'The LORD is good to all, his mercy over all he has made' — God's indiscriminate goodness behind 'he makes his sun rise on evil and good.'

Yahweh is good to all. His tender mercies are over all his works.


'Upon whom does his light not arise?' — God's light/sun given universally, paralleling v.45.

Can his armies be counted? On whom does his light not arise?


God waters the earth and provides rain abundantly; background to 'sends rain on the just and the unjust.'

You visit the earth, and water it. You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. You provide them grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows. You level its ridges. You soften it with showers. You bless it with a crop. You crown the year with your bounty. Your carts overflow with abundance. The wilderness grasslands overflow. The hills are clothed with gladness. The pastures are covered with flocks. The valleys also are clothed […]


God gives the rains in season for all; coheres with rain on just and unjust as common grace.

Neither do they say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear Yahweh our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’


'You are children of the LORD your God' — divine-sonship language behind 'that you may be children of your Father.'

You are the children of Yahweh your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.


Be like a father to orphans and you will be like a son of the Most High — deuterocanonical sonship-through-mercy parallel to v.45.

Be as a father to the fatherless, And instead of a husband to their mother: So will you be as a son of the Most High, And he will love you more than your mother does.


The command to give generously to the poor ('open wide your hand to your brother') is the Torah background for Jesus' presupposition that disciples 'do merciful deeds'; almsgiving is assumed righteousness, not optional.

For the poor will never cease out of the land. Therefore I command you to surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land.


'Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him' — the logic of God himself repaying the secret almsgiver (v.4) closely matches this proverb's reward-from-God motif.

He who has pity on the poor lends to Yahweh; he will reward him.


Ben Sira: a person's almsgiving is 'like a signet ring' kept with God who guards it as a treasure — Second Temple development of almsgiving stored with God who rewards, paralleling the Father who sees in secret.

With him the alms of a man is as a signet; And he will keep the bounty of a man as the apple of the eye.


Tobit's instruction to give alms from one's substance, that almsgiving 'delivers from death' and 'stores up a good treasure,' is the closest Second Temple parallel to Jesus' theology of hidden, God-rewarded charity.

Give alms from your possessions. When you give alms, don’t let your eye be envious. Don’t turn away your face from any poor man, and the face of God won’t be turned away from you. As your possessions are, give alms of it according to your abundance. If you have little, don’t be afraid to give alms according to that little; for you lay up a good treasure for yourself against the day of necessity; because alms-giving delivers from death, and doesn’t allow […]


'Prayer with fasting and almsgiving... is better than to lay up gold' and 'almsgiving saves from death' — the same triad of almsgiving/prayer/fasting that structures Mt 6:1-18, suggesting a shared piety pattern.

Good is prayer with fasting, alms, and righteousness. A little with righteousness is better than much with unrighteousness. It is better to give alms than to lay up gold. Alms delivers from death, and it purges away all sin. Those who give alms and do righteousness will be filled with life;


Isaiah's true fast as sharing bread with the hungry links almsgiving and fasting as authentic versus performative piety, the very contrast Jesus draws.

“Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?


Elisha 'shut the door' and prayed to the LORD in private before raising the child — a possible OT precedent for entering one's room and shutting the door (v.6) to pray unseen.

He went in therefore, and shut the door on them both, and prayed to Yahweh.


'Enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you' — striking verbal overlap with 'enter into your inner room, and having shut your door,' though the contexts differ (hiding from wrath vs. private prayer).

Come, my people, enter into your rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation is past.


The prophets of Baal cried aloud 'from morning until noon' with no answer — a possible backdrop for the Gentiles' 'much speaking' (v.7) imagining they are heard for many words.

They took the bull which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, “Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice, nor any who answered. They leaped about the altar which was made. At noon, Elijah mocked them, and said, “Cry aloud; for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he has gone aside, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he sleeps and must be awakened.” They cried aloud, and cut themselves in […]


'Let your words be few' before God in heaven — a wisdom warning against verbose prayer that closely matches the rebuke of 'vain repetitions' and 'much speaking.'

Don’t be rash with your mouth, and don’t let your heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and you on earth. Therefore let your words be few.


'Do not babble in the assembly of the elders, and do not repeat yourself in your prayer' — almost a direct Second Temple parallel to the warning against vain repetition.

Prate not in the multitude of elders; And repeat not your words in your prayer.


God knows the word on the tongue before it is spoken — grounds Jesus' claim that 'your Father knows what things you need, before you ask him' (v.8).

Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether.


'I will sanctify my great name... and the nations will know that I am the LORD' — the divine self-hallowing of God's name is the OT engine behind 'hallowed be your name'; God hallows his name by his eschatological act, which the petition invokes.

I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am Yahweh, says the Lord Yahweh, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.


'They will sanctify my name... and stand in awe of the God of Israel' — sanctifying/hallowing the divine Name as eschatological hope, the conceptual root of the first petition.

But when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in the midst of him, they will sanctify my name. Yes, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.


'You shall not profane my holy name, but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel' — the covenantal duty to hallow the Name underlies 'hallowed be your name.'

You shall not profane my holy name, but I will be made holy among the children of Israel. I am Yahweh who makes you holy,


'The God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed' — the prayer 'Let your Kingdom come' draws directly on Daniel's vision of God's everlasting kingdom breaking into history.

In the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.


'Your God reigns!' — the proclamation of God's kingship/reign that 'your Kingdom come' petitions to be realized.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”


'And the kingdom will be the LORD's' — terse OT articulation of the coming divine kingdom echoed in the second petition.

Saviors will go up on Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom will be Yahweh’s.


'As may be the will in heaven, so let him do' — a Second Temple formula of submission to heaven's will closely paralleling 'your will be done.'

Nevertheless, as may be the will in heaven, so shall he do.


The heavenly hosts 'do his will' (v.20-21) — the angelic obedience in heaven is the model for 'your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.'

Praise Yahweh, all you armies of his, you servants of his, who do his pleasure.


'Whatever the LORD pleased, that he has done, in heaven and in earth' — the heaven/earth scope of God's will echoes in the third petition's cosmic frame.

Whatever Yahweh pleased, that he has done, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps;


'Feed me with the food that is needful for me' (Agur's prayer for neither poverty nor riches, just the daily portion) — the closest OT analogue to 'Give us today our daily bread,' both asking for sufficient daily provision.

Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me;


The manna gathered 'a day's portion every day' is the typological pattern for daily bread: God provides enough for today, teaching dependence rather than hoarding (cf. anxiety section vv.25-34).

Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from the sky for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law, or not.


The manna could not be stored overnight without rotting — reinforces the day-by-day reliance behind 'give us today our daily bread' and against laying up earthly treasure.

Moses said to them, “Let no one leave of it until the morning.” Notwithstanding they didn’t listen to Moses, but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and became foul: and Moses was angry with them.


'Forgive your neighbor the wrong he has done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray' — a remarkably close Second Temple parallel to the reciprocal forgiveness of the fifth petition and vv.14-15.

Forgive your neighbor the hurt that he has done you; And then your sins will be pardoned when you pray.


The sabbatical 'release' (remission) of debts colors 'forgive us our debts' — debt-remission language drawn from Torah jubilee/release practice applied to sins.

This is the way it shall be done: every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not require payment from his neighbor and his brother; because Yahweh’s release has been proclaimed.


'Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered' — the divine forgiveness of sin/debt sought in 'forgive us our debts.'

Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered.


Petitions for God to deliver from the enemy/evildoer underlie 'deliver us from the evil one'; the Psalter's deliverance language saturates the final petition.

