. 1, [it is] prob. not a geograph. expr. like the latter, but rather astronomical…likew. vs. 9”).

[8:27]  ² tn It is difficult to know whether ἄνθρωποι (anqrwpoi) should be translated as “men” or “people” (in a generic sense) here. At issue is whether (1) only the Twelve were with Jesus in the boat, as opposed to other disciples (cf. v. 23), and (2) whether any of those other disciples would have been women. The issue is complicated further by the parallel in Mark (4:35-41), where the author writes (4:36) that other boats accompanied them on this journey.

[8:27]  ³ tn Grk “the men were amazed, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) has been translated as a finite verb to make the sequence of events clear in English.

[8:27]  ⁴ sn Jesus’ authority over creation raised a question for the disciples about his identity (What sort of person is this?). This verse shows that the disciples followed Jesus even though they did not know all about him yet.

[8:29]  ³ tn Grk “And behold, they cried out, saying.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1). The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant and has not been translated.

[8:29]  ⁴ tn Grk “what to us and to you?” (an idiom). The phrase τί ἡμῖν καὶ σοί (ti Jhmin kai soi) is Semitic in origin, though it made its way into colloquial Greek (BDAG 275 s.v. ἐγώ). The equivalent Hebrew expression in the OT had two basic meanings: (1) When one person was unjustly bothering another, the injured party could say “What to me and to you?” meaning, “What have I done to you that you should do this to me?” (Judg 11:12, 2 Chr 35:21, 1 Kgs 17:18). (2) When someone was asked to get involved in a matter he felt was no business of his own, he could say to the one asking him, “What to me and to you?” meaning, “That is your business, how am I involved?” (2 Kgs 3:13, Hos 14:8). These nuances were apparently expanded in Greek, but the basic notions of defensive hostility (option 1) and indifference or disengagement (option 2) are still present. BDAG suggests the following as glosses for this expression: What have I to do with you? What have we in common? Leave me alone! Never mind! Hostility between Jesus and the demons is certainly to be understood in this context, hence the translation: “Leave us alone….”

[8:29]  ⁵ sn There was an appointed time in which demons would face their judgment, and they seem to have viewed Jesus’ arrival on the scene as an illegitimate change in God’s plan regarding the time when their sentence would be executed.

[8:31]  ⁴ tn Grk “asked him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[9:14]  ⁵ sn John refers to John the Baptist.

[9:14]  ⁶ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:14]  ⁷ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[9:14]  ⁸ sn John’s disciples and the Pharisees followed typical practices with regard to fasting and prayer. Many Jews fasted regularly (Lev 16:29-34; 23:26-32; Num 29:7-11). The zealous fasted twice a week on Monday and Thursday.

[12:10]  ⁶ tn Grk “And behold.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[12:10]  ⁷ sn Withered means the man’s hand was shrunken and paralyzed.

[12:10]  ⁸ tn Grk “and they asked him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant and has not been translated. The referent of the pronoun (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:10]  ⁹ sn The background for this is the view that only if life was endangered should one attempt to heal on the Sabbath (see the Mishnah, m. Shabbat 6.3; 12.1; 18.3; 19.2; m. Yoma 8.6).

[14:26]  ⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[14:26]  ⁸ tn Grk “on the sea”; or “on the lake.” The translation “water” has been used here for stylistic reasons (cf. the same phrase in v. 25).

[15:23]  ⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “Then.”

[15:23]  ⁹ tn Grk “asked him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant here in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[17:10]  ⁹ tn Grk “asked him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant and has not been translated.

[17:10]  ¹⁰ tn Or “do the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[19:3]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “And Pharisees.”

[19:3]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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.

[20:30]  ¹¹ tn Grk “And behold.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[20:30]  ¹² tn Grk “shouted, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant here in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[20:30]  ¹³ sn Have mercy on us is a request for healing. It is not owed to the men. They simply ask for God’s kind grace.

[20:30]  ¹⁴ sn There was a tradition in Judaism that the Son of David (Solomon) had great powers of healing (Josephus, Ant. 8.2.5 [8.42-49]).

[20:31]  ¹² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[20:31]  ¹³ tn Or “rebuked.” The crowd’s view was that surely Jesus would not be bothered with someone as unimportant as a blind beggar.

[20:31]  ¹⁴ tc ‡ The majority of mss (C W ˹ 33 Ï and several versional witnesses) read κύριε (kurie, “Lord”) after ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς (elehson Jhma", “have mercy on us”). But since this is the order of words in v. 30 (though that wording is also disputed), and since the κύριε-first reading enjoys widespread and early support (א B D L Z Θ 085 0281 ˹³ 892 pc lat), the latter was considered original. However, the decision was by no means easy. NA²⁷ has κύριε after ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς here; a majority of that committee felt that since the placement of κύριε in last place was the nonliturgical order it “would have been likely to be altered in transcription to the more familiar sequence” (TCGNT 44).

[25:37]  ¹³ tn Grk “answer him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[26:17]  ¹⁴ tn The words “the feast of” are not in the Greek text, but have been supplied for clarity.

[26:17]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “the disciples came to Jesus, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) has been translated as a finite verb to make the sequence of events clear in English.

[26:17]  ¹⁶ sn This required getting a suitable lamb and finding lodging in Jerusalem where the meal could be eaten. The population of the city swelled during the feast, so lodging could be difficult to find. The Passover was celebrated each year in commemoration of the Israelites’ deliverance from Egypt; thus it was a feast celebrating redemption (see Exod 12). The Passover lamb was roasted and eaten after sunset in a family group of at least ten people (m. Pesahim 7.13). People ate the meal while reclining (see the note on table in 26:20). It included, besides the lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs as a reminder of Israel’s bitter affliction at the hands of the Egyptians. Four cups of wine mixed with water were also used for the meal. For a further description of the meal and the significance of the wine cups, see E. Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity, 523-24.