Matthew 6:33

6:33 But above all pursue his kingdom ¹  and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 8:21

8:21 Another ²  of the ³  disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”

Matthew 5:24

5:24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother and then come and present your gift.

Matthew 7:5

7:5 You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Matthew 17:10

17:10 The disciples asked him, ⁴  “Why then do the experts in the law ⁵  say that Elijah must come first?”

Matthew 23:26

23:26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, ⁶  so that the outside may become clean too!

Matthew 12:29

12:29 How ⁷  else can someone enter a strong man’s ⁸  house and steal his property, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can thoroughly plunder the house. ⁹ 

Matthew 13:30

13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At ¹⁰  harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned, but then ¹¹  gather ¹²  the wheat into my barn.”’”

Matthew 17:27

17:27 But so that we don’t offend them, go to the lake and throw out a hook. Take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth, you will find a four drachma coin. ¹³  Take that and give it to them for me and you.”

[6:33]  ¹ tc ‡ Most mss (L W Θ 0233 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat sy mae) read τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ (thn basileian tou qeou kai thn dikaiosunhn aujtou, “the kingdom of God and his righteousness”) here, but the words “of God” are lacking in א B pc sa bo Eus. On the one hand, there is the possibility of accidental omission on the part of these Alexandrian witnesses, but it seems unlikely that the scribe’s eye would skip over both words (especially since τοῦ θεοῦ is bracketed by first declension nouns). Intrinsically, the author generally has a genitive modifier with βασιλεία – especially θεοῦ or οὐρανῶν (ouranwn) – but this argument cuts both ways: Although he might be expected to use such an adjunct here, scribes might also be familiar with his practice and would thus naturally insert it if it were missing in their copy of Matthew. Although a decision is difficult, the omission of τοῦ θεοῦ is considered most likely to be original. NA²⁷ includes the words in brackets, indicating doubt as to their authenticity.

[8:21]  ² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[8:21]  ³ tc ‡ Most mss (C L W Θ 0250 Ë^1,13 Ï lat sy mae bo) read αὐτοῦ (autou, “his”) here, but the earliest witnesses, א and B (along with 33 and a few others), lack it. The addition may have been a motivated reading to clarify whose disciples were in view. NA²⁷ includes the pronoun in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.

[17:10]  ³ tn Grk “asked him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant and has not been translated.

[17:10]  ⁴ tn Or “do the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:26]  ⁴ tc A very difficult textual problem is found here. The most important Alexandrian and Byzantine, as well as significant Western, witnesses (א B C L W 0102 0281 ˹³ 33 Ï lat co) have “and the dish” (καὶ τῆς παροψίδος, kai th" paroyido") after “cup,” while few important witnesses (D Θ Ë¹ 700 and some versional and patristic authorities) omit the phrase. On the one hand, scribes sometimes tended to eliminate redundancy; since “and the dish” is already present in v. 25, it may have been deleted in v. 26 by well-meaning scribes. On the other hand, as B. M. Metzger notes, the singular pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou, “its”) with τὸ ἐκτός (to ekto", “the outside”) in some of the same witnesses that have the longer reading (viz., B* ˹³ al) hints that their archetype lacked the words (TCGNT 50). Further, scribes would be motivated both to add the phrase from v. 25 and to change αὐτοῦ to the plural pronoun αὐτῶν (aujtwn, “their”). Although the external evidence for the shorter reading is not compelling in itself, combined with these two prongs of internal evidence, it is to be slightly preferred.

[12:29]  ⁵ tn Grk “Or how can.”

[12:29]  ⁶ sn The strong man here pictures Satan.

[12:29]  ⁷ sn Some see the imagery here as similar to Eph 4:7-10, although no opponents are explicitly named in that passage. Jesus has the victory over Satan. Jesus’ acts of healing mean that the war is being won and the kingdom is coming.

[13:30]  ⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[13:30]  ⁷ tn Grk “but.”

[13:30]  ⁸ tn Grk “burned, but gather.”

[17:27]  ⁷ sn The four drachma coin was a stater (στατήρ, stathr), a silver coin worth four drachmas. One drachma was equivalent to one denarius, the standard pay for a day’s labor (L&N 6.80).