The royal psalm's portrait of the king who delivers the needy, the poor, and those who have no helper, redeeming their life from oppression, supplies the ideal of the just king whose rule is measured by care for the vulnerable — the standard the King applies.

For he will deliver the needy when he cries; the poor, who has no helper. He will have pity on the poor and needy. He will save the souls of the needy. He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence. Their blood will be precious in his sight.


The eschatological banquet on the mountain for all peoples, where death is swallowed up, faintly informs the inheritance/eternal-life reward into which the blessed are welcomed when all nations are gathered.

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, […]


The deuterocanonical promise that the righteous are in God's hand, will be vindicated at the visitation, judge nations, and receive a kingdom/crown, parallels the righteous inheriting the kingdom and the eternal-life reward at the eschatological assize.

But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, And no torment will touch them. In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died; And their departure was accounted to be their hurt, And their journeying away from us to be their ruin: But they are in peace. For even if in the sight of men they be punished, Their hope is full of immortality; And having borne a little chastening, they will receive great good; Because God made trial of them, and […]


Ben Sira's exhortation to stretch out your hand to the poor, give to the needy, not neglect those who weep, and visit the sick supplies a deuterocanonical catalog of mercy-deeds strikingly close to the King's list (feed, clothe, visit the sick).

Also to the poor man stretch out your hand, That your blessing may be perfected. A gift has grace in the sight of every man living; And for a dead man keep not back grace. Be not lacking to those who weep; And mourn with those who mourn. Be not slow to visit a sick man; For by such things you will gain love.


Tobit's acts of charity — giving bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and burying the dead — model the very deeds of mercy that mark the righteous and were understood in Second Temple piety as righteousness stored up before God.

In the days of Enemessar, I did many alms deeds to my kindred: I gave my bread to the hungry, and my garments to the naked. If I saw any of my race dead, and cast forth on the wall of Ninevah, I buried him.


Tobit's instruction to give alms from your possessions, for almsgiving 'is a good gift in the sight of the Most High' and lays up treasure against the day of necessity, reflects the same logic that deeds to the least are rendered to God and rewarded eschatologically.

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 […]


'I have spread you abroad as the four winds' / the scattering and gathering language of Zechariah faintly resonates with the gathering of all nations before the throne, though the dominant gathering source is Joel 3.

Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,’ says Yahweh; ‘for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the sky,’ says Yahweh.


'The kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world' (v.34) presupposes the creation account as the temporal anchor — the kingdom planned since the world's founding, a protological framing of the inheritance.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.


'the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified' (v2) deploys the apocalyptic Son of Man title that Matthew unfolds fully at 26:64; here in a passion-prediction key the exalted figure is paradoxically handed over.

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.


'after two days the Passover is coming' (v2) times Jesus' death to the Passover, setting up the lamb typology that the Last Supper (vv26-28) makes explicit; he is slain at the feast that commemorates the original deliverance.

Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, “This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household; and if the household is too little for a lamb, then he and his neighbor next to his house shall take one […]


'the chief priests... took counsel together that they might take Jesus by deceit, and kill him' (vv3-4) echoes the rulers who 'take counsel together against the LORD and against his anointed'; Matthew's anointed (Christos) is the target.

The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying,


'they took counsel together against me; they plotted to take away my life' is a lament topos the gathering of priests in deceit replays.

For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side, while they conspire together against me, they plot to take away my life.


'the wicked watches the righteous and seeks to kill him' supplies the righteous-sufferer plot frame for the conspiracy.

The wicked watches the righteous, and seeks to kill him.


'you always have the poor with you' (v11) quotes the Deuteronomic axiom 'the poor will never cease out of the land'; Jesus invokes the law's own realism not to dismiss the poor but to mark the unrepeatable hour of his presence.

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.


the costly ointment 'to prepare me for burial' (v12) evokes the spices and aromatic anointing laid up for an honored burial, here pre-enacted on the living body.

They buried him in his own tombs, which he had dug out for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumers’ art: and they made a very great burning for him.


'while the king is at his table, my spikenard sent forth its fragrance' offers a banquet-anointing image behind the woman pouring fragrant ointment as Jesus reclines.

While the king sat at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.


pouring oil on the head is the gesture of royal anointing; the woman's act may carry a faint messianic (Christos = anointed) coloring as the priests plot against the unanointed-by-them king.

Then Samuel took the vial of oil, and poured it on his head, and kissed him, and said, “Isn’t it that Yahweh has anointed you to be prince over his inheritance?


