Matthew 5:11

5:11 “Blessed are you when people ¹  insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things about you falsely ²  on account of me.

Matthew 5:20

5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law ³  and the Pharisees, ⁴  you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 13:43

13:43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. ⁵  The one who has ears had better listen! ⁶ 

Matthew 16:26

16:26 For what does it benefit a person ⁷  if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? Or what can a person give in exchange for his life?

Matthew 26:65

26:65 Then the high priest tore his clothes and declared, ⁸  “He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? Now ⁹  you have heard the blasphemy!

[5:11]  ¹ 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]  ² 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.

[5:20]  ³ tn Or “that of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[5:20]  ⁴ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[13:43]  ⁵ sn An allusion to Dan 12:3.

[13:43]  ⁶ tn The translation “had better listen!” captures the force of the third person imperative more effectively than the traditional “let him hear,” which sounds more like a permissive than an imperative to the modern English reader. This was Jesus’ common expression to listen and heed carefully (cf. Matt 11:15, 13:9; Mark 4:9, 23; Luke 8:8, 14:35).

[16:26]  ⁷ tn Grk “a man,” but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to refer to both men and women.

[26:65]  ⁹ tn Grk “the high priest tore his clothes, saying.”

[26:65]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “Behold now.” 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).