Matthew 3:8-9

3:8 Therefore produce fruit ¹  that proves your ²  repentance, 3:9 and don’t think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!

Psalms 45:12

45:12 Rich people from Tyre ³ 

will seek your favor by bringing a gift. ⁴ 

Ezekiel 3:6

3:6 not to many peoples of unintelligible speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand ⁵  – surely if ⁶  I had sent you to them, they would listen to you!

Mark 7:26

7:26 The woman was a Greek, of Syrophoenician origin. She ⁷  asked him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

[3:8]  ¹ sn Fruit worthy of repentance refers to the deeds that indicate a change of attitude (heart) on the part of John’s hearers.

[3:8]  ² tn Grk “fruit worthy of.”

[45:12]  ³ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[45:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “and a daughter of Tyre with a gift, your face they will appease, the rich of people.” The phrase “daughter of Tyre” occurs only here in the OT. It could be understood as addressed to the bride, indicating she was a Phoenician (cf. NEB). However, often in the OT the word “daughter,” when collocated with the name of a city or country, is used to personify the referent (see, for example, “Daughter Zion” in Ps 9:14, and “Daughter Babylon” in Ps 137:8). If that is the case here, then “Daughter Tyre” identifies the city-state of Tyre as the place from which the rich people come (cf. NRSV). The idiom “appease the face” refers to seeking one’s favor (see Exod 32:11; 1 Sam 13:12; 1 Kgs 13:6; 2 Kgs 13:4; 2 Chr 33:12; Job 11:19; Ps 119:58; Prov 19:6; Jer 26:19; Dan 9:13; Zech 7:2; 8:21-22; Mal 1:9).

[3:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “hear.”

[3:6]  ⁶ tc The MT reads “if not” but most ancient versions translate only “if.” The expression occurs with this sense in Isa 5:9; 14:24. See also Ezek 34:8; 36:5; 38:19.

[7:26]  ⁷ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.