For you will light my lamp, Yahweh. My God will light up my darkness. For by you, I advance through a troop. By my God, I leap over a wall. As for God, his way is perfect. Yahweh’s word is tried. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him. For who is God, except Yahweh? Who is a rock, besides our God,


'Incline not my heart to any evil thing' — a prayer not to be led toward evil that parallels 'bring us not into temptation.'

Set a watch, Yahweh, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips. Don’t incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who work iniquity. Don’t let me eat of their delicacies.


'Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power... the kingdom... and the glory' — David's doxology is the verbatim source of the prayer's traditional closing ascription of kingdom, power, and glory to God.

Yours, Yahweh, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty! For all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, Yahweh, and you are exalted as head above all.


David asks God to keep his people's hearts directed toward him — continues the doxological context (29:11) from which the Lord's Prayer ending is drawn.

Yahweh, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of your people, and prepare their heart for you;


'Forgive your neighbor... and then your sins will be pardoned'; the wrathful man who holds anger cannot expect healing from God — the strongest Second Temple statement of conditional, reciprocal forgiveness mirroring vv.14-15.

Forgive your neighbor the hurt that he has done you; And then your sins will be pardoned when you pray. Man cherisheth anger against man; And does he seek healing from the Lord? Upon a man like himself he has no mercy; And does he make supplication for his own sins? He being himself flesh nourishes wrath: Who will make atonement for his sins?


'You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge... but you shall love your neighbor' — the Torah ground for releasing others' trespasses as a condition of one's own standing before God.

“‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am Yahweh.


Joseph's brothers beg him to forgive their trespass and Joseph forgives — a narrative model of human forgiveness as the channel of restored relationship.

‘You shall tell Joseph, “Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ Now, please forgive the disobedience of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him.


Wrath and anger are abominations that the sinner holds tight, and 'the Lord will take vengeance' on the unforgiving — the immediate context preceding the forgiveness teaching of Sir 28:2.

Wrath and anger, these also are abominations; And a sinful man will possess them. He that takes vengeance will find vengeance from the Lord; And he will surely make firm his sins.


Isaiah's polemic against fasting done for show ('to be heard on high'... bowing the head like a reed) versus the fast God chooses — the prophetic template for Jesus' contrast between hypocritical and hidden fasting.

‘Why have we fasted,’ say they, ‘and you don’t see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you take no knowledge?’ “Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exact all your labors. Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and to strike with the fist of wickedness: you don’t fast this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I have chosen? the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a […]


'Rend your heart, and not your garments' — true fasting is inward not performative, the same heart-versus-display contrast Jesus presses against disfigured faces.

“Yet even now,” says Yahweh, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.” Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to Yahweh, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.


'When you fasted... did you at all fast to me, even to me?' — God's challenge that ritual fasting may be self-directed rather than God-directed, paralleling fasting 'to be seen by men.'

“Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me? When you eat, and when you drink, don’t you eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?


'Wash yourself, anoint yourself' — anointing and washing as ordinary grooming (the opposite of mourning), the gesture Jesus prescribes to mask fasting (v.17).

Therefore wash yourself, anoint yourself, get dressed, and go down to the threshing floor, but don’t make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.


David washes and anoints himself when he ceases mourning — the cultural background for anointing the head and washing the face to appear un-fasting.

Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his clothing; and he came into Yahweh’s house, and worshiped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he ate.


The triad 'prayer with fasting and almsgiving' commends fasting as genuine piety, paralleling the assumed practice of fasting that Jesus purifies of display.

Good is prayer with fasting, alms, and righteousness. A little with righteousness is better than much with unrighteousness. It is better to give alms than to lay up gold.


Daniel mourns and does NOT anoint himself while fasting — the very mourning-fast convention Jesus reverses by telling disciples to anoint themselves.

I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine into my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, until three whole weeks were fulfilled.


'Lay up your treasure according to the commandments... store up almsgiving in your treasuries, and it will rescue you from every misfortune' — the most direct Second Temple parallel to laying up treasure in heaven through righteous use of wealth.

Lose your money for a brother and a friend; And let it not rust under the stone to be lost. Bestow your treasure according to the commandments of the Most High; And it shall profit you more than gold. Shut up alms in your store-chambers; And it shall deliver you out of all affliction:


'Don't weary yourself to be rich... riches sprout wings like an eagle and fly away' — the transience of earthly wealth behind 'treasures on earth, where... thieves break through and steal.'

Don’t weary yourself to be rich. In your wisdom, show restraint. Why do you set your eyes on that which is not? For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky.


The wicked heaps up silver like dust but the just will wear it — the futility of hoarded wealth that another takes, echoing treasure consumed or stolen.

Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare clothing as the clay; he may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver.


The rich man 'carries nothing away' at death; his glory does not descend with him — undergirds the worthlessness of earthly treasure.

Don’t be afraid when a man is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased. For when he dies he shall carry nothing away. His glory shall not descend after him.


Riches kept by their owner to his hurt, perishing by misfortune, leaving nothing in hand — Qoheleth's meditation on perishable wealth.

There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm. Those riches perish by misfortune, and if he has fathered a son, there is nothing in his hand. As he came out of his mother’s womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand.


Almsgiving lays up 'a good treasure for yourself against the day of necessity' — explicit treasure-storing-with-God language behind treasures in heaven.

for you lay up a good treasure for yourself against the day of necessity;


Bringing tithes into God's storehouse so that heaven's windows pour out blessing — a heaven-versus-earth economy of giving that resonates faintly with heavenly treasure.

Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says Yahweh of Armies, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough for.


Kindness to the poor 'lends to the LORD' who repays — the mechanism by which earthly generosity becomes heavenly treasure.

He who has pity on the poor lends to Yahweh; he will reward him.


'He who has a generous eye (bountiful eye) will be blessed' — the Hebrew idiom of the 'good/generous eye' versus the stingy eye underlies the 'sound' (single) eye and the 'evil eye,' linking the lamp saying to generosity (cf. surrounding treasure/mammon).

He who has a generous eye will be blessed; for he shares his food with the poor.


'A man with an evil eye hastens after riches' — the 'evil eye' as greed/stinginess, the very vice contrasted with the sound eye between the treasure and mammon sayings.

A stingy man hurries after riches, and doesn’t know that poverty waits for him.


Warning against a 'wicked' (mean/evil) eye toward the needy brother — the evil eye as ungenerous miserliness, contextually fitting the eye/lamp logion's placement amid wealth teaching.

Beware that there not be a base thought in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand”; and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing; and he cry to Yahweh against you, and it be sin to you.


'The commandment is a lamp... the way of life' — light/lamp as moral illumination, the metaphor field Jesus uses for the eye as the body's lamp.

For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,


'Your word is a lamp to my feet' — lamp/light as inner moral guidance, the imagery undergirding the eye as the lamp of the body.

Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path.


'An evil eye is grudging of bread' — Ben Sira's stingy 'evil eye' that begrudges sharing, fitting the generosity reading of the evil eye versus sound eye.

An evil eye is grudging of bread, And he is miserly at his table


'The spirit of man is the LORD's lamp, searching all his innermost parts' — inner illumination imagery related to the lamp of the body.

The spirit of man is Yahweh’s lamp, searching all his innermost parts.


'Love the LORD your God with all your heart' — the Shema's demand of undivided love is what divided service to two masters (God and Mammon) violates; one cannot love both wholly.

You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.


'Choose this day whom you will serve' — the exclusive either/or of covenant allegiance behind 'no one can serve two masters.'

If it seems evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.”


'How long will you waver between two opinions?' — Elijah's demand to choose between the LORD and Baal, the prophetic either/or pattern of single-master service.

Elijah came near to all the people, and said, “How long will you waver between the two sides? If Yahweh is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” The people answered him not a word.


