Matthew 23:13-24 “Do No Harm” (The First 5 Woes)

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 30 June 2013

Translation

23:13 “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,

because you are shutting the kingdom of the heavens in front of men,

for you are neither entering yourselves, nor are you allowing those who are inbound to enter.

23:14 And woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,

because y’all eat up the houses of the widows, while pretending to pray for a long [time];

on account of this, y’all will receive extra condemnation.

23:15 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,

because you are circumnavigating the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and whenever that happens, y’all are making him a child of hell - twice as much as you are.

23:16 Woe to you, blind trail-guides, who say,

‘Whoever swears by the temple – it means nothing,

but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’

23:17 Morons and blind-men!

Now which is greater: the gold or the temple which makes the gold holy?

23:18 and [who say,] ‘Whoever swears by the altar – it is nothing,

but whoever swears by the donation upon it is obligated.’

23:19 Morons and blind men!

Now which is greater: the donation or the altar which makes the donation holy?

23:20 Therefore, the one who swears by the altar is swearing by it and by all the things upon it,

23:21 and the one who swears by the temple is swearing by it and by the One who resides in it,

23:22 and the one who swears by the heavens

is swearing by the throne of God and by the one who is sitting upon it.

23:23 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,

because y’all are tithing your mint and your dill and your cumin, yet y’all are

letting go of the weightier matters of the law: the justice and the mercy and the faithfulness.

Now, it was necessary to do these things, while not letting go of those things either.

23:24 Blind trail-guides who strain out the gnat but swallow up the camel!”

Introduction

The books of the O.T. Prophets together with the N.T. Gospels (that contain the teachings of Christ) and the book of Revelation make up almost exactly 1/3 of the pages of my Bible, yet that third of the Bible contains 93% of the instances of the word “Woe.”^{^[1]} That indicates to me that Woes were part of the ministry of the prophets in particular, and that Jesus in this passage is acting in the role of the greatest Prophet.
The word “Woe” occurs in the Bible when prophets were reminding people of the conesquences of disobeying God. Isaiah used this word “Woe” more than any other prophet, and in chapter 5, he lists a series of woes similar to the ones Jesus lists in Matthew 23; I preached a sermon on that in July 2006, so I won’t go into it now, but there are interesting comparisons^{^[2]}.

Exegesis

Woe #1

23:13 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you are shutting the kingdom^{^[3]} of the heavens in front of men, for you are neither entering yourselves, nor are you allowing those who are inbound to enter.

Ουαι ^{^[4]} ‘υμιν γραμματεις και Φαρισαιοι^{^[5]} ‘υποκριται ‘οτι κλειετε την βασιλειαν των ουρανων εμπροσθεν των ανθρωπων ‘υμεις γαρ ουκ εισερχεσθε ουδε τους εισερχομενους αφιετε εισελθειν.

