Matthew 3
John the Baptist cries out in the wilderness and baptizes for repentance. When Jesus is baptized in the Jordan, the heavens open.
Appears in the present tense, as the dreams did — this book's way of opening a scene.
The kingdom of the heavens is this book's phrase; Mark and Luke say “the kingdom of God”. The plural “heavens” is kept.
Why this rendering
Matt.3.2 Observation
Syntactic observation
ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν — the kingdom of the heavens. Counted inside the four Gospels the split is sharp: Matthew uses this phrase 32 times and the kingdom of God only four (12:28, 19:24, 21:31, 21:43); Mark uses the kingdom of God 14 times and the kingdom of the heavens never; Luke uses the kingdom of God 31 times and the kingdom of the heavens never. Of the four Gospels only Matthew uses the phrase. They divide even in the same scene — the proclamation at Mark 1:15 is ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ, while Matthew 3:2 and 4:17 have ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν. οὐρανός stands in the plural (τῶν οὐρανῶν), and that plural is itself Matthew's habit. ἤγγικεν is perfect — it has come near and stands near; the same perfect sits at the same point in Mark 1:15. Μετανοεῖτε is present imperative plural — not turn once but keep turning. SBLGNT marks a variant in this verse (⸀καὶ).
Rendering options · 2
Basis Two different phrases get two different renderings, plural included — the habits of the two authors are visible only if they can be counted.
Basis Uses the settled rendering.
Rejected 천국 has hardened into a single word in which the heavens are no longer visible, and it reads as a place. The Greek does not locate the kingdom in heaven; it names it with a heaven-word.
Lost in translation
A Semitic plural for the sky carried into Greek; English heaven tends to read singular.
Where “in the wilderness” attaches is undecided — to the crying or to the preparing, as at Mark 1:3.
John himself — the Greek puts him forward emphatically.
Jerusalem and all Judea — the places stand for their people.
Confessing their sins — the same words as Mark 1:5.
Offspring of vipers — Mark has no such words to the crowd; here they are aimed at Pharisees and Sadducees.
Why this rendering
Matt.3.7 Observation
Syntactic observation
Γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν — offspring of vipers; literally, things fathered by vipers. γέννημα is the noun of γεννάω, the root that ran through thirty-nine fathered's in ch. 1. A book that opened with a genealogy uses that same root three chapters later for an address that denies lineage — and two verses on, at v.9, the contrast is made explicit: do not say we have Abraham as father, for God can raise children to Abraham from these stones. The chain of begetting filled the book's first chapter, and the Baptist says the chain guarantees nothing. γέννημα occurs three times in Matthew, all three the same address (3:7, 12:34, 23:33), and Luke 3:7 has the identical address in this same scene — four places in the four Gospels. But only Matthew put a chain of begetting first, so only in Matthew does the address answer back to the book's own opening chapter. And the hearers are bracketed together as Pharisees and Sadducees, a pairing found here in Matthew. SBLGNT marks a variant in this verse (⸀αὐτοῦ).
Rendering options · 2
Basis Keeps the γεννάω root visible so it joins ch. 1 and v.9.
Basis Uses the settled, natural rendering.
Rejected The sense is the same, but 자식 and brood carry no fathering root, so the address stops answering back to the genealogy of ch. 1 — and that echo is the content here.
Fruit worthy of repentance — one fruit, singular, in the Greek.
Stones and children are near each other in sound in Hebrew and Aramaic, though not in Greek — the play does not carry.
Already — the Greek puts the word first, and it carries the weight.
Carry — Mark 1:7 and Luke 3:16 say “untie”. This book alone has the sandals carried.
