1
Τότε ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐλάλησεν τοῖς ὄχλοις καὶ τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ
Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples,
2
λέγων· Ἐπὶ τῆς Μωϋσέως καθέδρας ἐκάθισαν οἱ γραμματεῖς καὶ οἱ Φαρισαῖοι.
saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have sat down on Moses' seat.
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.
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.
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;
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 corpus, 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
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.
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.
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 the whole corpus**, 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 corpus 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.
10
μηδὲ κληθῆτε καθηγηταί, ⸂ὅτι καθηγητὴς ὑμῶν ἐστιν εἷς⸃ ὁ χριστός·
Nor be called guides, for your guide is one, the Christ.
11
ὁ δὲ μείζων ὑμῶν ἔσται ὑμῶν διάκονος.
The greater among you will be your servant.
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.
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.
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.
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.'
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?
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.'
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 makes the gift holy?
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;
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;
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.
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.
24
ὁδηγοὶ τυφλοί, ⸀οἱ διϋλίζοντες τὸν κώνωπα τὴν δὲ κάμηλον καταπίνοντες.
Blind guides, straining out the gnat and swallowing the camel!
Why this rendering
Matt.23.24 Observation
Syntactic observation
κώνωψ, gnat, is unique in the corpus, 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 corpus, 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 corpus — 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.
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.
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 tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful but within are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
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.
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 tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,
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.'
31
ὥστε μαρτυρεῖτε ἑαυτοῖς ὅτι υἱοί ἐστε τῶν φονευσάντων τοὺς προφήτας.
So you testify against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
32
καὶ ὑμεῖς πληρώσατε τὸ μέτρον τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν.
Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
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?
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,
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.
36
ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ⸀ἥξει ⸂ταῦτα πάντα⸃ ἐπὶ τὴν γενεὰν ταύτην.
Amen I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
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.
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 corpus 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 corpus 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 neither Korean nor English has 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.
38
ἰδοὺ ἀφίεται ὑμῖν ὁ οἶκος ὑμῶν ⸀ἔρημος.
Behold, your house is left to you desolate.
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.'”