Cf. Luke 11:52 "Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering." (NASB)
In Matt. 7: 14, Jesus said, “How narrow the gate and constricted the way is which is leading on into the life, and the ones who are finding it are few.”
The picture here is of a controlling gatekeeper who sees someone coming and wanting to go through that gate and then slams the gate shut in their face and then grabs them and holds them there at the door to keep them from ever entering that gate.
Now, this is not intended to be a commentary on the sovereignty of God vs. human will in salvation; it is just the perspective of the Pharisee’s intent.
Jesus calls these Pharisees hypocrites, which was a Greek word for a stage actor who is playing a part but is not being himself. They were not genuinely the leaders which God’s people should follow.
The position of these scribes and Pharisees who were seeking to kill Jesus was not affecting merely themselves. By actively criticizing Jesus and warning people against Him and trying to get rid of Him, they were trying to keep people from relating to God through Jesus and thus be saved.
“The scribes and Pharisees… ought to have contributed their assistance herein, by opening those scriptures of the Old Testament which pointed at the Messiah and his kingdom in their true and proper sense; they that undertook to expound Moses and the prophets should have showed the people how they testified of Christ… [but instead] they did all they could to keep people from believing in Christ… they perverted His doctrine, confronted His miracles, quarreled with His disciples and represented Him… to the people in the most disingenuous, disadvantageous manner imaginable; they thundered out their excommunications against those that confessed Him, and used all their wit and power to serve their malice against Him; and thus they ‘shut up the kingdom of heaven’ so that they who would enter into it ‘must suffer violence’ (11:12) and ‘press into’ it (Luke. 16:16) through a crowd of scribes and Pharisees and all the obstructions and difficulties they could contrive to lay in the their way.” ~Matthew Henry
The apostle John records Jesus as saying, “I am the door.” The Scribes and Pharisees were trying to slam that door and prevent Jesus from being the way to heaven.
Little did they know that killing Jesus was the very way that the door of heaven would be opened for us, as Jesus died and made peace with God for all the sins of everyone who would enter heaven through faith in Him!
Every false church which does not preach this message, but proclaims some other way of being right with God or proclaims some other priority to the Christian life is just as dangerous as the Pharisees of old. And, just as Jesus warned the impressionable Jews of His day, so we should warn the naive today of the so-called churches which actually teach a religion that is diametrically opposed to what the Bible says.

Woe #2

23:14 And woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because y’all eat up the houses of the widows, while pretending to pray for a long [time]; on account of this, y’all will receive extra condemnation.

Ουαι δε ‘υμιν γραμματεις και Φαρισαιοι ‘υποκριται ‘οτι κατεσθιετε τας οικιας των χηρων και προφασει μακρα προσευχομενοι δια τουτο ληψεσθε περισσοτερον κριμα^{^[6]}.

This woe does not appear in most of the earliest-known Greek manuscripts, and it is also not found in a number of early versions and Bible commentaries, but it is in the majority of the Greek manuscripts (the earliest known one dating to the 5^th Century), as well as in some versions from as early as the 4^th Century and some church commentators from as early as the 2^nd Century. Because there is early textual evidence for this verse, I’m including it.
The next class of people harmed by the Pharisees is widows. These women were usually in a vulnerable situation financially. Jesus’ comment seems to indicate some connection between the pretended long prayers and the devouring of the widows’ property.

Matthew Henry suggested that, “they devoured widows’ houses either by quartering themselves and their attendants upon them for entertainment… or by insinuating themselves into their affections and so getting to be the trustees of their estates, which they could make an easy prey of… What was the cloak with which they covered this wicked practice[?]… long prayers… made up of vain repetitions…”^{^[7]}
Dr. Whitby wrote, “They were in vogue for their long prayers, which they continued sometimes three hours; that perhaps they sold them… and so might spoil devout widows by” charging fees for these prayers. (cf. Calvin)

Greater damnation^KJV/more severe punishment^NIV is promised particularly against those who take advantage of widows, because God has a special place in His heart for widows and orphans^{^[8]}, and that extra condemnation matches fittingly the extra-long pretended prayers.
“There are degrees of damnation; there are some whose sin is more inexcusable and whose ruin will therefore be more intolerable…” ~Matthew Henry
Genuine Christians throughout history have always made it a point to take care of widows and orphans, whereas phony Christians have tended to take advantage of widows and orphans (2 Tim. 3:6). How many widows have been bilked out of their provisions for the future through televangelists that shed crocodile tears for their self-serving schemes?

Woe #3

23:15 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you are circumnavigating the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and whenever that happens, y’all are making him a child of hell - twice as much as you are.

Ουαι ‘υμιν γραμματεις και Φαρισαιοι ‘υποκριται ‘οτι περιαγετε την θαλασσαν και την ξηραν ^{^[9]} ποιησαι ‘ενα προσηλυτον και ‘οταν γενηται ποιειτε αυτον ‘υιον γεεννης διπλοτερον ‘υμων.