Why this rendering
Matt.3.11 Observation
Syntactic observation
Matthew gives baptism three materials — water (ἐν ὕδατι), and Holy Spirit and fire (ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ καὶ πυρί). Mark 1:8 at the same point names water and Spirit and no fire. Luke 3:16 writes ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ καὶ πυρί, as Matthew does — so Mark alone lacks the fire. All three books are inside the four Gospels, so the difference is verifiable by collation. And fire has already appeared twice in this paragraph — v.10, the fruitless tree thrown into fire; v.12, the chaff burned with πυρὶ ἀσβέστῳ, unquenchable fire. ἄσβεστος occurs three times in the four Gospels — here in Matthew, at Mark 9:43 (the unquenchable fire of Gehenna), and at Luke 3:17 in this same scene. So the fire of v.11 is the same word as the judging fire on either side of it, bound into one prepositional phrase with the Spirit. The ὀπίσω of ὀπίσω μου ἐρχόμενος, the one coming behind me, is the word that marks the disciple's place at Mark 1:17, 8:33, 8:34. SBLGNT marks a variant in this verse (⸂ὑμᾶς βαπτίζω⸃ ⸂καὶ πυρί⸃·).
Rendering options · 2
Basis Follows the base text and keeps fire as one word with the verses around it, leaving the reader to join them.
Basis Harmonises the two gospels.
Rejected The fire is in the base text. And that of the three books only Mark wrote it differently is precisely what the four Gospels can show; harmonising deletes the datum.
Winnowing fork (πτύον, ptyon) is used once in the four Gospels — the tool that throws grain into the wind.
To be baptized by him — the purpose is stated before the objection.
John was preventing him — only this book records the objection.
Fulfil all righteousness — the phrase is this book's own, and it is not explained.
Why this rendering
Matt.3.15 Observation
Syntactic observation
δικαιοσύνη occurs seven times in Matthew (3:15, 5:6, 5:10, 5:20, 6:1, 6:33, 21:32) and never in Mark; in the four Gospels Luke has it once (1:75) and John twice. The first words Jesus speaks in Matthew contain this word, and it becomes one of the book's key terms. πληρῶσαι, to fulfil or fill up, is the verb of the fulfilment citations in ch. 2 (πληρωθῇ) — there a prophecy is fulfilled, here a righteousness. And the subject is first person plural: ἡμῖν πληρῶσαι, for us to fulfil. Jesus binds himself and the Baptist together. The verse has no counterpart in Mark, whose 1:9 goes straight to the baptism with no exchange between them. πᾶσαν, all, stands before δικαιοσύνην and leaves the scope open. SBLGNT marks a variant in this verse (⸂πρὸς αὐτόν⸃·).
Rendering options · 2
Basis Keeps the first person plural and πληρόω, and fixes δικαιοσύνη to one word shared with chs. 5-6.
Basis Unpacks the abstract noun for readability.
Rejected δικαιοσύνη recurs seven times in Matthew; unpacking it place by place hides the recurrence. Unpacked at its first occurrence, the link to 5:6, 5:10, 5:20 and 6:33 is broken from the start.
Were opened — Mark 1:10 has the heavens torn. This book softens it, and this edition keeps the difference.
This is my beloved Son — the voice speaks about him here; Mark 1:11 and Luke 3:22 have it speak to him.
Why this rendering
Matt.3.17 Observation
Syntactic observation
The voice from heaven speaks in the third person — Οὗτός ἐστιν, this is. At the same scene in Mark 1:11 it is second person — Σὺ εἶ ὁ υἱός μου, you are my Son. Luke 3:22 is second person too, Σὺ εἶ — so Matthew alone writes it in the third person. All three books are in the four Gospels, so the difference is verifiable by collation. The change of person changes where the words are aimed: in Mark they are spoken to Jesus; in Matthew they are spoken for the bystanders to hear. The following phrase shifts with it — Mark has ἐν σοὶ εὐδόκησα, in you I am well pleased; Matthew ἐν ᾧ εὐδόκησα, in whom. At the transfiguration, though, the two books converge again: Mark 9:7 and Matthew 17:5 both have the third-person Οὗτός ἐστιν. εὐδόκησα is aorist standing where a present state is meant — tense and sense apparently at odds.
Rendering options · 2
Basis Renders the person as written; that the two books use different persons must remain visible.
Basis Harmonises the two gospels.
Rejected It would change the person against the text. And showing differences of exactly this kind is part of why this edition renders all four books — here it is Matthew that stands alone against the other two.
Lost in translation
εὐδόκησα is a point-tense read as a standing state. English must use a present, so the dissonance of tense does not register.