'They weighed out for him thirty pieces of silver' (v15) borrows the exact wage of the rejected shepherd in Zechariah; Matthew makes the citation explicit at 27:9-10 when the money buys the potter's field, so the allusion is deliberately seeded here.

I said to them, “If you think it best, give me my wages; and if not, keep them.” So they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver. Yahweh said to me, “Throw it to the potter, the handsome price that I was valued at by them!” I took the thirty pieces of silver, and threw them to the potter, in Yahweh’s house.


thirty shekels of silver is the Torah's compensation for a slave gored by an ox; the price of betrayal is the price of a slave, ironizing the worth assigned to Jesus.

If the bull gores a male servant or a female servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.


the table-companion turned betrayer is introduced here; the 'familiar friend who lifted his heel' is made explicit at the supper (v23) but the bargain begins now.

Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me.


'the first day of unleavened bread' and 'prepare... to eat the Passover' (vv17-19) directly invoke the Exodus 12 ordinance for the feast of unleavened bread and the Passover meal.

In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty first day of the month at evening.


the Deuteronomic command to keep the Passover 'in the place the LORD chooses' (Jerusalem) frames the disciples' search for the room within the city.

You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you; but at the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell in, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at evening, at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came out of Egypt. You shall roast and eat it in the place which Yahweh your God chooses. In the morning you shall return to your tents. Six days you shall eat unleavened bread. […]


the memorial-meal command undergirds Jesus' reconstitution of the Passover as his own memorial in the verses that follow.

This day shall be to you for a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to Yahweh: throughout your generations you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.


'He who dipped his hand with me in the dish... will betray me' (v23) closely renders 'my own familiar friend... who ate of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me'; sharing the bowl is the very act that names the betrayer.


'The Son of Man goes, even as it is written of him' (v24) appeals to a scriptural script of the suffering one being handed over, the Servant 'led as a lamb to the slaughter.'

He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he didn’t open his mouth. 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? They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he […]


the title 'Son of Man' carries the Danielic resonance even as the figure is led to suffering, holding exaltation and humiliation together.


'It would be better for that man if he had not been born' (v24) echoes the wisdom lament cursing the day of one's birth, here turned as a woe on the betrayer.

“Let the day perish in which I was born, the night which said, ‘There is a boy conceived.’


'better... is he who has not yet been' supplies the non-existence-is-preferable formula behind the woe of v24.

Yes, better than them both is him who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.


'this is my blood of the covenant' (v28) verbally appropriates Moses' words at Sinai, 'Behold the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you'; Jesus' blood ratifies the covenant as the sacrificial blood once did.

Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Look, this is the blood of the covenant, which Yahweh has made with you concerning all these words.”


the covenant inaugurated 'for the remission of sins' (v28) realizes Jeremiah's promised new covenant whose hallmark is 'I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more'; many texts read 'new covenant' explicitly here.

Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:


'poured out for many for the remission of sins' (v28) draws on the Servant who 'poured out his soul to death' and 'bore the sin of many'; 'many' (rabbim) is Isaiah's vicarious-atonement vocabulary.

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.


the Passover bread and the slain lamb stand behind the bread Jesus identifies as 'my body' and the cup as 'my blood,' refiguring the seder elements around himself.

They shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs.


'until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's Kingdom' (v29) anticipates the eschatological 'feast of wines on the lees' on the LORD's mountain.

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.


'I will take the cup of salvation' from the Hallel sung at Passover colors the cup of the covenant; the Hallel (Pss 113-118) is the hymn of v30.

I will take the cup of salvation, and call on Yahweh’s name.


'by the blood of your covenant I have set your prisoners free' joins covenant blood to liberation, resonant with blood 'poured out for many.'

As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I have set free your prisoners from the pit in which is no water.


'when they had sung a hymn' (v30) refers to the Hallel Psalms (113-118) sung at the close of the Passover meal.

Praise Yah! Praise, you servants of Yahweh, praise Yahweh’s name.


going out to the Mount of Olives (v30) faintly recalls David ascending Olivet weeping as he flees betrayal by Ahithophel, a betrayer-companion type.

David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered, and went barefoot: and all the people who were with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.


'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered' (v31) is a formula-introduced ('it is written') citation of Zechariah; the smitten shepherd and scattered flock script the disciples' desertion.

“Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me,” says Yahweh of Armies. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones.


'they were scattered because there was no shepherd' supplies the broader scattered-flock-without-shepherd motif that the Zechariah citation concentrates.

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


'I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd' is a parallel image of leaderless dispersal behind v31.

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.’”


the prayer that Israel not be 'as sheep which have no shepherd' is the source idiom of the scattered flock.

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.”