While there were a number of gentiles (like Nicholas the deacon from Acts 6 and Cornelius the army captain baptized in Acts 10) who lived among the Jews and believed God and the O.T. as proselytes^{^[10]} at some level, converts to the super-sect of the Pharisees were rare.
There were plenty of places around the world where the Pharisees could go travel to recruit proselytes, though. Jewish settlements existed all around the Mediterranean basin [Show map from Cairnes’ Christianity Through the Centuries.]
Now, the phrase, “Twice a son of hell” – indicates that in Jesus’ judgment, the Pharisees were going to hell. It also indicates that the disciples of those Pharisees would be in even worse shape.

Bible commentators Jameison Fausset and Brown suggested that such a proselyte would be “Condemned for the hypocrisy he would learn to practice both by the religion he left and that [form of Judaism] he embraced.^{^[11]}”
About 100 years after Christ, Justin Martyr wrote the following, “the proselytes not only do not believe, but twofold more than yourselves blaspheme His name, and wish to torture and put to death us who believe in Him.^{^[12]}”
And we see that play out in the bitter enemies of Paul among Jewish proselytes throughout his missionary journeys in the book of Acts^{^[13]}.

Woe #4

23:16 Woe to you, blind trail-guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple – it means nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’

Ουαι ‘υμιν ‘οδηγοι^{^[14]} τυφλοι ‘οι λεγοντες ‘Ος αν ομοσῃ εν τω ναω ουδεν εστιν ‘ος δ’ αν ομοσῃ εν τω χρυσω του ναου οφειλει.

In Matt. 15:14, Jesus had already spoken about the Pharisees to His disciples, saying, “Leave them! Blind men are being trail-guides for blind men, but if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a hole.”
The sort of blindness Jesus exposes here in chapter 23 is in regard to telling the truth and making promises. The Pharisees were willing to compromise on the truth and say that it was o.k. to make promises you never intend to keep. They made a dangerous game out of deceiving other people by saying that there were certain things that made a promise valid and certain things that nullified a promise.
If you’re reading the KJV, it uses the word “guilty,” which can also mean “obligated to pay.”
The ancient Italian poet Martial mentions a Jew who tried to swear an oath to him by the temple of Jupiter, and the poet said, “No way am I going to believe that! Maybe I’d believe you if you swore by the temple of Jehovah, though.”^{^[15]}
I remember as a kid playing that same dangerous game of telling a lie with my fingers crossed in order to trick someone else, and when I brought my crossed fingers out from behind my back, all my friends laughed and thought it was o.k. because I had followed the rules of crossing my fingers while I told a lie, and somehow that made it o.k.
Playing games with the truth is dangerous because it hurts the people who get tricked, and it destroys your own ability to know the truth.
Although Jesus sometimes said things in a cryptic way, He didn’t deceive people. His word on the subject is, “Let your Yes mean Yes, and let your No mean No” (James 5:12).
Now Jesus gives and extended explanation for why it’s so important to tell the truth:

23:17 Morons and blind-men! Now which is greater: the gold or the temple which makes the gold holy [sacred/sanctified]?

Μωροι και τυφλοι τíς γαρ μειζων εστιν ‘ο χρυσος η ‘ο ναος ‘ο ‘αγιαζων^{^[16]} τον χρυσον;

I think I have explained before my rationale for translating the Greek word “mwron” as “Moron,” understanding that it has been used as a technical term to label someone who thinks on the level of a 12-year-old. Most English versions translate it “fool,” and that’s fine.
Earlier in Matt. 5:21-22, Jesus said not to call people “morons,” out of hatred toward them: “Y’all heard that it was declared to the men of old, ‘Do not murder,’ and ‘Whoever murders will be guilty in the judgment.’ And I myself am saying to you, every one who is enraged toward his brother will be guilty in the judgment, and whoever… says, ‘Moron,’ will be guilty in the hell of fire.”
So is Jesus breaking His own rule? We must think the best of Him and consider that He is not ranting at the Pharisees out of a sense of personal irritation; Jesus is not breaking the sixth commandment; He is just pointing out that they are acting like foolish schoolchildren with deceitfulness, rather than handling truth and promise-keeping with maturity and integrity.
Simple logic dictates that if gold outside the temple is common, but gold inside the temple is sacred, then it’s the temple making the gold sacred, not the gold making the temple sacred (Hebrews 7:7).
In v.18, Jesus gives a second example of their duplicity:

