Matthew 10:1-4

Sending Out the Twelve Apostles

10:1 Jesus ¹  called his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits ²  so they could cast them out and heal every kind of disease and sickness. ³  10:2 Now these are the names of the twelve apostles: ⁴  first, Simon ⁵  (called Peter), and Andrew his brother; James son of Zebedee and John his brother; 10:3 Philip and Bartholomew; ⁶  Thomas ⁷  and Matthew the tax collector; ⁸  James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; ⁹  10:4 Simon the Zealot ¹⁰  and Judas Iscariot, ¹¹  who betrayed him. ¹² 

Mark 6:7-13

Sending Out the Twelve Apostles

6:7 Jesus ¹³  called the twelve and began to send them out two by two. He gave them authority over the unclean spirits. ¹⁴  6:8 He instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff ¹⁵  – no bread, no bag, ¹⁶  no money in their belts – 6:9 and to put on sandals but not to wear two tunics. ¹⁷  6:10 He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there ¹⁸  until you leave the area. 6:11 If a place will not welcome you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off ¹⁹  your feet as a testimony against them.” 6:12 So ²⁰  they went out and preached that all should repent. 6:13 They cast out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

[10:1]  ¹ tn Grk “And he.”

[10:1]  ² sn Unclean spirits refers to evil spirits.

[10:1]  ³ tn Grk “and every [kind of] sickness.” Here “every” was not repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[10:2]  ⁴ sn The term apostles is rare in the gospels, found only here, Mark 3:14, and six more times in Luke (6:13; 9:10; 11:49; 17:5; 22:14; 24:10).

[10:2]  ⁵ sn In the various lists of the twelve, Simon (that is, Peter) is always mentioned first (see also Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:13-16; Acts 1:13) and the first four are always the same, though not in the same order after Peter.

[10:3]  ⁶ sn Bartholomew (meaning “son of Tolmai” in Aramaic) could be another name for Nathanael mentioned in John 1:45.

[10:3]  ⁷ sn This is the “doubting Thomas” of John 20:24-29.

[10:3]  ⁸ sn See the note on tax collectors in 5:46.

[10:3]  ⁹ tc Witnesses differ on the identification of the last disciple mentioned in v. 3: He is called Λεββαῖος (Lebbaio", “Lebbaeus”) in D, Judas Zelotes in it, and not present in sy^s. The Byzantine text, along with a few others (C^[*^],2 L W Θ Ë¹ 33 Ï), conflates earlier readings by calling him “Lebbaeus, who was called Thaddaeus,” while codex 13 pc conflate by way of transposition (“Thaddaeus, who was called Lebbaeus”). But excellent witnesses of the earliest texttypes (א B ˹³ 892 pc lat co) call him merely Θαδδαῖος (Qaddaio", “Thaddaeus”), a reading which, because of this support, is most likely correct.

[10:4]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the Cananean,” but according to both BDAG 507 s.v. Καναναῖος and L&N 11.88, this term has no relation at all to the geographical terms for Cana or Canaan, but is derived from the Aramaic term for “enthusiast, zealot” (see Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13), possibly because of an earlier affiliation with the party of the Zealots. He may not have been technically a member of the particular Jewish nationalistic party known as “Zealots” (since according to some scholars this party had not been organized at that time), but simply someone who was zealous for Jewish independence from Rome, in which case the term would refer to his temperament.

[10:4]  ¹¹ sn There is some debate about what the name Iscariot means. It probably alludes to a region in Judea and thus might make Judas the only non-Galilean in the group. Several explanations for the name Iscariot have been proposed, but it is probably transliterated Hebrew with the meaning “man of Kerioth” (there are at least two villages that had that name). For further discussion see D. L. Bock, Luke (BECNT), 1:546; also D. A. Carson, John, 304.

[10:4]  ¹² tn Grk “who even betrayed him.”

[6:7]  ¹³ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:7]  ¹⁴ sn The phrase unclean spirits refers to evil spirits.

[6:8]  ¹⁵ sn Neither Matt 10:9-10 nor Luke 9:3 allow for a staff. It might be that Matthew and Luke mean not taking an extra staff, or that the expression is merely rhetorical for “traveling light,” which has been rendered in two slightly different ways.

[6:8]  ¹⁶ tn Or “no traveler’s bag”; or possibly “no beggar’s bag” (L&N 6.145; BDAG 811 s.v. πήρα).

[6:9]  ¹⁷ tn Or “shirts” (a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin). The name for this garment (χιτών, citwn) presents some difficulty in translation. Most modern readers would not understand what a “tunic” was any more than they would be familiar with a “chiton.” On the other hand, attempts to find a modern equivalent are also a problem: “Shirt” conveys the idea of a much shorter garment that covers only the upper body, and “undergarment” (given the styles of modern underwear) is more misleading still. “Tunic” was therefore employed, but with a note to explain its nature.

[6:10]  ¹⁸ sn Jesus telling his disciples to stay there in one house contrasts with the practice of religious philosophers in the ancient world who went from house to house begging.

[6:11]  ¹⁹ sn To shake the dust off represented shaking off the uncleanness from one’s feet; see Luke 10:11; Acts 13:51; 18:6. It was a sign of rejection.

[6:12]  ²⁰ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.