Matthew 6:26

6:26 Look at the birds in the sky: ¹  They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds ²  them. Aren’t you more valuable ³  than they are?

Matthew 8:20

8:20 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens, and the birds in the sky ⁴  have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” ⁵ 

Matthew 11:23

11:23 And you, Capernaum, ⁶  will you be exalted to heaven? ⁷  No, you will be thrown down to Hades! ⁸  For if the miracles done among you had been done in Sodom, it would have continued to this day.

Matthew 11:25

Jesus’ Invitation

11:25 At that time Jesus said, ⁹  “I praise ¹⁰  you, Father, Lord ¹¹  of heaven and earth, because ¹²  you have hidden these things from the wise ¹³  and intelligent, and revealed them to little children.

Matthew 13:32

13:32 It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest garden plant and becomes a tree, ¹⁴  so that the wild birds ¹⁵  come and nest in its branches.” ¹⁶ 

Matthew 16:3

16:3 and in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, because the sky is red and darkening.’ ¹⁷  You know how to judge correctly the appearance of the sky, ¹⁸  but you cannot evaluate the signs of the times.

Matthew 24:29

The Arrival of the Son of Man

24:29 “Immediately ¹⁹  after the suffering ²⁰  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. ²¹ 

Matthew 26:64

26:64 Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand ²²  of the Power ²³  and coming on the clouds of heaven.” ²⁴ 

[6:26]  ¹ tn Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).

[6:26]  ² tn Or “God gives them food to eat.” L&N 23.6 has both “to provide food for” and “to give food to someone to eat.”

[6:26]  ³ tn Grk “of more value.”

[8:20]  ⁴ tn Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).

[8:20]  ⁵ sn Jesus’ reply is simply this: Does the man understand the rejection he will be facing? Jesus has no home in the world (the Son of Man has no place to lay his head).

[11:23]  ⁷ sn Capernaum was a town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, 680 ft (204 m) below sea level. It was a major trade and economic center in the North Galilean region.

[11:23]  ⁸ tn The interrogative particle introducing this question expects a negative reply.

[11:23]  ⁹ sn In the OT, Hades was known as Sheol. It is the place where the unrighteous will reside (Luke 10:15; 16:23; Rev 20:13-14).

[11:25]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “At that time, answering, Jesus said.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.

[11:25]  ¹¹ tn Or “thank.”

[11:25]  ¹² sn The title Lord is an important name for God, showing his sovereignty, but it is interesting that it comes next to a reference to the Father, a term indicative of God’s care. The two concepts are often related in the NT; see Eph 1:3-6.

[11:25]  ¹³ tn Or “that.”

[11:25]  ¹⁴ sn See 1 Cor 1:26-31.

[13:32]  ¹³ sn This is rhetorical hyperbole, since technically a mustard plant is not a tree. This could refer to one of two types of mustard plant popular in Palestine and would be either ten or twenty-five ft (3 or 7.5 m) tall.

[13:32]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).

[13:32]  ¹⁵ sn The point of the parable seems to be that while the kingdom of God may appear to have insignificant and unnoticeable beginnings (i.e., in the ministry of Jesus), it will someday (i.e., at the second advent) be great and quite expansive. The kingdom, however, is not to be equated with the church, but rather the church is an expression of the kingdom. Also, there is important OT background in the image of the mustard seed that grew and became a tree: Ezek 17:22-24 pictures the reemergence of the Davidic house where people can find calm and shelter. Like the mustard seed, it would start out small but grow to significant size.

[16:3]  ¹⁶ tn Or “red and gloomy” (L&N 14.56).

[16:3]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “The face of the sky you know how to discern.”

[24:29]  ¹⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[24:29]  ²⁰ tn Traditionally, “tribulation.”

[24:29]  ²¹ 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.

[26:64]  ²² sn An allusion to Ps 110:1. This is a claim that Jesus shares authority with God in heaven. Those present may have thought they were his judges, but, in fact, the reverse was true.

[26:64]  ²³ sn The expression the right hand of the Power is a circumlocution for referring to God. Such indirect references to God were common in 1st century Judaism out of reverence for the divine name.

[26:64]  ²⁴ sn An allusion to Dan 7:13 (see also Matt 24:30).