23:18 and [who say,] ‘Whoever swears by the altar – it is nothing, but whoever swears by the donation upon it is obligated.’

και ‘ος εαν^{^[17]} ομοσῃ εν τω θυσιαστηριω ουδεν εστιν ‘ος δ’ αν ομοσῃ εν τω δωρω τω επανω αυτου οφειλει.

This thusiasterion was the altar on which animals were sacrificed in the O.T. system^{^[18]}. Most of these burnt offerings^NASB had a corresponding portion of cooked meat that could be enjoyed by the priests and the family that made the offering.
It is interesting to note what it was that the Pharisees said carried more importance in making promises. They said that the “gold of the temple,” that is, the money in the temple treasury^JFB was more important, likewise, the altar wasn’t as important in their minds as the gift on the altar. This hierarchy of importance reveals the greed in the hearts of the Pharisees for golden money and for food which they got off the altar of burnt offerings, and it also reveals their disdain for the worship of God which centered around that temple and that altar.
Likewise, parents, whatever you make the biggest deal of in your home is what your children will assume is most important to you. If eating well or being clean and neat is the main thing that gets harped on, then issues of character will not be considered important.

23:19 Morons and blind men! Now which is greater: the donation or the altar which makes the donation holy?

Μωροι και^{^[19]} τυφλοι τí γαρ μειζον το δωρον η το θυσιαστηριον το ‘αγιαζον το δωρον

See the inconsistency?

23:20 Therefore, the one who swears by the altar is swearing by it and by all the things upon it,

‘Ο ουν ομοσας εν τω θυσιαστηριω ομνυει εν αυτω και εν πασιν τοις επανω αυτου

23:21 and the one who swears by the temple is swearing by it and by the One who resides in it,

και ‘ο ομοσας εν τω ναω ομνυει εν αυτω και εν τω κατοικησαντι^{^[20]} αυτον

23:22 and the one who swears by the heavens is swearing by the throne of God and by the one who is sitting upon it.

και ‘ο ομοσας εν τω ουρανω ομνυει εν τω θρονω του θεου και εν τω καθημενω επανω αυτου.

He who sits on the throne of heaven, of course, is God the Father:

Psalm 11:4a The Lord is in His holy temple, as for the Lord, His throne is in heaven... (Brenton, cf. Ps. 103:19, Prov. 8:27).
Isaiah 66:1a Thus saith the Lord, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool… (Brenton, Cf. Matthew 5:34 , Hebrews 8:1, Revelation 4:2)

Ultimately, God is the only authority great enough to which we can appeal to establish truth from falsehood. That’s why it was a tradition in our country to swear with a hand placed upon a Bible. It was an appeal to the ultimate authority of God and His word to affirm the truth of a sworn statement in court. To swear by anything less is no excuse to tell a lie.
“An oath is an appeal to God – to His omniscience and justice, and to make this appeal to any creature is to put that creature in the place of God.” ~Matthew Henry
Jesus puts every perjurer in a precarious position. He will hold every person accountable for every lie they have told, even if they didn’t break the rules of their trade when they told that lie. We have the decree from Jesus as the final judge of Revelation 21:8 that every liar will be sentenced to burn in hell.
When we speak to other people, it must not be to mislead; it must be to tell the truth. And if we have made promises in the past that we haven’t kept, we need to go back and fulfill those promises.

