1
Τότε ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐλάλησεν τοῖς ὄχλοις καὶ τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ
Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples,
To the crowds and to his disciples — the speech is public.
first here Jesus Ἰησοῦς Iēsous
pronoun his = Jesus
2
λέγων· Ἐπὶ τῆς Μωϋσέως καθέδρας ἐκάθισαν οἱ γραμματεῖς καὶ οἱ Φαρισαῖοι.
saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have sat down on Moses' seat.
Moses' seat — a place of teaching, and the phrase is used once in the four Gospels.
first here Moses Μωϋσῆς Mōysēs
first here Pharisee Φαρισαῖος Pharisaios
3
πάντα οὖν ὅσα ⸀ἐὰν εἴπωσιν ὑμῖν ⸂ποιήσατε καὶ τηρεῖτε⸃, κατὰ δὲ τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν μὴ ποιεῖτε, λέγουσιν γὰρ καὶ οὐ ποιοῦσιν.
So do and keep whatever they tell you; but do not do according to their works, for they say and do not do.
They say and do not do — the charge of the whole chapter in six words.
pronoun they = the scribes and Pharisees — both times
pronoun you = the crowds and disciples
pronoun their = the scribes and Pharisees
4
δεσμεύουσιν ⸀δὲ φορτία ⸀βαρέα καὶ ἐπιτιθέασιν ἐπὶ τοὺς ὤμους τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ⸂αὐτοὶ δὲ τῷ⸃ δακτύλῳ αὐτῶν οὐ θέλουσιν κινῆσαι αὐτά.
They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, while they themselves are unwilling to move them with a finger.
Hard to bear (δυσβάστακτος, dysbastaktos) — the manuscripts differ over whether the word stands.
pronoun They = the scribes and Pharisees
pronoun them = the burdens — both times
pronoun they = the scribes and Pharisees
pronoun themselves = the scribes and Pharisees
5
πάντα δὲ τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν ποιοῦσιν πρὸς τὸ θεαθῆναι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις· πλατύνουσι ⸀γὰρ τὰ φυλακτήρια αὐτῶν καὶ μεγαλύνουσι τὰ ⸀κράσπεδα,
All their works they do to be seen by people: they broaden their phylacteries and magnify their tassels;
Phylacteries (φυλακτήρια, phylaktēria) are the boxes worn at prayer, kept as sound; the word is used once in the four Gospels. Tassels is the fringe-word of 9:20.
pronoun their = the scribes and Pharisees — every “their” here is the same
pronoun they = the scribes and Pharisees — both times
Why this rendering
Matt.23.5 Observation
Syntactic observation
κράσπεδον, the tassel or fringe of a garment, occurs three times in Matthew, and the two earlier places answer this one: at 9:20 the woman with a twelve-year flow touched his tassel, and at 14:36 the people of Gennesaret begged to touch only the tassel. Then at 23:5 the scribes and Pharisees enlarge their own. One word: twice what is touched, once what is made bigger. Mark has it once at 6:56 and Luke once at 8:44, both only as what is touched — the enlarging is Matthew's alone. φυλακτήριον is unique in the four Gospels, and the text does not explain it — only that the two verbs standing together, πλατύνουσι, they broaden, and μεγαλύνουσι, they enlarge, make size the point. The πρωτοκλισία and πρωτοκαθεδρία of v.6, the chief couch and chief seat, match Mark 12:39, and the ἀσπασμός of v.7 matches Mark 12:38. Luke has the overlap at two places — 20:46 with all three, 11:43 with the latter two. These few verses are where Matthew overlaps the other books.
Rendering options · 2
Adopted “tassel” — one word with 9:20 and 14:36; φυλακτήριον as “phylactery”
Basis One rendering across the three places lets the reader see that what was touched is what is enlarged. φυλακτήριον is rendered minimally, since the text explains nothing about its use.
“edge of his garment”, with φυλακτήριον explained
Basis Lets the reader know what is meant.
Rejected Edge of the garment erases the specific thing — what the woman touched at 9:20 was not just any part of the cloth; and the explanation is not in the text, so it belongs in the analysis, not in the translation.
