1
Καὶ ὅτε ἤγγισαν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα καὶ ἦλθον εἰς Βηθφαγὴ ⸀εἰς τὸ Ὄρος τῶν Ἐλαιῶν, τότε ⸀Ἰησοῦς ἀπέστειλεν δύο μαθητὰς
And when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
2
λέγων αὐτοῖς· ⸀Πορεύεσθε εἰς τὴν κώμην τὴν ⸀κατέναντι ὑμῶν, καὶ ⸀εὐθέως εὑρήσετε ὄνον δεδεμένην καὶ πῶλον μετ’ αὐτῆς· λύσαντες ⸀ἀγάγετέ μοι.
saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me.
3
καὶ ἐάν τις ὑμῖν εἴπῃ τι, ἐρεῖτε ὅτι Ὁ κύριος αὐτῶν χρείαν ἔχει· ⸀εὐθὺς δὲ ⸀ἀποστελεῖ αὐτούς.
And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,' and he will send them at once.”
4
Τοῦτο ⸀δὲ γέγονεν ἵνα πληρωθῇ τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος·
This happened so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying:
5
Εἴπατε τῇ θυγατρὶ Σιών· Ἰδοὺ ὁ βασιλεύς σου ἔρχεταί σοι πραῢς καὶ ἐπιβεβηκὼς ἐπὶ ὄνον καὶ ⸀ἐπὶ πῶλον υἱὸν ὑποζυγίου.
“Say to the daughter of Zion: Behold, your king comes to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.”
6
πορευθέντες δὲ οἱ μαθηταὶ καὶ ποιήσαντες καθὼς ⸀συνέταξεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς
And the disciples went and did as Jesus directed them,
7
ἤγαγον τὴν ὄνον καὶ τὸν πῶλον, καὶ ἐπέθηκαν ⸀ἐπ’ αὐτῶν τὰ ⸀ἱμάτια, καὶ ἐπεκάθισεν ἐπάνω αὐτῶν.
and they brought the donkey and the colt, and put the garments on them, and he sat upon them.
Why this rendering
Matt.21.7 Observation
Syntactic observation
The number of animals divides across the four books. Mark 11:2-7 has one πῶλος, a colt, and only that, four times. Luke 19:30-35 likewise has one πῶλος. John 12:14 has one ὀνάριον, a little donkey. **Three have one; Matthew alone has two.** Matthew 21:2, 5, 7 sets **two** side by side all three times — ὄνος, a donkey, feminine, and πῶλος, a colt, masculine. The quotation follows suit: Matthew 21:5 has ἐπὶ ὄνον καὶ ἐπὶ πῶλον υἱὸν ὑποζυγίου, on a donkey and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden, repeating the preposition, while John 12:15 reads ἐπὶ πῶλον ὄνου, on a donkey's colt, as one. The same prophecy is rendered by Matthew as two and by John as one. The pronoun at the end of v.7 is plural too — ἐπάνω αὐτῶν, upon them. That αὐτῶν is masculine plural genitive, and the τὰ ἱμάτια just before it, garments, is neuter plural and does not easily take it; reading it as a mixed plural covering ὄνος (feminine) and πῶλος (masculine) fits the gender. ὑποζύγιον, beast of burden, is unique in the corpus.
Rendering options · 2
Adopted “brought the donkey and the colt … and he sat upon them” — two, and the plural kept
Basis Matthew writes two all three times and the pronoun is plural; the number is not adjusted for smoothness. That the three books read one prophecy differently is the datum.
Read “sat on the garments”, leaving one animal
Basis Takes αὐτῶν as the garments, removing the oddity of two animals.
Rejected The garments are neuter plural and αὐτῶν masculine; and even so read, the two of vv.2 and 5 remain — the oddity would be erased at one verse only.
Lost in translation
the gender of ὄνος Matthew writes ὄνος as feminine (τὴν ὄνον), setting it apart in gender from the masculine colt, which is why the masculine plural pronoun at v.7 can cover both. Neither Korean nor English marks this, so what the pronoun takes is invisible in translation.
8
ὁ δὲ πλεῖστος ὄχλος ἔστρωσαν ἑαυτῶν τὰ ἱμάτια ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, ἄλλοι δὲ ἔκοπτον κλάδους ἀπὸ τῶν δένδρων καὶ ἐστρώννυον ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ.
And a very great crowd spread their own garments on the road, while others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road.
9
οἱ δὲ ὄχλοι οἱ προάγοντες ⸀αὐτὸν καὶ οἱ ἀκολουθοῦντες ἔκραζον λέγοντες· Ὡσαννὰ τῷ υἱῷ Δαυίδ· Εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου· Ὡσαννὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις.