Woe #5

23:23 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because y’all are tithing your mint and your dill and your cumin, yet y’all are letting go of the weightier matters of the law: the justice and the mercy and the faithfulness. Now, it was necessary to do these things, while not letting go of those things either.

Ουαι ‘υμιν γραμματεις και Φαρισαιοι ‘υποκριται ‘οτι αποδεκατουτε το ηδυοσμον και το ανηθον και το κυμινον και αφηκατε τα βαρυτερα του νομου την κρισιν και τον ελεον^{^[21]} και την πιστιν ταυτα δε^{^[22]} εδει ποιησαι κακεινα μη αφιεναι^{^[23]}.

The Pharisees were apparently meticulous tithers. They gave 10% as a burnt offering to the Lord of all their:

Anethon is “dill” (The KJV’s translation of anise appears to be incorrect, but not a significant change of meaning) ,
Eduosmon “mint” is a compound of edus “sweet” and osme “smell” Classical Greek scholar Marvin Vincent wrote that people would sometimes cover the floor of their house or synagogue with this mint to make the house smell better.
And Kuminon - cumin is called “rue” in the parallel passage of Luke 11:42 – another spice with aromatic seeds.

Of course, it served the Pharisees’ interests to model tithing, because when people were good tithers, that meant more money and food coming in to the Pharisees who received the tithes from the people! Mercy ministries would actually redirect money away from the Pharisees and toward the poor, and the Pharisees didn’t want that.
Note, however, that the system of tithing 10% of your profits is not condemned by Jesus, it is just not to be applied partially. Jesus said, “These things you should have done,” upholding the law written in:

Deut. 14:22 Thou shalt tithe a tenth of all the produce of thy seed, the fruit of thy field year by year. (Brenton)
And Lev. 27:30&32 Every tithe of the land, both of the seed of the land, and of the fruit of trees, is the Lord's, holy to the Lord… And every tithe of oxen, and of sheep, and whatsoever may come in numbering under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to the Lord. (Brenton) Cf. Gen. 28:22; Deut. 26:12; Heb. 7:5.
“They… that love a cheap Gospel come short of [even] the Pharisee.” ~Matthew Henry

But there was another larger body of God’s law which was neglected^{NIV,NKJ,ESV,NAS}/ omitted^KJV/ or literally “let go of, ” and that was all the principles of being Just (practicing good judgment), being Merciful, and being faithful.

This isn’t a random list of virtues. We see them in:

Micah 6:8 “…what is good and what the Lord requires of you? Just doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with your God.”
Luke 11:42 “you pass by (παρερχεσθε) justice and the love of God.”
Isa. 56:1-2 Keep ye judgment, and do righteousness: for my salvation is near to come, and my mercy to be revealed. Blessed is the man that does these things…
Psalm 33:4-5 For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are faithful. He loves mercy and judgment; the earth is full the mercy of the Lord. (Brenton)
Hosea 4:1 Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. (Brenton)

The words “justice” and “mercy” are pretty consistent in these Biblical lists, so I think we can define “faithfulness” by the third class of virtues in these lists, namely Growing in the knowledge of God, walking in humble submission to God, and doing what He says is the right thing to do – that’s faithfulness.
But “to pay tithe-mint to the priest and to deny a crumb to Lazarus is to lie open to that ‘judgment without mercy’ (that the Apostle James warns us about - 2:13) which is awarded to those who pretended to judgment and showed no mercy.” ~Matthew Henry
Thos who show mercy will receive mercy; those who don’t show mercy won’t be shown mercy. Jesus concludes with a great quip:

23:24 Blind trail-guides who strain out the gnat but swallow up the camel!”

‘Οδηγοι τυφλοι ‘οι διυλιζοντες^{^[24]} τον κωνωπα την δε καμηλον καταπινοντες.