6
φιλοῦσι ⸀δὲ τὴν πρωτοκλισίαν ἐν τοῖς δείπνοις καὶ τὰς πρωτοκαθεδρίας ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς
and they love the chief couch at suppers and the chief seats in the synagogues
Chief couch renders πρωτοκλισία (prōtoklisia) — the first place at table.
pronoun they = the scribes and Pharisees
7
καὶ τοὺς ἀσπασμοὺς ἐν ταῖς ἀγοραῖς καὶ καλεῖσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων· ⸀Ῥαββί.
and greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called Rabbi by people.
Rabbi is Hebrew, kept as sound — it means “my great one”.
8
ὑμεῖς δὲ μὴ κληθῆτε· Ῥαββί, εἷς γάρ ἐστιν ὑμῶν ὁ ⸀διδάσκαλος, πάντες δὲ ὑμεῖς ἀδελφοί ἐστε·
But you are not to be called Rabbi, for one is your teacher and you are all brothers.
One is your teacher — the manuscripts differ over whether “the Christ” stands here.
pronoun you = the crowds and disciples — both times
pronoun your = the crowds and disciples
Why this rendering
Matt.23.8 Observation
Syntactic observation
Three titles are forbidden, and the three words have different histories. ῥαββί is a transliterated Semitic word; πατήρ is ordinary Greek; καθηγητής stands at the single verse 10 in all four Gospels, and twice there. And where ῥαββί falls in Matthew is striking: of its four places two are here (23:7, 8, where it is forbidden) and the other two are 26:25 and 26:49 — both of them Judas addressing Jesus. So in Matthew no one but Judas calls Jesus ῥαββί. Mark is otherwise: Peter at 9:5, Peter at 11:21, Judas at 14:45; John has eight, used freely by the disciples; and Luke never uses the word at all. The grounds for refusing each title differ too: ῥαββί because your teacher is one and you are all brothers; πατήρ because your Father is one, the heavenly one; καθηγητής because your guide is one, the Christ.
Rendering options · 2
Adopted “Rabbi” transliterated; “guide” — the three kept apart
Basis ῥαββί is a Semitic word the authors left transliterated, and the transliteration is kept (fixed at John 1:38). καθηγητής stands at this one verse, so it is given a rendering distinct from teacher (διδάσκαλος).
Render all three as “teacher”
Basis The three amount to the same thing, so the reading is evened out.
Rejected The text has three words and three grounds; collapsing them hides both that καθηγητής occupies one verse in the four Gospels and that ῥαββί is Judas's word in Matthew.
9
καὶ πατέρα μὴ καλέσητε ὑμῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, εἷς γάρ ἐστιν ⸂ὑμῶν ὁ πατὴρ⸃ ὁ ⸀οὐράνιος·
And call no one on earth your father, for one is your Father, the heavenly one.
Call no one on earth your father — the sharpest of the three, and it is not softened.
pronoun your = the crowds and disciples — both times
10
μηδὲ κληθῆτε καθηγηταί, ⸂ὅτι καθηγητὴς ὑμῶν ἐστιν εἷς⸃ ὁ χριστός·
Nor be called guides, for your guide is one, the Christ.
Guides renders καθηγηταί (kathēgētai), built from κατά (down) and ἡγέομαι (lead) — those who lead down a road.
first here Christ Χριστός Christos
pronoun your = the crowds and disciples
11
ὁ δὲ μείζων ὑμῶν ἔσται ὑμῶν διάκονος.
The greater among you will be your servant.
Servant is the table-word of 20:26.
pronoun you = the crowds and disciples
pronoun your = the crowds and disciples
12
ὅστις δὲ ὑψώσει ἑαυτὸν ταπεινωθήσεται, καὶ ὅστις ταπεινώσει ἑαυτὸν ⸀ὑψωθήσεται.
And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Exalts … humbled — both verbs are passive, and the doer is not named.
pronoun himself = whoever exalts himself — the second “himself” is whoever humbles himself
13
Οὐαὶ ⸀δὲ ὑμῖν, γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταί, ὅτι κλείετε τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων· ὑμεῖς γὰρ οὐκ εἰσέρχεσθε, οὐδὲ τοὺς εἰσερχομένους ἀφίετε ⸀εἰσελθεῖν.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut the kingdom of the heavens in front of people; for you do not enter yourselves, nor do you let those entering go in.
