Matthew 5:20

5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law ¹  and the Pharisees, ²  you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 7:21

Judgment of Pretenders

7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ ³  will enter into the kingdom of heaven – only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

Matthew 11:11

11:11 “I tell you the truth, ⁴  among those born of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least ⁵  in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is.

Matthew 13:31

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

13:31 He gave ⁶  them another parable: ⁷  “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed ⁸  that a man took and sowed in his field.

Matthew 13:33

The Parable of the Yeast

13:33 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with ⁹  three measures ¹⁰  of flour until all the dough had risen.” ¹¹ 

Matthew 13:44

Parables on the Kingdom of Heaven

13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, hidden in a field, that a person found and hid. Then because of joy he went and sold all that he had and bought that field.

Matthew 13:52

13:52 Then he said to them, “Therefore every expert in the law ¹²  who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his treasure what is new and old.”

Matthew 16:19

16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.”

Matthew 19:14

19:14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” ¹³ 

Matthew 23:13

23:13 “But woe to you, experts in the law ¹⁴  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! ¹⁵  You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! ¹⁶  For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in.

Matthew 24:29

The Arrival of the Son of Man

24:29 “Immediately ¹⁷  after the suffering ¹⁸  of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. ¹⁹ 

Matthew 24:31

24:31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven ²⁰  to the other.

[5:20]  ¹ tn Or “that of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[5:20]  ² sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[7:21]  ³ sn The double use of the vocative is normally used in situations of high emotion or emphasis. Even an emphatic confession without action means little.

[11:11]  ⁵ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[11:11]  ⁶ sn After John comes a shift of eras. The new era is so great that the lowest member of it (the one who is least in the kingdom of God) is greater than the greatest one of the previous era.

[13:31]  ⁷ tn Grk “put before.”

[13:31]  ⁸ tn Grk “He set before them another parable, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant and has not been translated.

[13:31]  ⁹ sn The mustard seed was noted for its tiny size.

[13:33]  ⁹ tn Grk “hid in.”

[13:33]  ¹⁰ sn This measure was a saton, the Greek name for the Hebrew term “seah.” Three of these was a very large quantity of flour, since a saton is a little over 16 pounds (7 kg) of dry measure (or 13.13 liters). So this was over 47 lbs (21 kg) of flour total, enough to feed over a hundred people.

[13:33]  ¹¹ tn Grk “it was all leavened.”

[13:52]  ¹¹ tn Or “every scribe.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4. It is possible that the term translated “expert in the law” (traditionally, “scribe”) here is a self-description used by the author, Matthew, to represent his role in conveying the traditions about Jesus to his intended audience. See David E. Orton, The Understanding Scribe [JSNTSup].

[19:14]  ¹³ sn The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Children are a picture of those whose simple trust illustrates what faith is all about. The remark illustrates how everyone is important to God, even those whom others regard as insignificant.

[23:13]  ¹⁵ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:13]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “Woe to you…because you…” The causal particle ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated here for rhetorical effect (and so throughout this chapter).

[23:13]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “because you are closing the kingdom of heaven before people.”

[24:29]  ¹⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[24:29]  ¹⁸ tn Traditionally, “tribulation.”

[24:29]  ¹⁹ sn An allusion to Isa 13:10, 34:4 (LXX); Joel 2:10. The heavens were seen as the abode of heavenly forces, so their shaking indicates distress in the spiritual realm. Although some take the powers as a reference to bodies in the heavens (like stars and planets, “the heavenly bodies,” NIV) this is not as likely.

[24:31]  ¹⁹ tn Or “of the sky”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context.