Matthew 24:2

24:2 And he said to them, ¹  “Do you see all these things? I tell you the truth, ²  not one stone will be left on another. ³  All will be torn down!” ⁴ 

Matthew 27:40

27:40 and saying, “You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! ⁵  If you are God’s Son, come down ⁶  from the cross!”

[24:2]  ¹ tn Grk “answering, he said to them.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (ajpokriqei") is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[24:2]  ² tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[24:2]  ³ sn With the statement not one stone will be left on another Jesus predicted the total destruction of the temple, something that did occur in a.d. 70.

[24:2]  ⁴ tn Grk “not one stone will be left here on another which will not be thrown down.”

[27:40]  ⁵ sn There is rich irony in the statements of those who were passing by, “save yourself!” and “come down from the cross!” In summary, they wanted Jesus to come down from the cross and save his physical life, but it was indeed his staying on the cross and giving his physical life that led to the fact that they could experience a resurrection from death to life.

[27:40]  ⁶ tc ‡ Many important witnesses (א* A D pc it sy^[s],p) read καί (kai, here with the force of “then”) before κατάβηθι (katabhqi, “come down”). The shorter reading may well be due to homoioarcton, but judging by the diverse external evidence (א² B L W Θ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat) it is equally possible that the shorter reading is original (and is so considered for this translation). NA²⁷ puts the καί in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.