Diulizontes is a compound word from the Greek words dia (“through”) and hulizw (“filter”).
It was – and still is – common practice in that part of the world to stretch a swatch of one’s turban over a drinking cup to strain the liquid as it is drunk. This protected people from drinking insect larvae which commonly contaminated wine and drinking water. The Greek word kwnwpa (commonly translated “gnat”) was used by Aristotle to refer to these very larvae which were strained out of drinks (Vincent).
Such insects were unclean animals according to Levitical law, so it wasn’t just a health concern, but a matter of religious practice. However, in doing so, some big things were being overlooked. Camels were unclean animals also – the largest animals native to Israel.
This kind of hypocritical gnat-straining and camel-swallowing happened when the Pharisees

criticized Jesus for feeding 5,000 hungry families simply because they hadn’t washed their hands first,
Or when they broke the command to honor father and mother by creating the Corban financial shelter,
And when they paid Judas to betray Jesus to death, then could not, in good conscience, accept the money back from Judas.

The ancient preacher Chrysostom related this to the next woe, saying that the gnat is the outward purification ceremonies and the camel is the need for inward cleansing. But we’ll save the last three woes for next time because they seem to have more to do with how false religion warps the one who practices it personally, whereas the first five (or four if your Bible follows the United Bible Society text) are about how false religionists harm other people.

Conclusion

It is interesting how these woes at the close of Jesus’ earthly ministry mirror the Beatitudes He gave at the onset of His ministry: For instance:

Hypocrites will not enter the kingdom of heaven, but the kingdom of heaven belongs to the lowly in spirit,
The Pharisees prayed long, pretentious prayers, seeking to inherit widow’s houses, while Jesus said that the meek will inherit the earth.
Instead of making proselytes and going to hell, those who mourn will be comforted.
Instead of rationalizing lies and indulging in foolishness, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied.
And those who neglected justice and mercy received these woes, whereas those who show mercy will receive mercy!

A natural way to apply this passage on the woes is to do the opposite of whatever it was that brought these covenantal curses down on these people who had been the people of God:

1. So if it is a woe to shut out the kingdom of heaven to people and not enter ourselves, then what we need to do is seek to enter into that kingdom and also open it out to others! In what ways could you help people come to Christ for salvation?

2. If it’s a woe to devour widow’s houses while pretending to pray long prayers, then what we need to do is help widows and only pray things we really mean with God. Do you know any widows that you could do something special for?

3. If it’s a woe to make proselytes into double hellions, then what we need to do is make disciples who are blessed by baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything that Jesus commanded in the Bible rather than giving them lots of man-made rules. What are you teaching other people about God?

4. If it’s a woe to teach people how to back out of their promises, then stop trying to mislead people and take advantage of them; let your Yes mean Yes and your No mean No. Is there anything in your work or home culture that encourages people not to tell the truth?

5. And finally, if it is a woe to neglect justice, mercy, and faithfulness, then we need to practice doing what God says is right and practice showing undeserved kindness… and also not forget to tithe. What would your work or home environment look like if you emphasized justice, mercy, and faithfulness?

May God help us as His people to walk in faithfulness to His covenant so that we will not fall under the woes of His covenantal curses!

^{^[1]} Breakdown of the use of the word “Woe” by categories of books in the Greek Bible: Penteteuch (1x), Writings (4x), Prophets (54), Gospels (30), Epistles (2), Revelation (14). Books of the Bible in which the word “Woe” appears in Greek more than once: 1 Samuel (3x), Ecclesiastes (2x), Isaiah (22x), Jeremiah (9x), Ezekiel (5x), Hosea (2x), Amos (4x), Micah (2x), Habakkuk (3x), Zephaniah (2x), Matthew (13x), Revelation (14x)