'My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death' (v38) echoes the psalmist's refrain 'Why are you cast down, O my soul?... my soul is cast down within me'; Jesus prays the lament psalter in the garden.

Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him for the saving help of his presence. My God, my soul is in despair within me. Therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon, from the hill Mizar.


the same refrain 'Why are you in despair, O my soul?' recurs in Ps 43:5, reinforcing the borrowed lament language of v38.

Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him: my Savior, my helper, and my God.


'let this cup pass away from me' (v39) draws on the prophetic 'cup of staggering / cup of his wrath' that Jerusalem must drink; Jesus shrinks from and then accepts the cup of divine judgment.

Awake, awake, stand up, Jerusalem, that have drunk at the hand of Yahweh the cup of his wrath; you have drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it.


'in the hand of the LORD there is a cup... the wicked of the earth shall drain it' supplies the cup-of-wrath image behind 'this cup' (vv39,42).

For in the hand of Yahweh there is a cup, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours it out. Indeed the wicked of the earth drink and drink it to its very dregs.


the 'cup of the wine of wrath' given to the nations to drink reinforces the cup Jesus must drink as the cup of judgment.

For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, to me: take this cup of the wine of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. They shall drink, and reel back and forth, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.


'I am angry enough to die' / sorrowful unto death offers a parallel to the 'sorrowful even to death' idiom of v38.

God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the vine?” He said, “I am right to be angry, even to death.”


'the Egyptians are men and not God, and their horses flesh and not spirit' lies behind the spirit/flesh antithesis of v41 ('the flesh is weak').

Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When Yahweh stretches out his hand, both he who helps shall stumble, and he who is helped shall fall, and they all shall be consumed together.


David praying on Olivet as Ahithophel betrays him parallels Jesus praying on the Mount of Olives amid betrayal.

Someone told David, saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” David said, “Yahweh, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”


Judas' kiss of greeting from 'one of the twelve' (vv48-49) consummates the betrayal by the table-companion of v23, the friend who ate bread and lifted his heel.

Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me.


Joab taking Amasa's beard to kiss him while stabbing him is the classic treacherous-kiss type behind Judas' 'Hail, Rabbi!' and kiss.

Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab’s hand. So he struck him with it in the body, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and didn’t strike him again; and he died. Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri.


'the kisses of an enemy are deceitful' is the proverbial frame for the betraying kiss.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; although the kisses of an enemy are profuse.


'all those who take the sword will die by the sword' (v52) restates the lex talionis principle 'whoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.'

Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image.


'more than twelve legions of angels' (v53) at the Father's command evokes the Danielic heavenly host, 'thousand thousands ministered to him.'

A fiery stream issued and came out from before him: thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.


the unseen heavenly army (horses and chariots of fire) available to Elisha parallels the legions of angels Jesus declines to summon.

Elisha prayed, and said, “Yahweh, please open his eyes, that he may see.” Yahweh opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha.


'that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled' (v56) and Jesus' nonresistance enact the Servant led without protest and 'numbered with transgressors' ('as against a robber').

He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he didn’t open his mouth. 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? They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he […]


'all the disciples left him, and fled' (v56) fulfills the scattering of the sheep predicted from Zechariah at v31.

“Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me,” says Yahweh of Armies. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones.


'you will see the Son of Man... coming on the clouds of the sky' (v64) cites Daniel's vision of 'one like a son of man' coming 'with the clouds of heaven'; this self-identification triggers the blasphemy charge.

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.


'the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power' (v64) fuses Daniel 7:13 with 'Sit at my right hand'; the conflated citation is the climactic christological claim of the trial.

Yahweh says to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool for your feet.”


'But Jesus held his peace' (v63) enacts the Servant who 'was oppressed... yet he opened not his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter... so he opened not his mouth.'

He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he didn’t open his mouth.


'they spit in his face and beat him with their fists, and some slapped him' (v67) closely parallels 'I gave my back to the smiters... I did not hide my face from shame and spitting.'

I gave my back to the strikers, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting.


'false witnesses against Jesus' (v59) draws on 'false witnesses have risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty,' the lament of the righteous slandered in court.

Don’t deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen up against me, such as breathe out cruelty.


'malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things I know not' supplies the false-testimony motif of vv59-60.

Unrighteous witnesses rise up. They ask me about things that I don’t know about.


'they will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek' anticipates the slapping and mocking of the Christ in vv67-68.

Now you shall gather yourself in troops, daughter of troops. He has laid siege against us. They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.


'He is worthy of death!' (v66) on a charge of blasphemy applies the Torah penalty 'he who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death.'