Woe (οὐαί, ouai) is a cry, not a curse — it opens seven sayings in this chapter. Verse 14 is not in the base text this edition follows, so the woes number seven, not eight.
pronoun you = the scribes and Pharisees — every “you” here is the same
pronoun yourselves = the scribes and Pharisees
Why this rendering
Matt.23.13 Observation
Syntactic observation
SBLGNT has no verse 14 — v.13 is followed by v.15. The Textus Receptus prints here the woe about devouring widows' houses and praying at length for a pretext; that sentence stands at two places, Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47. And the absence interlocks with a word count: χήρα, widow, occurs nowhere in Matthew. Mark has three (12:40, 42, 43) and Luke nine, with two in each being the widow at the treasury — an episode Matthew does not have at all. So were the widow to enter here, the word would appear exactly once in Matthew; the base text does not print it. The consequence of the absence is that the woes number seven — vv.13, 15, 16, 23, 25, 27, 29 — where the Textus Receptus has eight. οὐαί occurs thirteen times in Matthew, twice in Mark and fifteen in Luke, and seven of Matthew's thirteen are in this chapter. The verses the base text omits in Matthew now number three (17:21, 18:11, 23:14), all three sentences resident elsewhere that migrated here.
Rendering options · 2
Adopted From v.13 to v.15 — no verse 14; seven woes
Basis Follows the base text and lets the numbering skip — the same handling as 17:21 and 18:11.
Print verse 14, making eight woes
Basis Follows the Textus Receptus.
Rejected By our base-text decision we follow SBLGNT; and that χήρα never occurs in Matthew interlocks with the absence — a sentence resident in both Mark and Luke having come here is the easier account.
15
Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταί, ὅτι περιάγετε τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ τὴν ξηρὰν ποιῆσαι ἕνα προσήλυτον, καὶ ὅταν γένηται ποιεῖτε αὐτὸν υἱὸν γεέννης διπλότερον ὑμῶν.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you go about sea and dry land to make one convert; and when he becomes one you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves.
Convert renders προσήλυτος (prosēlytos), one who has come over — kept as a plain noun. Gehenna is a place-name kept as sound.
pronoun you = the scribes and Pharisees — every “you” here is the same
pronoun he = the convert
pronoun him = the convert
pronoun yourselves = the scribes and Pharisees
16
Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, ὁδηγοὶ τυφλοὶ οἱ λέγοντες· Ὃς ἂν ὀμόσῃ ἐν τῷ ναῷ, οὐδέν ἐστιν, ὃς δ’ ἂν ὀμόσῃ ἐν τῷ χρυσῷ τοῦ ναοῦ ὀφείλει.
Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the sanctuary, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the sanctuary is bound.'
Blind guides — the phrase of 15:14. Sanctuary (ναός, naos) is the inner house, not the whole temple precinct.
pronoun you = the blind guides
pronoun who = the blind guides
pronoun it = the swearing
17
μωροὶ καὶ τυφλοί, τίς γὰρ μείζων ἐστίν, ὁ χρυσὸς ἢ ὁ ναὸς ὁ ⸀ἁγιάσας τὸν χρυσόν;
Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the sanctuary that makes the gold holy?
Fools is the word of 5:22 and 7:26.
18
καί· Ὃς ⸀ἂν ὀμόσῃ ἐν τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ, οὐδέν ἐστιν, ὃς δ’ ἂν ὀμόσῃ ἐν τῷ δώρῳ τῷ ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ ὀφείλει.
And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift on it is bound.'
The gift on it — the second pair, built like the first.
pronoun it = the swearing — the second “it” is the altar
19
⸀τυφλοί, τί γὰρ μεῖζον, τὸ δῶρον ἢ τὸ θυσιαστήριον τὸ ἁγιάζον τὸ δῶρον;
Blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
Blind! — the address is shortened from verse 17.
20
ὁ οὖν ὀμόσας ἐν τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ ὀμνύει ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ·
So the one who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it;
By it and by everything on it — the answer runs the argument the other way.
pronoun it = the altar — both times
21
καὶ ὁ ὀμόσας ἐν τῷ ναῷ ὀμνύει ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ ἐν τῷ ⸀κατοικοῦντι αὐτόν·
and the one who swears by the sanctuary swears by it and by the one dwelling in it;
The one dwelling in it renders a participle of the tent-verb.
pronoun it = the sanctuary — both times
22
καὶ ὁ ὀμόσας ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ὀμνύει ἐν τῷ θρόνῳ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἐν τῷ καθημένῳ ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ.
and the one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by the one seated upon it.