'You shall have no other gods before me' — making wealth a rival master is functional idolatry, the first commandment's exclusivity reframed as God versus Mammon.

“You shall have no other gods before me.


The lover of gold cannot be justified; gold has been a stumbling block and ruin to many — Ben Sira on wealth as an idol-like snare, paralleling serving Mammon.

He that loves gold shall not be justified; And he that follows destruction shall himself have his fill of it. Many have been given over to ruin for the sake of gold; And their perdition meets them face to face. It is a stumbling block to those who sacrifice to it; And every fool shall be taken therewith.


'Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you' — the antidote to anxiety is entrusting provision to God, the heart of 'don't be anxious for your life.'

Cast your burden on Yahweh, and he will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be moved.


'I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging bread' — God's reliable provision for the righteous undergirds 'your heavenly Father feeds them... how much more you.'

I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging for bread.


God brings forth food and 'satisfies' creation — the Creator's provision for plants, beasts, and people grounds the argument from birds and lilies to human care.

He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth: wine that makes glad the heart of man, oil to make his face to shine, and bread that strengthens man’s heart.


'These all wait for you... you give them their food in due season' — God feeds all creatures, directly behind 'your heavenly Father feeds' the birds.

These all wait for you, that you may give them their food in due season. You give to them; they gather. You open your hand; they are satisfied with good.


'He gives to the animals their food, and to the young ravens which cry' — God feeding the birds is the precise image of 'See the birds of the sky... your heavenly Father feeds them.'

He provides food for the livestock, and for the young ravens when they call.


'Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry?' — the divine-speech argument that God feeds wild birds, paralleling the lesson of v.26.

Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?


'Ask the animals... the birds of the sky' — they teach that God's hand holds all life; the pedagogy of learning providence from birds matches 'See the birds of the sky.'

“But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you; the birds of the sky, and they shall tell you. Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you. The fish of the sea shall declare to you. Who doesn’t know that in all these, the hand of Yahweh has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?


Ravens feed Elijah at God's command — a narrative enactment of God using birds in provision, faintly behind the birds-fed-by-the-Father motif.

It shall be, that you shall drink of the brook. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” So he went and did according to Yahweh’s word; for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.


Solomon's surpassing glory and splendor (the queen of Sheba's awe) is the explicit comparison: 'even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these' (v.29).

When the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, and the food of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their clothing, and his cup bearers, and his ascent by which he went up to Yahweh’s house; there was no more spirit in her. She said to the king, “It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts, and of your wisdom. However I didn’t believe the words, […]


The daily manna ('a day's portion') typifies the day-at-a-time trust of 'don't be anxious for tomorrow'; Israel's wilderness schooling in non-hoarding dependence.

Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from the sky for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law, or not.


God let Israel hunger then fed with manna 'that he might teach you that man does not live by bread alone' — provision as a lesson in dependence, behind seeking the Kingdom first over food.

He humbled you, and allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know; that he might teach you that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of Yahweh’s mouth.


Solomon seeks wisdom (God's priority) and is given riches and honor 'as well' — the exact pattern of 'seek first God's Kingdom... and all these things will be added.'

God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, neither have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice; behold, I have done according to your word. Behold, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart; so that there has been no one like you before you, neither after you shall any arise like you. I have also given you […]


'Commit your works to the LORD, and your plans will be established' — entrusting one's concerns to God rather than anxious self-provision.

Commit your deeds to Yahweh, and your plans shall succeed.


'All flesh is grass... the grass withers' — the transience of grass that today is and tomorrow is burned (v.30) draws on Isaiah's grass-and-flower imagery of human frailty.

The voice of one saying, “Cry!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because Yahweh’s breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”


Humanity 'like grass which grows up. In the morning it flourishes... in the evening it is cut down' — the grass-of-the-field's day-long life behind v.30.

You sweep them away as they sleep. In the morning they sprout like new grass. In the morning it sprouts and springs up. By evening, it is withered and dry.


'As for man, his days are like grass... the wind passes over it, and it is gone' — reinforces the perishable grass imagery applied to the field's clothing.

As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more.


Toil for bread and the field's produce under the curse — the labor of sowing/reaping and anxious provision that Jesus relativizes by pointing to birds that neither sow nor reap.

It will yield thorns and thistles to you; and you will eat the herb of the field. By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”


Manna provision teaches that 'it is not the production of crops that feeds humankind but your word that sustains those who trust in you' — Second Temple reflection on God-given sustenance versus anxious labor.

Therefore at that time also, converting itself into all forms, It ministered to your all-nourishing bounty, According to the desire of those who made supplication; That your sons, whom you loved, O Lord, might learn That it is not the growth of the earth’s fruits that nourishes a man, But that your word preserves those who trust you.


'Anxiety brings on premature old age' — Ben Sira on the harm of worry, faintly paralleling 'which of you by being anxious can add to his lifespan?'

Envy and wrath shorten a man’s days; And care brings old age before the time.


The ant gathers in summer — a nature-observation wisdom form ('consider the ant'); Jesus inverts the genre with 'consider the lilies' which do NOT toil, yet are clothed.

Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise; which having no chief, overseer, or ruler, provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.


The Holiness Code's demand for righteous, unbiased judgment ('you shall not be partial... but in righteousness shall you judge') underlies Jesus' critique of hypocritical, self-exempting judging.

“‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor show favoritism to the great; but you shall judge your neighbor in righteousness.


Reproof of 'your brother/neighbor' without bearing sin or grudge frames the speck-and-beam logic: correction must be cleansed of self-righteousness; 'brother' language matches Lev's love-of-neighbor unit.

“‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. “‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am Yahweh.


Nathan's 'You are the man!' — David condemns another's sin while blind to his own — is the narrative archetype of judging with a beam in one's eye.

David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As Yahweh lives, the man who has done this is worthy to die! He shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity!” Nathan said to David, “You are the man. This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.


Measure-for-measure principle ('with the merciful you show yourself merciful... with the crooked, shrewd'): God deals back in kind, echoed in 'with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you.'

With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man, you will show yourself perfect. With the pure, you will show yourself pure. With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd.


'Do not say, I will repay evil; wait for the LORD' — leaving recompense to God, the disposition behind 'judge not, that you be not judged.'

Don’t say, “I will pay back evil.” Wait for Yahweh, and he will save you.


God judges with measured forbearance so the righteous learn to be kind; a Second Temple articulation of the reciprocal-measure ethic.

While therefore you do chasten us, you scourge our enemies ten thousand times more, To the intent that we may ponder your goodness when we judge, And when we are judged may look for mercy.


'Forgive your neighbor the wrong... and then your sins will be pardoned' — the reciprocity of judgment/forgiveness in wisdom tradition closely parallels 7:1-2.

He that takes vengeance will find vengeance from the Lord; And he will surely make firm his sins. Forgive your neighbor the hurt that he has done you; And then your sins will be pardoned when you pray. Man cherisheth anger against man; And does he seek healing from the Lord? Upon a man like himself he has no mercy; And does he make supplication for his own sins? He being himself flesh nourishes wrath: Who will make atonement for his sins? Remember your […]


'Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words' — withholding precious teaching from those who will only scorn it parallels not casting pearls before swine.

Don’t speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.


Correcting a scoffer brings abuse ('reprove a scoffer and he will hate you'); the rebuffing 'dogs' who 'turn and tear you' echoes the futility of instructing scorners.

He who corrects a mocker invites insult. He who reproves a wicked man invites abuse. Don’t reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you. Reprove a wise man, and he will love you.


A gold ring in a swine's snout — wisdom tradition's pairing of something precious with a pig as image of incongruity.

Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout, is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.