And the crowds going ahead of him and those following were crying out, saying, “Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
Why this rendering
Matt.21.9 Observation
Syntactic observation
The middle line of the cry is identical word for word in Matthew, Mark and John — εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου, blessed is the one coming in the name of the Lord. **Luke 19:38 touches the line itself** — εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος βασιλεὺς ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου, inserting king inside it. In the three, what differs is what is attached before and after. Matthew has ὡσαννά **τῷ υἱῷ Δαυίδ**, Hosanna to the son of David; Mark 11:10 **εὐλογημένη ἡ ἐρχομένη βασιλεία τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν Δαυίδ**, blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; John 12:13 **καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ**, and the king of Israel. All three name David or kingship, and no two coincide. ὡσαννά is a transliterated Semitic word occurring six times in the corpus (Matt 21:9 twice, 21:15; Mark 11:9, 10; John 12:13) and **never in Luke**; none of the three books that have it translates it — Luke 19:38 puts in its place ἐν οὐρανῷ εἰρήνη καὶ δόξα ἐν ὑψίστοις, peace in heaven and glory in the highest — in contrast with Mark, who renders ταλιθα κουμ, εφφαθα, αββα and ελωι each time. Only John names palm branches (τὰ βαΐα τῶν φοινίκων); Matthew has them cutting κλάδοι, branches.
Rendering options · 2
Adopted “Hosanna” transliterated; “to the son of David”
Basis What the authors left untranslated the translation does not translate for them (fixed at Mark 11:9). The dative τῷ υἱῷ is kept as to, distinguishing it from Mark's and John's additions.
Render by sense, “save now”
Basis Lets the reader know what is being said.
Rejected All three authors left only the transliteration; rendering by sense erases that shared choice, and with it the contrast that Mark translates his other Semitic words but not this one.
10
καὶ εἰσελθόντος αὐτοῦ εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα ἐσείσθη πᾶσα ἡ πόλις λέγουσα· Τίς ἐστιν οὗτος;
And when he entered Jerusalem the whole city was shaken, saying, “Who is this?”
11
οἱ δὲ ὄχλοι ἔλεγον· Οὗτός ἐστιν ⸂ὁ προφήτης Ἰησοῦς⸃ ὁ ἀπὸ Ναζαρὲθ τῆς Γαλιλαίας.
And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
12
Καὶ εἰσῆλθεν ⸀Ἰησοῦς εἰς τὸ ⸀ἱερόν, καὶ ἐξέβαλεν πάντας τοὺς πωλοῦντας καὶ ἀγοράζοντας ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ καὶ τὰς τραπέζας τῶν κολλυβιστῶν κατέστρεψεν καὶ τὰς καθέδρας τῶν πωλούντων τὰς περιστεράς,
And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves.
13
καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· Γέγραπται· Ὁ οἶκός μου οἶκος προσευχῆς κληθήσεται, ὑμεῖς δὲ αὐτὸν ⸀ποιεῖτε σπήλαιον λῃστῶν.
And he says to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a den of robbers.”
14
Καὶ προσῆλθον αὐτῷ ⸂τυφλοὶ καὶ χωλοὶ⸃ ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ, καὶ ἐθεράπευσεν αὐτούς.
And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.
15
ἰδόντες δὲ οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ οἱ γραμματεῖς τὰ θαυμάσια ἃ ἐποίησεν καὶ τοὺς παῖδας ⸀τοὺς κράζοντας ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ καὶ λέγοντας· Ὡσαννὰ τῷ υἱῷ Δαυίδ ἠγανάκτησαν
But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the marvels that he did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the son of David,” they were indignant
16
καὶ εἶπαν αὐτῷ· Ἀκούεις τί οὗτοι λέγουσιν; ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς λέγει αὐτοῖς· Ναί. οὐδέποτε ἀνέγνωτε ὅτι Ἐκ στόματος νηπίων καὶ θηλαζόντων κατηρτίσω αἶνον;
and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus says to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing children you have prepared praise'?”
17
καὶ καταλιπὼν αὐτοὺς ἐξῆλθεν ἔξω τῆς πόλεως εἰς Βηθανίαν, καὶ ηὐλίσθη ἐκεῖ.
And leaving them he went out of the city to Bethany, and lodged there.
18
⸀Πρωῒ δὲ ⸀ἐπανάγων εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἐπείνασεν.
Early in the morning, returning to the city, he was hungry.