By heaven — the third case, and it goes to the throne.
pronoun it = the throne of God
23
Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταί, ὅτι ἀποδεκατοῦτε τὸ ἡδύοσμον καὶ τὸ ἄνηθον καὶ τὸ κύμινον, καὶ ἀφήκατε τὰ βαρύτερα τοῦ νόμου, τὴν κρίσιν καὶ ⸂τὸ ἔλεος⸃ καὶ τὴν πίστιν· ⸀ταῦτα ἔδει ποιῆσαι κἀκεῖνα μὴ ⸀ἀφιέναι.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have abandoned the weightier matters of the law — judgement and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, and not to have abandoned those.
Mint and dill and cumin — small garden herbs. Faithfulness (πίστις, pistis) is the same word as “faith”.
pronoun you = the scribes and Pharisees — both times
pronoun These = judgement, mercy and faithfulness
pronoun those = the tithing of herbs
24
ὁδηγοὶ τυφλοί, ⸀οἱ διϋλίζοντες τὸν κώνωπα τὴν δὲ κάμηλον καταπίνοντες.
Blind guides, straining out the gnat and swallowing the camel!
Gnat and camel — in Aramaic the two words sound nearly alike, and the play does not carry into Greek or into any locale of this edition.
Why this rendering
Matt.23.24 Observation
Syntactic observation
κώνωψ, gnat, is unique in the four Gospels, and κάμηλος, camel, occurs three times in Matthew — 3:4, John's camel-hair clothing; 19:24, the needle's hole; and here. Mark has two, 1:6 and 10:25, and Luke one, 18:25, with nothing in either corresponding to this place. So this sentence is Matthew's alone, and the camel's third appearance carries on the reckoning of size from the first two: the beast too large to pass a needle's hole is here swallowed. ὁδηγοὶ τυφλοί, blind guides, occurs three times in Matthew (15:14, 23:16, 24) and not at all in Mark or John. It overlaps in sense with the καθηγητής forbidden at v.10 but the roots differ — ὁδηγός from ὁδός, way, and ἄγω, to lead; καθηγητής from κατά and ἡγέομαι, to guide. So the chapter uses two separate words for one who leads: one it forbids as a title, the other it calls blind. And v.23 stands before it: ἄνηθον, dill, and κύμινον, cumin, are unique in the four Gospels, while ἡδύοσμον, mint, stands also at Luke 11:42. Set against them are κρίσις, judgement, ἔλεος, mercy, and πίστις, faithfulness — three small things counted out and three weighty ones. Luke 11:42 counts differently: the small things are mint, πήγανον, rue, and every herb, and against them stand only two, κρίσις and ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ. Three against two, not three against three, and neither dill nor cumin.
Rendering options · 2
Adopted “straining out the gnat and swallowing the camel” — both creatures kept
Basis Keeping camel the same word as at 19:24 lets the three be counted in Matthew; the contrast of size is the sentence's build.
Render by sense — fussing over trifles and missing the great
Basis Conveys the point at once.
Rejected The camel would vanish, cutting the link to 19:24, and the gnat — unique in the four Gospels — with it. Drawing the sense is left to the reader.
25
Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταί, ὅτι καθαρίζετε τὸ ἔξωθεν τοῦ ποτηρίου καὶ τῆς παροψίδος, ἔσωθεν δὲ γέμουσιν ἐξ ἁρπαγῆς καὶ ⸀ἀκρασίας.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, while inside they are full from plunder and self-indulgence.
Dish renders παροψίς (paropsis), a side dish — this edition keeps it apart from the platter of 14:8 and the bowl of 26:23. Self-indulgence (ἀκρασία, akrasia) is a lack of self-mastery.
pronoun you = the scribes and Pharisees
pronoun they = the cup and the dish
26
Φαρισαῖε τυφλέ, καθάρισον πρῶτον τὸ ἐντὸς τοῦ ποτηρίου ⸂καὶ τῆς παροψίδος⸃, ἵνα γένηται καὶ τὸ ἐκτὸς ⸀αὐτοῦ καθαρόν.