'That which is holy' (qodesh) — sacred offerings forbidden to the unconsecrated/profane — supplies cultic background for not giving the holy to dogs.

“‘No stranger shall eat of the holy thing: a foreigner living with the priests, or a hired servant, shall not eat of the holy thing. But if a priest buys a slave, purchased by his money, he shall eat of it; and such as are born in his house, they shall eat of his bread. If a priest’s daughter is married to an outsider, she shall not eat of the heave offering of the holy things. But if a priest’s daughter is a widow, or divorced, and has no child, and has […]


Sacred meat is to be thrown to the dogs as the antithesis of holy use; the dog as the unclean recipient of holy things underlies the saying's logic.

“You shall be holy men to me, therefore you shall not eat any flesh that is torn by animals in the field. You shall cast it to the dogs.


'You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart' — the seek/find promise behind 'Seek, and you will find.'

You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.


'From there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search with all your heart' — covenantal seek-and-find assurance.

But from there you shall seek Yahweh your God, and you shall find him, when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.


Wisdom: 'those who seek me diligently find me' — the wisdom-tradition seek/find topos applied to prayer.

I love those who love me. Those who seek me diligently will find me.


'Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near' — seeking and calling that meet divine availability.

Seek Yahweh while he may be found; call you on him while he is near:


'The LORD is near to all who call on him... he fulfills the desire of those who fear him' — the Father's reliable response to those who ask.

Yahweh is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. He also will hear their cry, and will save them.


A mother cannot forget her nursing child — the a fortiori of parental compassion ('how much more your Father') has prophetic precedent.

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you!


'As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion' — the very father-to-children analogy of 7:11.

Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him.


God hears the prayer of the wronged and does not ignore supplication — Second Temple confidence in answered petition.

He will not accept any person against a poor man; And he will listen to the prayer of him that is wronged. He will in no wise despise the supplication of the fatherless; Nor the widow, when she pours out her tale. Do not the tears of the widow run down her cheek? And is not her cry against him that has caused them to fall?


'You shall love your neighbor as yourself' — the Golden Rule reformulates the command Jesus elsewhere names as summing the Law (Mt 22:39-40), here explicitly 'the law and the prophets.'

“‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am Yahweh.


'What you hate, do to no one' — the negative form of the Golden Rule in the deuterocanon; the closest verbal precedent to 7:12's reciprocity maxim.

And what you yourself hate, do to no man. Don’t drink wine to drunkenness, and don’t let drunkenness go with you on your way.


Extension of neighbor-love to the resident alien ('love him as yourself') broadens the rule's scope to 'men' generally.

The stranger who lives as a foreigner with you shall be to you as the native-born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you lived as foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.


'Judge your neighbor's feelings by your own' — wisdom-tradition empathic reciprocity anticipating the Golden Rule.

Consider your neighbor’s liking by your own; And be discreet in every point.


The Mosaic 'two ways' — life and good vs. death and evil, with the call to 'choose life' — is the foundational template for the two gates/ways leading to life or destruction.

Behold, I have set before you this day life and prosperity, and death and evil. For I command you this day to love Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, that you may live and multiply, and that Yahweh your God may bless you in the land where you go in to possess it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce to […]


'I set before you the way of life and the way of death' — the explicit prophetic 'way of life / way of death' formula behind 7:13-14.

To this people you shall say, Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.


'The LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish' — the two-ways frame (the same Psalm informs 7:17-19 on trees/fruit).

For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.


The path of the righteous vs. the way of the wicked who stumble in darkness — wisdom's contrasted ways.

But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light, that shines more and more until the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like darkness. They don’t know what they stumble over.


'There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death' — the broad way that 'leads to destruction.'

There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.


'The way of sinners is smoothly paved... but at its end is the pit of Hades' — Second Temple two-ways with a broad/smooth road to destruction.

The way of sinners is made smooth with stones; And at the last end thereof is the pit of Hades.


The blessing-and-curse alternative set before Israel reinforces the binary-choice structure.

Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I command you this day; and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which you have not known.


Israel's princes are 'like wolves tearing the prey' for gain — the predatory-wolf image for corrupt leaders, here the false prophets 'inwardly ravening wolves.'

Her princes in its midst are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain.


Judah's officials are 'roaring lions,' her judges 'evening wolves,' her prophets 'treacherous' — prophets/leaders as wolves cloaking treachery.

Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing until the next day. Her prophets are arrogant and treacherous people. Her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law.


Warning against false prophets who speak from their own minds, not the LORD; the test of true vs. false prophecy frames 'beware of false prophets.'

Thus says Yahweh of Armies, Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you: they teach you vanity; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of Yahweh. They say continually to those who despise me, Yahweh has said, You shall have peace; and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil shall come on you. For who has stood in the council of Yahweh, that he should perceive and hear his […]


The Torah test for a false prophet who leads astray though signs come true — background to discerning prophets 'by their fruits.'

If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises in your midst you, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, “Let us go after other gods” (which you have not known) “and let us serve them”; you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams; for Yahweh your God is testing you, to know whether you love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul. […]


The criterion for distinguishing the prophet who speaks presumptuously — judging the prophet by outcome/fruit.

But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.” You may say in your heart, “How shall we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?” When a prophet speaks in Yahweh’s name, if the thing doesn’t follow, nor happen, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You shall not be afraid of him.


The righteous as a tree yielding its fruit in season vs. the wicked as chaff — the good-tree/good-fruit and judgment imagery of Ps 1 underlies 7:17-19.

He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.


The one trusting the LORD is a tree by water that 'does not cease to bear fruit' — fruitfulness as the mark of right relation to God.

For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat comes, but its leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.


The vineyard yielding wild/bad grapes instead of good is judged and destroyed — bad fruit signaling false standing and impending judgment.

Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in its midst, and also cut out a wine press therein. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. “Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my […]


Ephraim 'blighted, their root dried up, they shall bear no fruit' — fruitlessness as ground for being cut off.

Ephraim is struck. Their root has dried up. They will bear no fruit. Even though they give birth, yet I will kill the beloved ones of their womb.”


The coming day burns the evildoers like stubble; 'every tree that doesn't grow good fruit is... thrown into the fire' shares the burning-judgment image.

“For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up,” says Yahweh of Armies, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.


Trees whose fruit is for food, leaves for healing — the eschatological good-tree image as foil to the corrupt tree.

By the river on its bank, on this side and on that side, shall grow every tree for food, whose leaf shall not wither, neither shall its fruit fail: it shall produce new fruit every month, because its waters issue out of the sanctuary; and its fruit shall be for food, and its leaf for healing.


'The fruit discloses the cultivation of a tree, so the expression of a thought discloses the heart' — wisdom maxim that fruit reveals inner character.

The fruit of a tree declares the husbandry thereof; So is the utterance of the thought of the heart of a man.


'Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity' — verbatim source of Jesus' dismissal sentence in 7:23.

Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity, for Yahweh has heard the voice of my weeping.


Prophets prophesy lies 'in my name' though the LORD did not send them — 'didn't we prophesy in your name?' echoes false prophecy claiming the divine name.

Then Yahweh said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name; I didn’t send them, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke I to them: they prophesy to you a lying vision, and divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart.


'They prophesy falsely in my name' — the divine repudiation of those who invoke God's name without commission.

For I have not sent them, says Yahweh, but they prophesy falsely in my name; that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you, and the prophets who prophesy to you.


'The LORD will make known who is his' — the motif of God knowing/owning his own, inverted in 'I never knew you.'

He said to Korah and to all his company, “In the morning, Yahweh will show who are his, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to him. Even him whom he shall choose, he will cause to come near to him.