19
καὶ ἰδὼν συκῆν μίαν ἐπὶ τῆς ὁδοῦ ἦλθεν ἐπ’ αὐτήν, καὶ οὐδὲν εὗρεν ἐν αὐτῇ εἰ μὴ φύλλα μόνον, καὶ λέγει αὐτῇ· ⸀Μηκέτι ἐκ σοῦ καρπὸς γένηται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα· καὶ ἐξηράνθη παραχρῆμα ἡ συκῆ.
And seeing one fig tree by the road he came to it and found nothing on it but leaves only, and he says to it, “May there never again be fruit from you, to the age.” And at once the fig tree withered.
Why this rendering
Matt.21.19 Observation
Syntactic observation
In Mark the episode spans two days: the curse at 11:12-14, the going out of the city in the evening at 11:19, and at 11:20, πρωΐ, in the morning, they pass by and see the tree withered. In Matthew it is one moment — καὶ ἐξηράνθη **παραχρῆμα**, and at once the fig tree withered — and at v.20 the disciples ask how it withered παραχρῆμα, at once. παραχρῆμα stands at these two places in Matthew and never in Mark or John, but **ten times in Luke** — the word is Luke's, and Matthew borrows it twice. The contrast cuts against the word counts: εὐθύς/εὐθέως, straightway, runs forty-two times in Mark against nineteen in Matthew and nine in Luke. Yet where the timing is compressed it is Matthew who uses a word Mark never has. Mark 11:13 also carries a clause Matthew lacks — ὁ γὰρ καιρὸς οὐκ ἦν σύκων, for it was not the season for figs. Only Mark records that circumstance.
Rendering options · 2
Adopted “at once it withered” — a different rendering from Mark's εὐθύς
Basis The words differ, so the renderings must, or it will not show that Matthew uses this word only here. The difference in timing is not smoothed over.
Read it as the next day, following Mark
Basis One event, so the timing is harmonized.
Rejected Matthew's text has παραχρῆμα twice, and the disciples' question at v.20 rests on that immediacy; harmonizing makes the question incoherent.
20
καὶ ἰδόντες οἱ μαθηταὶ ἐθαύμασαν λέγοντες· Πῶς παραχρῆμα ἐξηράνθη ἡ συκῆ;
And seeing it the disciples marvelled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?”
21
ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐὰν ἔχητε πίστιν καὶ μὴ διακριθῆτε, οὐ μόνον τὸ τῆς συκῆς ποιήσετε, ἀλλὰ κἂν τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ εἴπητε· Ἄρθητι καὶ βλήθητι εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, γενήσεται·
And answering, Jesus said to them, “Amen I say to you, if you have faith and do not waver, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen.
22
καὶ πάντα ὅσα ⸀ἂν αἰτήσητε ἐν τῇ προσευχῇ πιστεύοντες λήμψεσθε.
And whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
23
Καὶ ⸂ἐλθόντος αὐτοῦ⸃ εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν προσῆλθον αὐτῷ διδάσκοντι οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι τοῦ λαοῦ λέγοντες· Ἐν ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ ταῦτα ποιεῖς; καὶ τίς σοι ἔδωκεν τὴν ἐξουσίαν ταύτην;
And when he came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority?”
24
ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Ἐρωτήσω ὑμᾶς κἀγὼ λόγον ἕνα, ὃν ἐὰν εἴπητέ μοι κἀγὼ ὑμῖν ἐρῶ ἐν ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ ταῦτα ποιῶ·
And answering, Jesus said to them, “I also will ask you one word, which if you tell me, I also will tell you by what authority I do these things.
25
τὸ βάπτισμα ⸀τὸ Ἰωάννου πόθεν ἦν; ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἢ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων; οἱ δὲ διελογίζοντο ⸀ἐν ἑαυτοῖς λέγοντες· Ἐὰν εἴπωμεν· Ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, ἐρεῖ ἡμῖν· Διὰ τί οὖν οὐκ ἐπιστεύσατε αὐτῷ;
The baptism of John — where was it from? From heaven or from men?” And they were arguing among themselves, saying, “If we say ‘From heaven,' he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?'
26
ἐὰν δὲ εἴπωμεν· Ἐξ ἀνθρώπων, φοβούμεθα τὸν ὄχλον, πάντες γὰρ ⸂ὡς προφήτην ἔχουσιν τὸν Ἰωάννην⸃.
But if we say ‘From men,' we fear the crowd, for they all hold John to be a prophet.”
27
καὶ ἀποκριθέντες τῷ Ἰησοῦ εἶπαν· Οὐκ οἴδαμεν. ἔφη αὐτοῖς καὶ αὐτός· Οὐδὲ ἐγὼ λέγω ὑμῖν ἐν ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ ταῦτα ποιῶ.
