Matthew 2:4

2:4 After assembling all the chief priests and experts in the law, ¹  he asked them where the Christ ²  was to be born.

Matthew 5:11

5:11 “Blessed are you when people ³  insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things about you falsely ⁴  on account of me.

Matthew 5:15

5:15 People ⁵  do not light a lamp and put it under a basket ⁶  but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.

Matthew 18:32

18:32 Then his lord called the first slave ⁷  and said to him, ‘Evil slave! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me!

Matthew 20:6

20:6 And about five o’clock that afternoon ⁸  he went out and found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why are you standing here all day without work?’

Matthew 23:5

23:5 They ⁹  do all their deeds to be seen by people, for they make their phylacteries ¹⁰  wide and their tassels ¹¹  long.

[2:4]  ¹ tn Or “and scribes of the people.” The traditional rendering of γραμματεύς (grammateu") as “scribe” does not communicate much to the modern English reader, for whom the term might mean “professional copyist,” if it means anything at all. The people referred to here were recognized experts in the law of Moses and in traditional laws and regulations. Thus “expert in the law” comes closer to the meaning for the modern reader.

[2:4]  ² tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[5:11]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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.

[5:15]  ⁵ tn Grk “Nor do they light.” The plural in Greek is indefinite, referring to people in general.

[5:15]  ⁶ tn Or “a bowl”; this refers to any container for dry material of about eight liters (two gallons) capacity. It could be translated “basket, box, bowl” (L&N 6.151).

[18:32]  ⁷ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the first slave mentioned in v. 24) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:6]  ⁹ tn Grk “about the eleventh hour.”

[23:5]  ¹¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[23:5]  ¹² sn Phylacteries were small leather cases containing OT scripture verses, worn on the arm and forehead by Jews, especially when praying. The custom was derived from such OT passages as Exod 13:9; 16; Deut 6:8; 11:18.

[23:5]  ¹³ tn The term κράσπεδον (kraspedon) in some contexts could refer to the outer fringe of the garment (possibly in Mark 6:56). This edge could have been plain or decorated. L&N 6.180 states, “In Mt 23:5 κράσπεδον denotes the tassels worn at the four corners of the outer garment (see 6.194).”