'The LORD knows the way of the righteous' — divine 'knowing' as covenantal acknowledgment, denied to the iniquitous in 7:23.

For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.


Israel cries 'My God, we know you!' yet has spurned the good — claiming acquaintance with God while doing iniquity, repudiated.

They cry to me, ‘My God, we Israel acknowledge you!’ Israel has cast off that which is good. The enemy will pursue him.


'When the storm passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous is established forever' — the storm that sweeps away the unfounded vs. the firmly founded, the core contrast of the two builders.

When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more; but the righteous stand firm forever.


'The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand' — the standing vs. falling house image.

The wicked are overthrown, and are no more, but the house of the righteous shall stand.


False prophets build a wall and daub it with whitewash; rain, hailstones and wind break it down so it falls — the rain/flood/wind destroying a poorly founded structure, directly behind the collapsing house. (Links the false-prophet warning of 7:15 to its judgment.)

Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there is no peace; and when one builds up a wall, behold, they plaster it with whitewash: tell those who plaster it with whitewash, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and you, great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall tear it. Behold, when the wall has fallen, shall it not be said to you, Where is the plaster with which you have plastered it? Therefore […]


God lays a tested foundation stone; hail sweeps away the refuge of lies, waters overflow the shelter — the secure foundation vs. the false refuge swept by flood.

Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. He who believes shall not act hastily. I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place.


Hearing-and-doing vs. hearing-only mirrors the righteous (rooted, enduring) vs. the wicked (chaff driven away, not standing in judgment).

Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in Yahweh’s law. On his law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper. The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the […]


Doing the words of the covenant yields life and stability — the hear-and-do framing of blessing/endurance.

Behold, I have set before you this day life and prosperity, and death and evil. For I command you this day to love Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, that you may live and multiply, and that Yahweh your God may bless you in the land where you go in to possess it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce to […]


The godless one's confidence is a spider's web; he leans on his house and it does not stand — the collapsing house of the one without firm trust.

Whose confidence shall break apart, Whose trust is a spider’s web. He shall lean on his house, but it shall not stand. He shall cling to it, but it shall not endure.


'By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established' — the wise builder whose house stands.

Through wisdom a house is built; by understanding it is established;


Those who hear God's words but do not do them — hearing without doing, the foolish builder's failing.

As for you, son of man, the children of your people talk of you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, everyone to his brother, saying, Please come and hear what is the word that comes out from Yahweh. They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don’t do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain. Behold, you are to them […]


The promised prophet like Moses in whose mouth God puts his words — Jesus teaching 'with authority, not like the scribes' presents him as that authoritative prophetic voice, fitting Matthew's new-Moses framing of the Sermon.

Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from your midst, of your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him. This is according to all that you desired of Yahweh your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me not hear again the voice of Yahweh my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I not die.” Yahweh said to me, “They have well said that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a prophet from among their […]


The people's awe at the words spoken from Sinai parallels the multitudes 'astonished at his teaching' on the mountain.

Yahweh spoke these words to all your assembly on the mountain out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice. He added no more. He wrote them on two stone tablets, and gave them to me.


The people respond as Moses delivers the LORD's words; the crowd's reaction frames Jesus' Sermon as a covenant-law delivery from the mount.

Moses came and told the people all Yahweh’s words, and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, “All the words which Yahweh has spoken will we do.”


The leprosy diagnosis and the category of the unclean leper presuppose the Priestly skin-disease law. High volume and thematic coherence: Matthew's leper, his uncleanness, and the prescribed cleansing all derive from this statute.

Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “When a man shall have a rising in his body’s skin, or a scab, or a bright spot, and it becomes in the skin of his body the plague of leprosy, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest, or to one of his sons, the priests: and the priest shall examine the plague in the skin of the body: and if the hair in the plague has turned white, and the appearance of the plague is deeper than the body’s skin, it is the […]


Jesus' command to 'show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded' is a direct verbal pointer to the Levitical purification rite for a healed leper, where the priest pronounces clean and prescribed offerings are made. Explicit appeal to Mosaic legislation = high.

“This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest, and the priest shall go out of the camp. The priest shall examine him, and behold, if the plague of leprosy is healed in the leper, then the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two living clean birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. The priest shall command them to kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running […]


Naaman's leprosy healed by the prophet Elisha is the paradigmatic OT leprosy-cleansing narrative; thematic coherence (prophet's word effecting instantaneous cleansing) supports the echo. Recurrence in the Elijah/Elisha typology Matthew elsewhere develops.

Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him Yahweh had given victory to Syria: he was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. The Syrians had gone out in bands, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maiden; and she waited on Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “I wish that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would heal him […]


Miriam struck leprous and shut outside the camp until cleansed; faint thematic resonance of leprosy as the boundary between clean and unclean community. Disputed as a deliberate link.

The cloud departed from over the Tent; and behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. Aaron looked at Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, please don’t count this sin against us, in which we have done foolishly, and in which we have sinned. Let her not, I pray, be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb.” Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, “Heal her, God, I beg you!” Yahweh […]


Moses' hand becoming leprous and then restored 'as his other flesh' offers a faint figural backdrop of God's power to cleanse leprosy in an instant; low volume, contested.

Yahweh said furthermore to him, “Now put your hand inside your cloak.” He put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as white as snow. He said, “Put your hand inside your cloak again.” He put his hand inside his cloak again, and when he took it out of his cloak, behold, it had turned again as his other flesh.


The four lepers at Samaria's gate, excluded from the city, echo the social isolation the law imposes; thematic only, contested.

Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate. They said one to another, “Why do we sit here until we die? If we say, ‘We will enter into the city,’ then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. If we sit still here, we also die. Now therefore come, and let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we will live; and if they kill us, we will only die.” They rose up in the twilight, to go to the camp of the […]


'Many will come from the east and the west' draws on the prophetic vision of dispersed peoples gathered from afar ('these from the north and from the west'); the directional, ingathering language and Gentile inclusion give strong thematic coherence.

Behold, these shall come from far; and behold, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.”


'Gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south' is the closest verbal parallel to 'from the east and the west,' an eschatological ingathering motif Matthew applies to the messianic banquet.

And gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.


Reclining with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom evokes the eschatological feast 'for all peoples' on Zion; thematic coherence with the Gentile centurion's inclusion at the banquet supports the allusion.

In this mountain, Yahweh of Armies will make all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of choice wines, of fat things full of marrow, of well refined choice wines. He will destroy in this mountain the surface of the covering that covers all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He has swallowed up death forever! The Lord Yahweh will wipe away tears from off all faces. He will take the reproach of his people away from off all the earth, […]


'From the rising of the sun even to its going down my name is great among the nations' undergirds the Gentile-from-east-and-west theme; recurrence of the universal-worship motif strengthens the echo.

For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same, my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name is great among the nations,” says Yahweh of Armies.


Abraham's innumerable offspring like the stars faintly grounds the 'many will come... with Abraham' multitude; thematic, contested.

Yahweh brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So will your seed be.”


The 'children of the Kingdom thrown into outer darkness' with weeping resonates with the resurrection to shame and contempt; eschatological judgment imagery, faint and contested.

Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.


'Driven into thick darkness' supplies OT coloring for 'outer darkness'; low-volume verbal resonance, contested.

and look to the earth, and see distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into thick darkness.


Provision for the sojourner who fears the LORD faintly anticipates the believing Gentile's place; thematic only, contested.

If a stranger lives as a foreigner with you, or whoever may be among you throughout your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh; as you do, so he shall do. For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner, a statute forever throughout your generations. As you are, so shall the foreigner be before Yahweh. One law and one ordinance shall be for you, and for the […]


Elijah raising the widow's son and restoring household life offers faint figural backdrop for healing in a home and the woman rising to serve; thematic, contested.