^{^[2]} v8. Woe, those who extend house with house, they adjoin field with field until there is no more place, (materialism)

v11. Woe to those who, early in the morning, pursue alcohol; after dusk wine inflames them. (idolatry of food/drink)

v18. Woe to those who draw iniquity, with cords of vanity and sin, with cart ropes. (hypocrisy)

v20. Woe to those who say to evil, “Good!” and to good, “Evil!” (lying, perversion)

v21. Woe those who are wise in their eyes and in front of their faces consider themselves intelligent. (pride/humanism)

v22-23. Woe, those who are champions for drinking wine and men of valor for mixing alcohol… those who make righteous the wicked in order to gain a bribe… (misplaced heroism and injustice)

^{^[3]} See 4:23 on “the kingdom of heaven”

^{^[4]} On the basis of four documents averaging in the 8th Century (B, L, 28, 892), Critical editions add the conjunction δε (“but”) here. Although it makes for smoother reading, I don’t consider this to be adequate textual evidence.

^{^[5]} This might be an instance of hendiadyses in which a particular class of scribes, namely the Pharisees are being identified, rather than two separate groups, one of scribes and one of Pharisees. This was not, however, the consensus of the team from Wycliffe Bible Translators which has been tagging the GNT with Louw & Nida’s semantic domain numbers.

^{^[6]} Although the majority of Greek manuscripts have vs. 13 and 14 in this order, the old Textus Receptus editions (although not the newer Scrivener edition of the T.R.) have these verses in reverse order, which is no big deal. This woe about devouring widow’s houses does not appear in most of the earliest-known Greek manuscripts (א, B, D, L, Θ, f¹, 33), and it is also not found in a number of early versions and Bible commentaries (Italian, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Georgian, Origen, Eusebius, Jerome), but it is in the majority of the Greek manuscripts, the earliest known one dating to the 5^th Century (K, W, Δ, Π, 0107, 0138, 28, f¹³), as well as in some versions from as early as the 4^th Century (Italian, Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic) and some church commentators from as early as the 2^nd Century (Diatesseron, Origen, Hilary, Chrysostom, John of Damascus). Because there is early textual evidence for this verse, it is included, but because of the division among sources for our Greek text, it is debated whether this verse was original to Matthew’s gospel, and some have postulated that it was added in later to match Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47 (Compare: οι κατεσθι-ουσιν^Luke/-οντες^Mark τας οικιας των χηρων και προφασει μακρα προσευχ-ονται^Luke/-ομενοι^Mark ουτοι ληψονται), which are exactly the same except that the subjects and verbs are in 3^rd person instead of 2^nd person. This is why the NAS, NIV, and ESV put v. 14 in italics or brackets. I consider it doubtful, however that an interpolator would copy something like this over from a non-parallel passage and change all the verbs.

^{^[7]} Cf. Jameison, Fausset & Brown, “they contrived to obtain possession of their property”

^{^[8]} Isaiah 10:1-2, Prov. 15:25, Ex. 22:22-23, etc.

^{^[9]} A few early Greek manuscripts add a word here which doesn’t change the meaning (ΔΘ, f¹³ add του – untranslateable into English, but carrying a meaning of purpose, and D adds hina “in order to”). The phrase “sea and dry land” is an echo of Gen 1:10 and Jonah 1:9 which speaks of the surface of our entire planet.

^{^[10]} In NT only here and Acts 2:10; 6:5; 13:43, but appears over 70x in the LXX OT to translate the concept of the “stranger within thy gates.”

^{^[11]} Gill agrees. Alternately, Chrysostom suggested, “because they are teachers of wickedness. And not this only, but because they labor to instill into their disciples a greater wickedness, hardening them to a much greater depravity than they have, and this is above all a mark of a depraved soul.”

^{^[12]} Dialogue with Trypho, CXXII, Ante-Nicene Fathers

^{^[13]} In Psidian Antioch (Acts 13:45), Iconium (Acts 14:2-19), Thessalonica (Acts 17:5), and Corinth (Acts 18:6)

^{^[14]} Matthew uses this word more than any other Bible author. It’s a compound of the Greek word for “road” and the verb “to lead.” The only O.T. use is in Ezra 8:1 where the heads of families who lead their families from captivity in Babylon back to Jerusalem are called “hodagoi.” Matthew speaks to the descendents of those auspicious leaders, so does Peter in Acts 1:16 and Paul in Romans 2:16.