Blind Pharisee, clean first the inside of the cup, so that its outside may become clean too.
Blind Pharisee — singular here, where the rest of the chapter is plural.
pronoun its = the cup
27
Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταί, ὅτι ⸀παρομοιάζετε τάφοις κεκονιαμένοις, οἵτινες ἔξωθεν μὲν φαίνονται ὡραῖοι ἔσωθεν δὲ γέμουσιν ὀστέων νεκρῶν καὶ πάσης ἀκαθαρσίας·
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you are like whitewashed graves, which outwardly appear beautiful but within are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
Whitewashed tombs — tombs were whitened so that no one would touch them unawares.
pronoun you = the scribes and Pharisees
pronoun which = whitewashed tombs
28
οὕτως καὶ ὑμεῖς ἔξωθεν μὲν φαίνεσθε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις δίκαιοι, ἔσωθεν δέ ⸂ἐστε μεστοὶ⸃ ὑποκρίσεως καὶ ἀνομίας.
So you also outwardly appear righteous to people, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Lawlessness (ἀνομία, anomia) is the word of 7:23 and 13:41.
pronoun you = the scribes and Pharisees — both times
29
Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταί, ὅτι οἰκοδομεῖτε τοὺς τάφους τῶν προφητῶν καὶ κοσμεῖτε τὰ μνημεῖα τῶν δικαίων,
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you build the graves of the prophets and adorn the tombs of the righteous,
Adorn (κοσμέω, kosmeō) is the verb behind “cosmetic” — the word of 12:44.
pronoun you = the scribes and Pharisees — both times
30
καὶ λέγετε· Εἰ ⸀ἤμεθα ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν, οὐκ ἂν ⸁ἤμεθα ⸂αὐτῶν κοινωνοὶ⸃ ἐν τῷ αἵματι τῶν προφητῶν·
and you say, ‘If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have shared with them in the blood of the prophets.'
We would not have shared — the words condemn them in verse 31.
pronoun you = the scribes and Pharisees
pronoun we = the scribes and Pharisees — both times
pronoun our = the same
pronoun them = our fathers
31
ὥστε μαρτυρεῖτε ἑαυτοῖς ὅτι υἱοί ἐστε τῶν φονευσάντων τοὺς προφήτας.
So you bear witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
You testify against yourselves — the Greek says only “you testify to yourselves”.
pronoun you = the scribes and Pharisees — both times
pronoun yourselves = the same
32
καὶ ὑμεῖς πληρώσατε τὸ μέτρον τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν.
Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
Fill up the measure — an imperative, and it is left as it stands.
pronoun your = the scribes and Pharisees
33
ὄφεις γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, πῶς φύγητε ἀπὸ τῆς κρίσεως τῆς γεέννης;
Serpents! Offspring of vipers! How are you to flee from the judgement of Gehenna?
Offspring of vipers — John's words at 3:7, and the last of the addresses.
pronoun you = the scribes and Pharisees
34
διὰ τοῦτο ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀποστέλλω πρὸς ὑμᾶς προφήτας καὶ σοφοὺς καὶ γραμματεῖς· ⸀ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀποκτενεῖτε καὶ σταυρώσετε, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν μαστιγώσετε ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς ὑμῶν καὶ διώξετε ἀπὸ πόλεως εἰς πόλιν·
Therefore behold, I send you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from city to city,
I send you prophets — the “I” is not explained.
pronoun I = Jesus
pronoun you = the scribes and Pharisees — every “you” here is the same
pronoun them = the prophets, wise men and scribes — both times
pronoun your = the scribes and Pharisees
35
ὅπως ἔλθῃ ἐφ’ ὑμᾶς πᾶν αἷμα δίκαιον ἐκχυννόμενον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος Ἅβελ τοῦ δικαίου ἕως τοῦ αἵματος Ζαχαρίου υἱοῦ Βαραχίου, ὃν ἐφονεύσατε μεταξὺ τοῦ ναοῦ καὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου.
so that upon you may come all the righteous blood poured out on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
Zechariah son of Barachiah — 2 Chronicles 24 names a Zechariah son of Jehoiada. The text is left as it stands.
first here Abel Ἅβελ Habel
first here Zechariah Ζαχαρίας Zacharias
first here Barachiah Βαραχίας Barachias
pronoun you = the scribes and Pharisees — both times
pronoun whom = Zechariah
36
ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ⸀ἥξει ⸂ταῦτα πάντα⸃ ἐπὶ τὴν γενεὰν ταύτην.