After these things, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so severe, that there was no breath left in him. She said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!” He said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the room where he stayed, and laid him on his own bed. He cried to Yahweh, and said, […]


Elisha's restoration of the Shunammite's child in the house resonates with domestic healing; part of the Elijah/Elisha typology but faint here, contested.

When Elisha had come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid on his bed. He went in therefore, and shut the door on them both, and prayed to Yahweh. He went up, and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. He stretched himself on him; and the flesh of the child grew warm. Then he returned, and walked in the house once back and forth; and went up, and stretched himself on him. Then […]


Formula citation ('that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet') introduces a near-verbatim rendering: 'He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases.' Matthew reads the Servant's vicarious sickness-bearing as fulfilled in the healings. Highest gradient: formula + verbatim quotation.

Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.


The Servant bearing the sin/iniquity of many extends the vicarious-bearing logic of 53:4 that Matthew has cited; recurrence within the same Servant Song, faint here, contested.

After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light and be satisfied. My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself; and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the plunder with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.


'Who heals all your diseases' faintly coheres with healing 'all who were sick'; thematic, contested.

who forgives all your sins; who heals all your diseases;


The self-designation 'Son of Man' draws on the heavenly figure 'like a son of man' who receives dominion; a recurrent Matthean title with strong thematic weight even where the immediate sense is the homeless human Jesus.

I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.


Elisha's request to 'kiss my father and my mother' before following Elijah, and Elijah's reply, lies behind the would-be disciple's plea to bury his father and Jesus' more radical demand; strong narrative parallel of the call-to-follow scene.

So he departed there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing, with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed over to him, and cast his mantle on him. He left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, “Let me please kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” He said to him, “Go back again; for what have I done to you?” He returned from following him, and took the yoke of oxen, and killed them, […]


The Nazirite's prohibition against touching even a dead father or mother faintly resonates with 'leave the dead to bury their own dead,' the demand to override ordinary burial duty; thematic, contested.

“‘All the days that he separates himself to Yahweh he shall not go near a dead body. He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die; because his separation to God is on his head.


The high priest forbidden to defile himself even for father or mother parallels the supreme claim that overrides filial burial obligation; faint, contested.

neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother;


Birds finding a home/nest at God's altar faintly contrasts with the Son of Man having nowhere to lay his head; thematic counterpoint, contested.

Yes, the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young, near your altars, Yahweh of Armies, my King, and my God.


Seafarers in a storm, the waves mounting, their crying to the LORD, and his stilling the storm to a calm ('he makes the storm a calm') is the controlling intertext; high volume and tight thematic coherence with disciples crying 'Save us' and the 'great calm.'

Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business in great waters; These see Yahweh’s works, and his wonders in the deep. For he commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up its waves. They mount up to the sky; they go down again to the depths. Their soul melts away because of trouble. They reel back and forth, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. Then they cry to Yahweh in their trouble, and he brings them out of their […]


God 'who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves' ascribes to YHWH the very act Jesus performs; figural identification of Jesus with the sea-stilling deity. Strong thematic coherence.

who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations.


Prophet asleep in the boat during a deadly storm while terrified companions wake him to be saved is a close structural and verbal parallel; the sleeping-figure-amid-tempest motif is distinctive enough to mark deliberate allusion.

But Yahweh sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship was likely to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and every man cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship, and he was laying down, and was fast asleep. So the ship master came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, […]


'You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them' supplies further divine sea-mastery coloring; recurrence of the YHWH-over-chaos-waters motif.

You rule the pride of the sea. When its waves rise up, you calm them.


God rebuking the waters so they flee, setting bounds for the sea, faintly underlies Jesus rebuking the wind and sea; thematic, contested.

You covered it with the deep as with a cloak. The waters stood above the mountains. At your rebuke they fled. At the voice of your thunder they hurried away. The mountains rose, the valleys sank down, to the place which you had assigned to them. You have set a boundary that they may not pass over; that they don’t turn again to cover the earth.


The Creator setting bounds for the proud waves ('thus far... and no farther') grounds the figural claim that the one who calms the sea wields divine creative authority over chaos.

“Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb, when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness, marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors, and said, ‘Here you may come, but no further. Here your proud waves shall be stayed?’


Typological: the Spirit over the chaos-waters and God's word ordering the deep stands behind Jesus' word subduing the sea, presenting him as exercising the Creator's authority over the watery chaos.

The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day. God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, […]


Exodus/sea typology: as YHWH mastered the sea to save Israel, so Jesus masters the sea to save the disciples; the salvation-through-the-waters pattern supports a figural reading.

Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and Yahweh caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. The children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left. The Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the midst of the sea: all of Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. In the […]


God as refuge though the waters roar and the sea foams faintly grounds the rebuke 'why are you fearful'; thematic, contested.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we won’t be afraid, though the earth changes, though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas; though its waters roar and are troubled, though the mountains tremble with their swelling. Selah.


'He rebukes the sea and makes it dry' supplies the verb 'rebuke' applied to the sea, a divine-theophany act; faint verbal echo, contested.

He rebukes the sea, and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan languishes, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languishes.


The unclean who 'sit among the graves and lodge in the secret places' eating swine's flesh closely matches the demoniacs dwelling among the tombs amid a herd of pigs; strong cluster of unclean-tombs-and-swine imagery.

who sit among the graves, and lodge in the secret places; who eat pig’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;


The widow's 'What have I to do with you, O man of God?' is the OT formula behind the demoniacs' 'What do we have to do with you?'; recurrent idiom of repelled confrontation with a holy figure.

She said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!”


'What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah?' is another instance of the dismissive idiom underlying the demoniacs' cry; verbal parallel, contested.

The king said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? Because he curses, and because Yahweh has said to him, ‘Curse David;’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’”


Jephthah's 'What have you to do with me?' to the Ammonite king is a further attestation of the confrontational formula; faint, contested.

Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, “What have you to do with me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?”


The swine declared unclean grounds the symbolic appropriateness of the demons entering the pigs and the unclean-Gentile setting; thematic coherence with Matthew's purity concerns.

The pig, because he has a split hoof, and is cloven-footed, but doesn’t chew the cud, he is unclean to you. Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch; they are unclean to you.


The hosts of heaven punished and shut up in prison, 'after many days' visited, faintly resonates with 'have you come to torment us before the time?'—an appointed eschatological judgment of spirits; contested.

It shall happen in that day that Yahweh will punish the army of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth on the earth. They shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison; and after many days shall they be visited.


Second-Temple traditions read the bound spirits of the Watchers awaiting judgment behind 'before the time'; faint background to the demons' fear of premature torment, contested.

When men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them, God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives. Yahweh said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so his days will be one hundred twenty years.” The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came in to men’s daughters and had children […]


The demon Asmodeus driven off and bound prefigures the motif of demons expelled and consigned to judgment; Second-Temple thematic resonance, contested.

When the demon smelled that smell, it fled into the uppermost parts of Egypt, and the angel bound him.


Those sitting in darkness, prisoners in misery, faintly color the demoniacs' tomb-bound bondage; thematic only, contested.

Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron,


Psalm 103 pairs the two acts Jesus performs together: God 'forgives all your iniquity' and 'heals all your diseases.' Matthew's scene welds forgiveness ('your sins are forgiven') to the cure of paralysis, enacting the psalm's joined benefits and implying Jesus does what the LORD does.

who forgives all your sins; who heals all your diseases;


'I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake.' The scribes' charge of blasphemy presupposes that only God forgives sins; Isaiah's first-person divine prerogative is the unstated premise Jesus claims, sharpening the christological provocation.

