Footnotes

1. Matthew 23:13 tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
2. Matthew 23:13 tn Grk “Woe to you…because you…” The causal particle ὅτι (hoti) has not been translated here for rhetorical effect (and so throughout this chapter).
3. Matthew 23:13 tn Grk “because you are closing the kingdom of heaven before people.”
4. Matthew 23:13 tc Many of the most significant mss (א B D L Z Θ ƒ¹ 33 892* and several versional witnesses) lack 23:14 “Woe to you experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You devour widows’ property, and as a show you pray long prayers! Therefore you will receive a more severe punishment.” Part or all of the verse is contained (either after v. 12 or after v. 13) in W Γ Δ 0102 0107 ƒ¹³ 565 579 700 1241 1424 M and several versions. Note also that Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47 are very similar in wording and are not disputed textually. It is difficult to see this verse as authentic in Matthew in light of the two locations, variants withing this addition, and the key witnesses, early and diverse, that lack the verse itself. It almost certainly is not original. The present translation follows NA²⁸ in omitting the verse number as well, a procedure also followed by a number of other modern translations.
5. Matthew 23:15 tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
6. Matthew 23:15 tn Or “one proselyte.”
7. Matthew 23:15 tn Grk “when he becomes [one].”
8. Matthew 23:15 tn Grk “a son of Gehenna.” Expressions constructed with υἱός (huios) followed by a genitive of class or kind denote a person belonging to the class or kind specified by the following genitive (L&N 9.4). Thus the phrase here means “a person who belongs to hell.”sn See the note on the word hell in 5:22.
9. Matthew 23:16 tn Grk “Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing.”
10. Matthew 23:18 tn Grk “Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing.”
11. Matthew 23:23 tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
12. Matthew 23:23 tn Or “you tithe mint.”
13. Matthew 23:23 sn Cumin (alternately spelled cummin) was an aromatic herb native to the Mediterranean region. Its seeds were used for seasoning.
14. Matthew 23:23 tc ‡ Many witnesses (B C K L W Δ 0102 33 565 892 pm) have δέ (de, “but”) after ταῦτα (tauta, “these things”), while many others lack it (א D Γ Θ ƒ^{1, 13} 579 700 1241 1424 pm lat mae bo; SBL). Since asyndeton was relatively rare in Koine Greek, the conjunction may be an intentional scribal alteration, and is thus omitted from the present translation. NA²⁸ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.
15. Matthew 23:24 tn Grk “Blind guides who strain out a gnat yet who swallow a camel!”
16. Matthew 23:25 tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
17. Matthew 23:26 tc A very difficult textual problem is found here. The most significant Alexandrian and Byzantine, as well as key Western, witnesses (א B C L W Γ Δ 0102 0281 ƒ¹³ 33 565 579 1241 1424 M lat co; SBL) have “and the dish” (καὶ τῆς παροψίδος, kai tēs paropsidos) after “cup,” while a few major witnesses (D Θ ƒ¹ 700 and some versional and patristic authorities) omit the phrase. On the one hand, scribes sometimes tended to eliminate redundancy; since “and the dish” is already present in v. 25, it may have been deleted in v. 26 by well-meaning copyists. On the other hand, as Metzger notes, the singular pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou, “its”) with τὸ ἐκτός (to ektos, “the outside”) in some of the same witnesses that have the longer reading (viz., B* ƒ¹³ al) hints that their archetype lacked the words (TCGNT 50). Further, scribes would be motivated both to add the phrase from v. 25 and to change αὐτοῦ to the plural pronoun αὐτῶν (autōn, “their”). Although the external evidence for the shorter reading is not compelling in itself, combined with these two prongs of internal evidence, it is to be slightly preferred.
18. Matthew 23:27 tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
19. Matthew 23:27 sn This was an idiom for hypocrisy—just as the wall was painted on the outside but something different on the inside, so this person was not what he appeared or pretended to be (for discussion of a similar metaphor, see L&N 88.234; BDAG 1010 s.v. τοῖχος). See Ezek 13:10-16; Acts 23:3.
20. Matthew 23:29 tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
21. Matthew 23:29 tn Grk “Because you.” Here ὅτι (hoti) has not been translated.
22. Matthew 23:29 tn Or perhaps “the monuments” (see L&N 7.75-76).
23. Matthew 23:30 tn Grk “fathers” (so also in v. 32).
24. Matthew 23:33 tn Grk “the judgment of Gehenna.”sn See the note on the word hell in 5:22.
25. Matthew 23:34 tn Grk “behold I am sending.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).
26. Matthew 23:34 tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
27. Matthew 23:34 sn See the note on crucified in 20:19.
28. Matthew 23:34 tn BDAG 620 s.v. μαστιγόω 1.a states, “of flogging as a punishment decreed by the synagogue (Dt 25:2f; s. the Mishna Tractate Sanhedrin-Makkoth, edited w. notes by SKrauss ’33) w. acc. of pers. Mt 10:17; 23:34.”
29. Matthew 23:34 sn See the note on synagogues in 4:23.
30. Matthew 23:35 sn Spelling of this name (Βαραχίου, Barachiou) varies among the English versions: “Barachiah” (RSV, NRSV); “Berechiah” (NASB); “Berachiah” (NIV).
31. Matthew 23:36 tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amēn), I say to you.”
32. Matthew 23:36 tn Grk “all these things will come on this generation.”