And answering Jesus they said, “We do not know.” And he in turn said to them, “Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.
28
Τί δὲ ὑμῖν δοκεῖ; ἄνθρωπος εἶχεν τέκνα δύο. ⸀προσελθὼν τῷ πρώτῳ εἶπεν· Τέκνον, ὕπαγε σήμερον ἐργάζου ἐν τῷ ⸀ἀμπελῶνι.
But what do you think? A man had two children. Going to the first he said, ‘Child, go work today in the vineyard.'
29
ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν· ⸂Οὐ θέλω· ὕστερον δὲ μεταμεληθεὶς⸃ ἀπῆλθεν.
And answering he said, ‘I will not'; but afterward, regretting it, he went.
30
⸂προσελθὼν δὲ⸃ τῷ ⸀δευτέρῳ εἶπεν ὡσαύτως· ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν· ⸂Ἐγώ, κύριε· καὶ οὐκ⸃ ἀπῆλθεν.
And going to the second he said the same. And answering he said, ‘I will, sir'; and he did not go.
31
τίς ἐκ τῶν δύο ἐποίησεν τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πατρός; ⸀λέγουσιν· Ὁ ⸀πρῶτος. λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι οἱ τελῶναι καὶ αἱ πόρναι προάγουσιν ὑμᾶς εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ.
Which of the two did the will of the father?” They say, “The first.” Jesus says to them, “Amen I say to you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes go ahead of you into the kingdom of God.
Why this rendering
Matt.21.31 Observation
Syntactic observation
πόρνη, prostitute, occurs three times in the corpus: Matthew's two are here (21:31, 32) and the third is Luke 15:30, in the elder brother's words. It is absent from Mark and John. μεταμέλομαι, to change one's mind or regret, is likewise Matthew's alone, at three places (21:29, 32, 27:3), two of them inside this parable and the third at Judas. So the paragraph is built from two words only Matthew uses. τελώνης runs eight times in Matthew against three in Mark — Matthew speaks of tax collectors far more often, including at 9:9 where Matthew himself is called one. The two sons in the parable have word and deed at odds: the first says I will not and, regretting it, goes; the second says I will, sir, and does not. The place is a famous one for manuscript division, and SBLGNT marks the answer (⸂⸃). What the base text prints is ὁ πρῶτος, the first, which agrees with the narrative before it. προάγω, to go ahead, is the word used at v.9 of the crowds going ahead.
Rendering options · 2
Adopted The answer as “the first” — as the base text prints
Basis Follows the base text and agrees with the narrative before it; the division is recorded in the variants.
Follow the manuscripts that reverse the two sons
Basis Some manuscripts reverse the order so the second is the son who regrets.
Rejected By our base-text decision we follow SBLGNT. Either order yields a coherent story, so the division is a textual matter rather than one of sense, and it is recorded as such.
32
ἦλθεν γὰρ ⸂Ἰωάννης πρὸς ὑμᾶς⸃ ἐν ὁδῷ δικαιοσύνης, καὶ οὐκ ἐπιστεύσατε αὐτῷ· οἱ δὲ τελῶναι καὶ αἱ πόρναι ἐπίστευσαν αὐτῷ· ὑμεῖς δὲ ἰδόντες ⸀οὐδὲ μετεμελήθητε ὕστερον τοῦ πιστεῦσαι αὐτῷ.
For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and you, seeing it, did not even regret it afterward and believe him.
33
Ἄλλην παραβολὴν ἀκούσατε. ⸀Ἄνθρωπος ἦν οἰκοδεσπότης ὅστις ἐφύτευσεν ἀμπελῶνα καὶ φραγμὸν αὐτῷ περιέθηκεν καὶ ὤρυξεν ἐν αὐτῷ ληνὸν καὶ ᾠκοδόμησεν πύργον, καὶ ἐξέδετο αὐτὸν γεωργοῖς, καὶ ἀπεδήμησεν.
Hear another parable. There was a man, a master of a house, who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower, and let it out to farmers, and went abroad.
34
ὅτε δὲ ἤγγισεν ὁ καιρὸς τῶν καρπῶν, ἀπέστειλεν τοὺς δούλους αὐτοῦ πρὸς τοὺς γεωργοὺς λαβεῖν τοὺς καρποὺς αὐτοῦ.
And when the season of the fruits drew near he sent his slaves to the farmers to receive his fruits.
35
καὶ λαβόντες οἱ γεωργοὶ τοὺς δούλους αὐτοῦ ὃν μὲν ἔδειραν, ὃν δὲ ἀπέκτειναν, ὃν δὲ ἐλιθοβόλησαν.