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.


'Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins' fuses the Danielic 'one like a son of man' to whom dominion and authority (exousia/sholtan) are given. Matthew transfers heavenly enthronement authority into an earthly act of forgiveness, the key warrant for the healing.

I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. There was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.


'He who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death.' The scribes' verdict 'This man blasphemes' invokes the capital statute; the legal background charges the episode with the threat that will later kill Jesus.

He who blasphemes Yahweh’s name, he shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him. The foreigner as well as the native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.


'Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity... he will tread our iniquities underfoot.' The hymn to the God who uniquely forgives stands behind the assumption that forgiveness is a divine, not human, act, which Jesus nonetheless exercises.

Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.


The LORD 'forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin' is the foundational self-revelation of divine pardon; the paralytic's forgiveness re-presents this divine attribute in Jesus' speech.

Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children, on the third and on the fourth generation.”


'The kingdom and the dominion... shall be given to the people of the holy ones.' The crowd's wonder that God 'had given such authority to men' may echo the Danielic transfer of dominion to a human collective, though the link is faint.

The kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole sky, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High: his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.


Formula-marked citation, 'go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' Verbatim from Hosea (LXX eleos ou thysian). Jesus deploys the prophetic preference for covenant loyalty over cultic act to justify table fellowship with sinners; Matthew alone repeats it at 12:7.

For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.


'To obey is better than sacrifice.' Samuel's rebuke of Saul belongs to the same prophetic tradition prioritizing obedience/mercy over cult that Hosea 6:6 distills; it reinforces the scriptural logic Jesus wields against the Pharisees.

Samuel said, “Has Yahweh as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Yahweh? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.


'To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.' A wisdom parallel to Hosea 6:6 corroborating the mercy-over-sacrifice principle invoked to defend eating with tax collectors.

To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Yahweh than sacrifice.


'Honor the physician... the Lord created medicines.' Jesus' aphorism 'those who are sick need a physician' uses the physician topos; Sirach's Second Temple esteem for the healer is a contemporary backdrop, though the saying is proverbial rather than a specific borrowing.

Honor a physician according to your need of him with the honors due to him: For verily the Lord has created him. For from the Most High comes healing; And from the king he shall receive a gift. The skill of the physician shall lift up his head; And in the sight of great men he shall be admired. The Lord created medicines out of the earth; And a prudent man will have no disgust at them.


'I will seek the lost... and bind up the injured.' The shepherd-God who goes after the sick and strayed anticipates Jesus' coming 'not to call the righteous but sinners,' the same pastoral logic, faintly heard here and developed at 9:36.

I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but the fat and the strong I will destroy; I will feed them in justice.


'My belly is like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins it is ready to burst.' Elihu's image is the closest scriptural antecedent to Jesus' new-wine/bursting-old-skins saying, supplying the very mechanics (new wine, skins ready to burst) of the metaphor.

Behold, my breast is as wine which has no vent; like new wineskins it is ready to burst.


'As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.' The prophetic depiction of God/the messianic age as bridegroom undergirds Jesus' self-identification as the bridegroom whose presence makes fasting impossible.

For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons shall marry you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you.


'I will betroth you to me forever.' The LORD's marriage to Israel frames the bridegroom imagery; coming from the same prophet quoted at 9:13, it suggests Jesus occupies the divine spouse's role in the renewed covenant.

I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion. I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know Yahweh.


'Your Maker is your husband.' Another strand of the bridegroom-God tradition reinforcing the nuptial joy that suspends mourning while the bridegroom is present.

For your Maker is your husband; Yahweh of Armies is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; the God of the whole earth shall he be called. For Yahweh has called you as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even a wife of youth, when she is cast off,” says your God.


'The vats shall overflow with wine.' The eschatological abundance of new wine in the prophets colors Jesus' 'new wine' as the inbreaking new age incompatible with old structures.

The threshing floors will be full of wheat, and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.


'The mountains shall drip sweet wine.' Like Joel, an eschatological new-wine motif faintly resonant with Jesus' claim that the new cannot be poured into the old.

“Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the one treading grapes him who sows seed; and sweet wine will drip from the mountains, and flow from the hills.


'When you fasted and mourned... was it for me?' Zechariah's critique of fasting that misses God anticipates Jesus' relativizing of John's-disciples' fasting in light of the bridegroom's presence.

“Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me?


'He was taken away.' Jesus' ominous 'the bridegroom will be taken away' foreshadows the passion; the Servant who is 'taken away' is a plausible typological reservoir, though the verbal link is slight.

He was taken away by oppression and judgment; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people?


The woman touches 'the fringe (kraspedon/tzitzit) of his garment.' The tassels commanded in Numbers mark the wearer as a Torah-keeping Israelite; Matthew specifies the fringe, framing the healing power as flowing through Jesus' faithful Israelite dress.

“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them that they should make themselves fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put on the fringe of each border a cord of blue: and it shall be to you for a fringe, that you may look on it, and remember all the commandments of Yahweh, and do them; and that you not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you use to play the prostitute;


The statute on a woman with a chronic 'discharge of blood' renders her and what she touches unclean. The twelve-year hemorrhage and her touching Jesus directly engage this purity law; rather than contracting impurity, Jesus communicates cleansing health.

“‘If a woman has a discharge of her blood many days not in the time of her period, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her period; all the days of the discharge of her uncleanness shall be as in the days of her period: she is unclean. Every bed whereon she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her as the bed of her period: and everything whereon she sits shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her period. Whoever touches these things […]


Elijah raises the widow's dead son. The prophetic raising of a dead child is the primary type for Jesus entering, taking the girl by the hand, and raising her; Matthew presents Jesus as greater than Elijah.

After these things, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so severe, that there was no breath left in him. She said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!” He said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the room where he stayed, and laid him on his own bed. He cried to Yahweh, and said, […]


Elisha raises the Shunammite's daughter, entering the room, acting on the child's body, and restoring her. The closest structural type (a girl, an anxious parent, prophet enters and revives), illuminating Jesus' act in the ruler's house.

When Elisha had come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid on his bed. He went in therefore, and shut the door on them both, and prayed to Yahweh. He went up, and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. He stretched himself on him; and the flesh of the child grew warm. Then he returned, and walked in the house once back and forth; and went up, and stretched himself on him. Then […]


'The sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings (kanaf)' — kanaf also meaning the garment-corner/fringe. The pun links the healing 'fringe' the woman grasps to the messianic promise of healing in the 'wings,' a suggestive but disputed resonance.

But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall.


'Many who sleep in the dust... shall awake.' Jesus' 'the girl is not dead but sleeping' frames death as sleep, the idiom Daniel uses for resurrection, hinting that the raising prefigures eschatological awakening.

Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.


The martyr's hope: 'the King of the universe will raise us up.' Second Temple resurrection hope forms the conceptual horizon for the daughter's restoration being read as more than resuscitation; relevant but not a verbal borrowing.

And when he was at the last gasp, he said, You, miscreant, do release us out of this present life, but the King of the world shall raise up us, who have died for his laws, to an eternal renewal of life.


'Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened.' The opening of the two blind men's eyes enacts the signature sign of Isaiah's coming-of-God salvation oracle; Matthew uses it programmatically (cf. 11:5) to identify Jesus' deeds with the promised restoration.

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.


The Davidic covenant promising David an everlasting offspring/throne is the root of the title 'Son of David' the blind men cry. Matthew's recurring Davidic christology (1:1) is voiced precisely by those seeking mercy and sight.

When your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men; but my loving kindness shall not […]


'Out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.' A second Isaianic blindness-reversal oracle reinforcing that restored sight is the mark of God's eschatological visitation now effected by Jesus.

