Matthew 5:22

5:22 But I say to you that anyone who is angry with a brother ¹  will be subjected to judgment. And whoever insults ²  a brother will be brought before ³  the council, ⁴  and whoever says ‘Fool’ ⁵  will be sent ⁶  to fiery hell. ⁷ 

Matthew 7:4

7:4 Or how can you say ⁸  to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while there is a beam in your own?

Matthew 22:24-25

22:24 “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and father children ⁹  for his brother.’ ¹⁰  22:25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children he left his wife to his brother.

[5:22]  ¹ tc The majority of mss read the word εἰκῇ (eikh, “without cause”) here after “brother.” This insertion has support from א² D L W Θ 0233 Ë^1,13 33 Ï it sy co Ir^lat Or^mss Cyp Cyr. Thus the Western, Caesarean, and Byzantine texttypes all include the word, while the best Alexandrian and some other witnesses (Ì⁶⁴ א* B 1424^mg pc aur vg Or Hier^mss) lack it. The ms evidence favors its exclusion, though there is a remote possibility that εἰκῇ could have been accidentally omitted from these witnesses by way of homoioarcton (the next word, ἔνοχος [enocos, “guilty”], begins with the same letter). An intentional change would likely arise from the desire to qualify “angry,” especially in light of the absolute tone of Jesus’ words. While “without cause” makes good practical sense in this context, and must surely be a true interpretation of Jesus’ meaning (cf. Mark 3:5), it does not commend itself as original.

[5:22]  ² tn Grk “whoever says to his brother ‘Raca,’” an Aramaic word of contempt or abuse meaning “fool” or “empty head.”

[5:22]  ³ tn Grk “subjected,” “guilty,” “liable.”

[5:22]  ⁴ tn Grk “the Sanhedrin.”

[5:22]  ⁵ tn The meaning of the term μωρός (mwros) is somewhat disputed. Most take it to mean, following the Syriac versions, “you fool,” although some have argued that it represents a transliteration into Greek of the Hebrew term מוֹרֵה (moreh) “rebel” (Deut 21:18, 20; cf. BDAG 663 s.v. μωρός c).

[5:22]  ⁶ tn Grk “subjected,” “guilty,” “liable.”

[5:22]  ⁷ tn Grk “the Gehenna of fire.”

[7:4]  ⁸ tn Grk “how will you say?”

[22:24]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “and raise up seed,” an idiom for fathering children (L&N 23.59).

[22:24]  ¹⁶ sn A quotation from Deut 25:5. This practice is called levirate marriage (see also Ruth 4:1-12; Mishnah, m. Yevamot; Josephus, Ant. 4.8.23 [4.254-256]). The levirate law is described in Deut 25:5-10. The brother of a man who died without a son had an obligation to marry his brother’s widow. This served several purposes: It provided for the widow in a society where a widow with no children to care for her would be reduced to begging, and it preserved the name of the deceased, who would be regarded as the legal father of the first son produced from that marriage.