And the farmers took his slaves; one they beat, one they killed, one they stoned.
36
πάλιν ἀπέστειλεν ἄλλους δούλους πλείονας τῶν πρώτων, καὶ ἐποίησαν αὐτοῖς ὡσαύτως.
Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they did the same to them.
37
ὕστερον δὲ ἀπέστειλεν πρὸς αὐτοὺς τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ λέγων· Ἐντραπήσονται τὸν υἱόν μου.
And last of all he sent to them his son, saying, ‘They will respect my son.'
38
οἱ δὲ γεωργοὶ ἰδόντες τὸν υἱὸν εἶπον ἐν ἑαυτοῖς· Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ κληρονόμος· δεῦτε ἀποκτείνωμεν αὐτὸν καὶ ⸀σχῶμεν τὴν κληρονομίαν αὐτοῦ·
But the farmers, seeing the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.'
39
καὶ λαβόντες αὐτὸν ἐξέβαλον ἔξω τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος καὶ ἀπέκτειναν.
And taking him they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40
ὅταν οὖν ἔλθῃ ὁ κύριος τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος, τί ποιήσει τοῖς γεωργοῖς ἐκείνοις;
When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?”
41
λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· Κακοὺς κακῶς ἀπολέσει αὐτούς, καὶ τὸν ἀμπελῶνα ἐκδώσεται ἄλλοις γεωργοῖς, οἵτινες ἀποδώσουσιν αὐτῷ τοὺς καρποὺς ἐν τοῖς καιροῖς αὐτῶν.
They say to him, “He will destroy those evil men evilly, and will let out the vineyard to other farmers who will render him the fruits in their seasons.”
42
Λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Οὐδέποτε ἀνέγνωτε ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς· Λίθον ὃν ἀπεδοκίμασαν οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες οὗτος ἐγενήθη εἰς κεφαλὴν γωνίας· παρὰ κυρίου ἐγένετο αὕτη, καὶ ἔστιν θαυμαστὴ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν;
Jesus says to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected, this has become the head of the corner; this came from the Lord, and it is marvellous in our eyes'?
43
διὰ τοῦτο λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ἀρθήσεται ἀφ’ ὑμῶν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ δοθήσεται ἔθνει ποιοῦντι τοὺς καρποὺς αὐτῆς.
Therefore I say to you that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation producing its fruits.
Why this rendering
Matt.21.43 Observation
Syntactic observation
Two of Matthew's four kingdom of God places (12:28, 19:24, 21:31, 43) **fall in this chapter.** At 21:31 the tax collectors and prostitutes go into the kingdom of God ahead of you; at 21:43 the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation producing its fruits. Laid side by side the four have a shape: 12:28 casting out demons, 19:24 the rich man's difficulty, and these two a transfer away from one party to another. Among the thirty-two kingdom of the heavens there is no such place. The ἔθνος of v.43 is singular. Of Matthew's fifteen places only three are singular, and the other two are the idiom of 24:7, nation against nation — so **this is the only singular naming one particular body**, the remaining twelve all being the plural τὰ ἔθνη, the nations. Verse 44 closes with λικμάω, to winnow or crush, which stands at two places in the corpus — the other **Luke 20:18**, the same point of the same parable of the stone, and SBLGNT prints the verse in the text.
Rendering options · 2
Adopted “the kingdom of God” and “to a nation” — the singular kept
Basis Keeps the two phrases apart as fixed at 19:24 and renders ἔθνος as the singular it is, so the four places stay countable and this verse stays distinct from the plural nations.
Render as “a people”, narrowing who is meant
Basis Lets the reader see who is meant.
Rejected The text has ἔθνος, not λαός; changing the word cuts this verse off from Matthew's other ἔθνη places.
44
⸂Καὶ ὁ πεσὼν ἐπὶ τὸν λίθον τοῦτον συνθλασθήσεται· ἐφ’ ὃν δ’ ἂν πέσῃ λικμήσει αὐτόν.⸃
And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and on whomever it falls, it will winnow him away.”
45
Καὶ ἀκούσαντες οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ οἱ Φαρισαῖοι τὰς παραβολὰς αὐτοῦ ἔγνωσαν ὅτι περὶ αὐτῶν λέγει·
And hearing his parables the chief priests and the Pharisees knew that he was speaking about them.
46
καὶ ζητοῦντες αὐτὸν κρατῆσαι ἐφοβήθησαν τοὺς ὄχλους, ⸂ἐπεὶ εἰς⸃ προφήτην αὐτὸν εἶχον.
And seeking to seize him, they feared the crowds, since they held him to be a prophet.