^{^[15]} lib. xi. epist. 95

^{^[16]} On the basis of only 4 early Greek manuscripts (א, B, D, Z), Critical editions make this participle Aorist, but the reading of the majority in the Present tense is supported by plenty of early manuscripts (C, L, W, Θ, f¹, f¹³, etc.). The parallel in v.19 is undisputably Present. The Present tense indicates that the temple continues to sanctify the gold, whereas the Aorist tense would indicate that the temple sanctified^NASB the gold at one point in time. Thus I consider the Present tense reading to be superior, and I see that the NIV also went with an English present tense in its translation. It appears that the ESV translators also saw this problem and compromised with a Perfect tense so as to include both past and present tense meanings.

^{^[17]} Critical editions omit the first letter of this word. Neither the UBS or Nestle-Aland 3^rd Editions offered a reason for this in their critical apparati. It makes no difference in translation, though.

^{^[18]} (cf. Gen. 8:20-built by Noah; Gen. 12:7-8-built by Abraham; Ex. 17:15-built by Moses; Ex. 20:24-26 & Lev. 1:5-17, etc.-Altar of burnt offerings in tabernacle and temple.)

^{^[19]} A few of the earliest Greek manuscripts (א, D, L, Θ, f¹) and early translations into other languages (Vulgate, Syriac) omit “fools/morons and,” on the premise that they are probably interpolated from v.17, but these words are found in the majority of Greek manuscripts, including multiple manuscripts and translations which date just as early as the ones which don’t have the words (B, C, W, etc., Syriac, Coptic), so I think it’s safe to consider it original to Matthew, despite the fact that it is omitted from the NAS, NIV, and ESV English versions.

^{^[20]} The slight majority of Greek manuscripts spells this participle in the Aorist tense, including many ancient Greek manuscripts (C, D, K L, W, A, Γ, Δ, etc.) and this preserved in the Byzantine editions.The Present tense form of this participle is found in only three ancient Greek manuscripts (א, Β, Θ) but many later Greek manuscripts (including f¹ and f¹³) and this is preserved in the Textus Receptus and Critical editions of the Greek New Testament. The Aorist tense would conceive of God dwelling at one point in time in heaven whereas the Present tense would indicate God continuing to dwell in heaven, and I think the latter is more theologically appropriate, so I have departed from the majority here.

^{^[21]} The Majority of Greek manuscripts (including C, W, 0133, f¹, and f¹³) spell this word in the Accusative case, matching the case of the other two objects in the list, Justice and Faith, and this is how Byzantine and Textus Receptus editions of the Greek New Testament read. Critical editions, however, (following א, B, D, and a few 9^th Century Greek manuscripts), print what is normally a Nominative spelling (ελεος), but which is considered by many lexicographers to be an alternative form of the Accusative. I prefer the less-obscure reading here.

^{^[22]} Omitted in 5 early Greek manuscripts (א, D, Γ, Θ, 0133), and therefore not in early Critical editions, but is in the 3^rd Edition of the UBS and Nestle-Aland editions of the Greek New Testament. Makes for a clearer grammatical transition in Greek, but makes no difference in English translation.

^{^[23]} Several Greek texts, including two of the oldest-known, switch two letters to change this Present Infinitive into an Aorist Infinitive. The present tense indicates that the Pharisee’s failures were continuing, whereas the Aorist would generally point to only one time of failure. For this reason, and for the reason that the Majority of Greek manuscripts (including ones dating back about as far as the other two old ones mentioned above) have this spelled in Present tense, I kept the Present tense form.

^{^[24]} Only here in NT “strain out” not “strain at” (KJV)