Matthew 4:6

4:6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you’ ¹  and ‘with their hands they will lift you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” ² 

Matthew 4:18

The Call of the Disciples

4:18 As ³  he was walking by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon (called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea (for they were fishermen). ⁴ 

Matthew 5:13

Salt and Light

5:13 “You are the salt ⁵  of the earth. But if salt loses its flavor, ⁶  how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on by people.

Matthew 5:25

5:25 Reach agreement ⁷  quickly with your accuser while on the way to court, ⁸  or he ⁹  may hand you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the warden, and you will be thrown into prison.

Matthew 5:30

5:30 If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away! It is better to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into hell.

Matthew 7:6

7:6 Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs; otherwise they will trample them under their feet and turn around and tear you to pieces. ¹⁰ 

Matthew 9:2

9:2 Just then ¹¹  some people ¹²  brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. ¹³  When Jesus saw their ¹⁴  faith, he said to the paralytic, “Have courage, son! Your sins are forgiven.” ¹⁵ 

[4:6]  ¹ sn A quotation from Ps 91:11. This was not so much an incorrect citation as a use in a wrong context (a misapplication of the passage).

[4:6]  ² sn A quotation from Ps 91:12.

[4:18]  ³ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[4:18]  ⁴ tn The two phrases in this verse placed in parentheses are explanatory comments by the author, parenthetical in nature.

[5:13]  ⁵ sn Salt was used as seasoning or fertilizer (BDAG 41 s.v. ἅλας a), or as a preservative. If salt ceased to be useful, it was thrown away. With this illustration Jesus warned about a disciple who ceased to follow him.

[5:13]  ⁶ sn The difficulty of this saying is understanding how salt could lose its flavor since its chemical properties cannot change. It is thus often assumed that Jesus was referring to chemically impure salt, perhaps a natural salt which, when exposed to the elements, had all the genuine salt leached out, leaving only the sediment or impurities behind. Others have suggested that the background of the saying is the use of salt blocks by Arab bakers to line the floor of their ovens; under the intense heat these blocks would eventually crystallize and undergo a change in chemical composition, finally being thrown out as unserviceable. A saying in the Talmud (b. Bekhorot 8b) attributed to R. Joshua ben Chananja (ca. a.d. 90), when asked the question “When salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again?” is said to have replied, “By salting it with the afterbirth of a mule.” He was then asked, “Then does the mule (being sterile) bear young?” to which he replied: “Can salt lose its flavor?” The point appears to be that both are impossible. The saying, while admittedly late, suggests that culturally the loss of flavor by salt was regarded as an impossibility. Genuine salt can never lose its flavor. In this case the saying by Jesus here may be similar to Matt 19:24, where it is likewise impossible for the camel to go through the eye of a sewing needle.

[5:25]  ⁷ tn Grk “Make friends.”

[5:25]  ⁸ tn The words “to court” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

[5:25]  ⁹ tn Grk “the accuser.”

[7:6]  ⁹ tn Or “otherwise the latter will trample them under their feet and the former will turn around and tear you to pieces.” This verse is sometimes understood as a chiasm of the pattern a-b-b-a, in which the first and last clauses belong together (“dogs…turn around and tear you to pieces”) and the second and third clauses belong together (“pigs…trample them under their feet”).

[9:2]  ¹¹ tn Grk “And behold, they were bringing.” Here καὶ ἰδού (kai idou) has been translated as “just then” to indicate the somewhat sudden appearance of the people carrying the paralytic. The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1), especially in conjunction with the suddenness of the stretcher bearers’ appearance.

[9:2]  ¹² tn Grk “they”; the referent (some unnamed people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:2]  ¹³ tn Traditionally, “on a bed,” but this could be confusing to the modern reader who might envision a large piece of furniture. In various contexts, κλίνη (klinh) may be translated “bed, couch, cot, stretcher, or bier” (in the case of a corpse). See L&N 6.106.

[9:2]  ¹⁴ sn The plural pronoun their makes it clear that Jesus was responding to the faith of the entire group, not just the paralyzed man.

[9:2]  ¹⁵ sn The passive voice here is a divine passive (ExSyn 437). It is clear that God does the forgiving.