In that day, the deaf will hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness.


The Servant is called 'to open the eyes that are blind.' The opening of eyes as the Servant's commissioned task links Jesus' healing to Isaiah's servant-of-the-LORD vocation.

to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison.


'The LORD opens the eyes of the blind.' The psalm ascribes eye-opening to the LORD himself; Jesus performing it implies the same divine agency the crowd marveled at in 9:8.

Yahweh opens the eyes of the blind. Yahweh raises up those who are bowed down. Yahweh loves the righteous.


'Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy.' The blind men's cry 'Have mercy on us' echoes the standard psalmic appeal for divine mercy, now addressed to the Son of David.

Have mercy on us, Yahweh, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt.


Tobit's blindness is cured and 'his eyes were opened.' The deuterocanonical healing-of-blindness narrative is a Second Temple precedent for restored sight as a sign of divine favor; thematically apt though not directly quoted.

Raphael said, “I know, Tobias, that your father will open his eyes. Therefore anoint his eyes with the gall, and being pricked therewith, he will rub, and willl make the white films fall away. Then he will see you.” Anna ran to him, and fell upon the neck of her son, and said to him, “I have seen you, my child! I am ready to die.” They wept both. Tobit went toward the door and stumbled; but his son ran to him, and took hold of his father. He rubbed the […]


'The tongue of the mute shall sing for joy.' The mute man speaking when the demon is cast out completes the Isaiah 35 cluster (blind see in 9:30, mute speak here), presenting Jesus' miracles as the bundled signs of Isaiah's restoration.

Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing; for waters will break out in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.


'Who makes him mute... Is it not I, the LORD?' God's claim to sovereignty over speech and its impairment frames Jesus' loosing of the mute tongue as a divine prerogative exercised.

Yahweh said to him, “Who made man’s mouth? Or who makes one mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Isn’t it I, Yahweh?


'Like a mute man who does not open his mouth... but for you, O LORD, do I wait.' The psalmic muteness-then-divine-help pattern faintly underlies the restoration of speech, though no verbal borrowing is present.

But I, as a deaf man, don’t hear. I am as a mute man who doesn’t open his mouth. Yes, I am as a man who doesn’t hear, in whose mouth are no reproofs. For in you, Yahweh, do I hope. You will answer, Lord my God.


Moses asks for a successor so the congregation 'may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.' Matthew's 'harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd' directly takes up this idiom; Jesus' compassion answers Israel's perennial need for a true shepherd-leader.

who may go out before them, and who may come in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in; that the congregation of Yahweh not be as sheep which have no shepherd.”


Micaiah sees 'all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd.' The leaderless, scattered flock under failed kings is exactly Matthew's diagnosis of the crowds, with Jesus stepping into the vacant shepherd role.

He said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. Yahweh said, ‘These have no master. Let them each return to his house in peace.’”


'They were scattered because there was no shepherd.' Ezekiel's indictment of Israel's negligent shepherds and promise that God himself will shepherd the flock is the richest backdrop: Jesus' compassion enacts the LORD's pledge to seek the scattered sheep.

They were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they became food to all the animals of the field, and were scattered.


The people 'wander like sheep; they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd.' Zechariah's shepherdless, afflicted flock parallels Matthew's 'harassed' crowds, adding a prophetic voice to the shepherd-deficit motif.

For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep. They are oppressed, because there is no shepherd.


The Chronicler's parallel to 1 Kings 22:17 repeats 'all Israel scattered... as sheep that have no shepherd,' a second canonical attestation of the formula behind 9:36.

He said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. Yahweh said, ‘These have no master. Let them return every man to his house in peace.’”


'Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.' Jesus' 'the harvest is plentiful' picks up the prophetic harvest image; where Joel's harvest is judgment, Matthew turns it toward ingathering, asking for laborers from the Lord of the harvest.

Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.”


'The LORD will thresh... and you will be gathered one by one.' The eschatological gathering-harvest of Israel is a faint resonance behind the plentiful harvest needing laborers.

It will happen in that day, that Yahweh will thresh from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, children of Israel.


'I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David.' The promise of a single Davidic shepherd is figurally fulfilled as Jesus (the Son of David of 9:27) responds to the shepherdless crowds, binding this pericope to the Davidic christology of the chapter.

I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.


The number Twelve is the structuring datum of the apostle list. Jacob's twelve sons becoming the twelve tribes is the obvious typological template: Jesus constitutes a renewed Israel of twelve, an eschatological re-founding of the people (cf. Mt 19:28, the Twelve judging the twelve tribes). The figural reading is widely held.

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them and blessed them. He blessed everyone according to his blessing.


Moses builds an altar with twelve pillars 'according to the twelve tribes of Israel' at the covenant ratification. The setting-apart of twelve representatives at a covenant moment is a thematic analogue to the appointment of the Twelve; faint and dependent on the broader twelve-tribe pattern.

Moses wrote all Yahweh’s words, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the mountain, and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.


The census appoints twelve tribal leaders, 'every one for the house of his fathers.' A possible background for the twelve named representatives commissioned for a task on Israel's behalf, but the link is purely numerical and structural.

These are those who were numbered, whom Moses and Aaron numbered, and the princes of Israel, being twelve men: they were each one for his fathers’ house.


'My people have been lost sheep' (Jer 50:6) supplies the exact image and idiom behind 'the lost sheep of the house of Israel' (10:6). The phrase is a deliberate scriptural designation of Israel as a flock gone astray under failed shepherds, which the mission of the Twelve is sent to gather.

My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray; they have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place.


Ezekiel's flock 'scattered because there was no shepherd' and the sheep that 'wandered through all the mountains' is the controlling background for Israel-as-lost-sheep. Ezek 34:16, 'I will seek that which was lost,' frames the apostolic mission as God's promised search for the strays.

They were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they became food to all the animals of the field, and were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill: yes, my sheep were scattered on all the surface of the earth; and there was no one who searched or sought.


Israel as a congregation 'as sheep which have no shepherd,' Moses' prayer for a successor. Matthew uses this very phrase at 9:36 immediately before this commissioning, so it bleeds directly into the 'lost sheep' rationale for sending the Twelve.


'All we like sheep have gone astray.' Reinforces the lost-sheep idiom for Israel's straying, though without the verbal specificity of Jeremiah or Ezekiel.

All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.


'Sodom and Gomorrah' (10:15) names the archetypal city of judgment whose destruction by fire becomes the proverbial worst-case fate. Jesus says it will be 'more tolerable' for them than for a town that rejects the apostles — a direct invocation of the Genesis paradigm of inhospitality and overthrow.

Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky. He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground.


The hospitality/inhospitality axis governing the worthy-household and shake-off-the-dust instructions (10:11-15) culminates in the Sodom comparison; Abraham's reception of the visitors vs. Sodom's refusal is the implicit contrast. The sin of Sodom as failed hospitality (cf. Ezek 16:49) underlies the whole judgment logic.

Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth, and said, “My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please don’t go away from your servant. Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. I will […]


The Passover departure 'with your staff in your hand' and sandals on, ready to travel light, sits in ironic counterpoint to the mission's stripping away of staff, sandals (in the Markan form), and provisions. A possible inversion of the exodus travel kit, but the parallel is contested and the Matthean list differs.

This is how you shall eat it: with your belt on your waist, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is Yahweh’s Passover.


Elisha sends Gehazi with staff and the urgent command not to greet anyone on the road — a prophetic-commission travel instruction with the same terse, single-minded haste as the mission charge. Faint and disputed.

Then he said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand, and go your way. If you meet any man, don’t greet him; and if anyone greets you, don’t answer him again. Then lay my staff on the face of the child.”