Amen I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
This generation — the same phrase as 11:16 and 12:39.
pronoun I = Jesus
pronoun you = the scribes and Pharisees
pronoun these things = the blood spoken of
37
Ἰερουσαλὴμ Ἰερουσαλήμ, ἡ ⸀ἀποκτείνουσα τοὺς προφήτας καὶ λιθοβολοῦσα τοὺς ἀπεσταλμένους πρὸς αὐτήν— ποσάκις ἠθέλησα ἐπισυναγαγεῖν τὰ τέκνα σου, ὃν τρόπον ⸂ὄρνις ἐπισυνάγει⸃ τὰ νοσσία ⸀αὐτῆς ὑπὸ τὰς πτέρυγας, καὶ οὐκ ἠθελήσατε;
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those sent to her — how often I wanted to gather your children, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you did not want it.
As a hen gathers her chicks — the only such picture in the four Gospels.
first here Jerusalem Ἰερουσαλήμ Ierousalēm
pronoun her = Jerusalem — the later “her” is the hen
pronoun I = Jesus
pronoun your = Jerusalem
pronoun you = Jerusalem
pronoun it = the gathering
Why this rendering
Matt.23.37 Observation
Syntactic observation
Luke 13:34-35 is the parallel to these two verses, and two of the three words stand there too — ὄρνις, bird or hen, and πτέρυξ, wing, at one place each in Matthew and Luke. Only the word for the young diverges — Matthew has νοσσίον, a chick, a diminutive, and Luke νοσσιά, a brood or nestful; each is unique in the four Gospels in its own form. The spelling of the city divides sharply: here it is Ἰερουσαλήμ, the Semitic form carried over, where Matthew elsewhere writes Ἱεροσόλυμα eleven times, and Mark (ten) and John (twelve) use only the Greek form. Luke runs the other way — twenty-seven Semitic against four Greek. The Semitic form therefore stands at this one verse in Matthew, twice, as the address; but across the four Gospels it stands twenty-nine times, twenty-seven of them Luke's. And v.39 answers 21:9: εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου is the line the crowds cried at the entry, and here it becomes a condition — you will not see me until you say it. ἐπισυνάγω, to gather, stands twice in one sentence, once of what Jesus wanted and once of what the bird does — three in Matthew, two in Mark, three in Luke. And ἠθέλησα, I wanted, is set against οὐκ ἠθελήσατε, you did not want, in the same verb.
Rendering options · 2
Adopted “as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings” — all three words rendered
Basis ὄρνις is broadly bird, but the context of gathering νοσσία under wings narrows it to hen; that narrowing is recorded here.
Keep it broad — “as a bird gathers her young”
Basis Keeps the broad sense of ὄρνις.
Rejected The pronoun is feminine and the picture of gathering under wings is specific, so hen is closer; but the text does name no species, and the division is recorded.
Lost in translation
Ἰερουσαλήμ against Ἱεροσόλυμα Matthew uses the Semitic form at this one place and Luke uses it almost always, but English has no two spellings to divide them; both become Jerusalem, and so both facts vanish from the translation — that this verse differs, and that Luke runs opposite to the other books.
this edition — none of the nine carries it (measured)
38
ἰδοὺ ἀφίεται ὑμῖν ὁ οἶκος ὑμῶν ⸀ἔρημος.
Behold, your house is left to you desolate.
Your house — the temple is meant, and the word “desolate” is the one used of a wilderness.
pronoun your = Jerusalem
pronoun you = Jerusalem
39
λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν, οὐ μή με ἴδητε ἀπ’ ἄρτι ἕως ἂν εἴπητε· Εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου.
For I say to you, you will not see me from now on until you say, ‘Blessed is the one coming in the name of the Lord.'”
Blessed is the one coming — the crowd's shout at 21:9, now put as a condition on seeing him.
pronoun I = Jesus
pronoun you = Jerusalem — both times
pronoun me = Jesus