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.


the high priest tearing his clothing (v65) ironically violates the priestly prohibition 'he shall not... tear his clothes,' marking the trial's perversion of office.

“‘He who is the high priest among his brothers, upon whose head the anointing oil is poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not let the hair of his head hang loose, nor tear his clothes;


the charge of destroying the temple (v61) faintly resonates with Daniel's anointed one cut off and the sanctuary's destruction.

After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One shall be cut off, and shall have nothing: and the people of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and its end shall be with a flood, and even to the end shall be war; desolations are determined.


'I, like a deaf man, do not hear... in whose mouth are no rebukes' parallels Jesus' silence before accusation (v63).

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.


'The fear of man brings a snare' frames Peter's collapse before a servant girl and bystanders, denying out of fear.

The fear of man proves to be a snare, but whoever puts his trust in Yahweh is kept safe.


Peter's threefold denial completes the scattering of the smitten shepherd's sheep (v31), the boldest of the flock falling away.


'let me weep bitterly' offers a faint scriptural cadence for Peter who 'went out and wept bitterly' (v75).

Therefore I said, “Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Don’t labor to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.


'The chief priests and elders took counsel against' Jesus echoes Psalm 2:2 LXX, 'the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against his Anointed (christos)' — Matthew's passion repeatedly construes the conspiracy as the gathering of the kings/rulers against the Messiah.

The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying,


'They led him away... to put him to death' resonates with the Servant who 'was taken away' by oppressive judgment unto death; binding-and-leading language colors the whole Servant frame of the passion.

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 core source for the formula citation: the prophet is paid 'thirty pieces of silver' which he throws into the house of the LORD 'to the potter' — supplies the thirty silver, the casting into the sanctuary, the potter, and the contemptuous 'price.' Matthew quotes/conflates this even while attributing to Jeremiah.

I said to them, “If you think it best, give me my wages; and if not, keep them.” So they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver. Yahweh said to me, “Throw it to the potter, the handsome price that I was valued at by them!” I took the thirty pieces of silver, and threw them to the potter, in Yahweh’s house.


Source of the Jeremiah attribution and the 'potter' + 'field of blood' + burial-place imagery: Jeremiah buys a potter's earthen jar, goes to the Valley of Hinnom/Topheth which is renamed because it will become a burial place ('they shall bury in Topheth till there is no room'), 'filled this place with the blood of innocents.' Innocent blood + potter + cemetery field underlie Matthew's 'field of blood.'

Thus said Yahweh, Go, and buy a potter’s earthen bottle, and take some of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests; and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell you; and say, Hear Yahweh’s word, kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring evil on this place, which whoever hears, […]


Jeremiah buys a field for seventeen shekels of silver and weighs out the money — the prophetic purchase-of-a-field-with-weighed-silver pattern that, blended with Zechariah's potter and Jeremiah 19's burial field, produces the 'they bought the potter's field' formula and explains the Jeremiah ascription.

Jeremiah said, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle shall come to you, saying, Buy my field that is in Anathoth; for the right of redemption is yours to buy it. So Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the guard according to Yahweh’s word, and said to me, Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption is yours; buy […]


Judas' confession 'I have sinned' uses the same self-indictment formula as Pharaoh and other biblical figures who acknowledge guilt too late; intensifies the 'innocent blood' motif.

Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time. Yahweh is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.


'Cursed is he who takes a bribe to slay an innocent person' (shed innocent blood) — Judas' 'I betrayed innocent blood' and the priests' 'price of blood' fall directly under this Deuteronomic curse.

‘Cursed is he who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’


'Lest innocent blood be shed... and so blood-guilt be upon you' — the shedding-of-innocent-blood and resulting bloodguilt theme that drives the whole pericope (and 27:24-25).

This is so that innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, leaving blood guilt on you.


Ahithophel, the counselor who betrayed David, 'hanged himself' (apenxato) — the only other named suicide-by-hanging in the OT and the closest model for Judas, the betrayer of the Son of David, who 'hanged himself' (same Greek verb in Matthew). Typological betrayer-of-David's-son link.

When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, and arose, and went home, to his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the tomb of his father.


'My close friend... who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me' — the betrayed-by-an-intimate Davidic lament standing behind the Judas narrative arc, here reaching its outcome.

Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me.


David disavows bloodguilt for an unjust death ('I and my kingdom are guiltless... of the blood'); a precedent for the disclaimers of responsibility for innocent blood that frame both Judas' return of the silver and Pilate's hand-washing.

Afterward, when David heard it, he said, “I and my kingdom are guiltless before Yahweh forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner. Let it fall on the head of Joab, and on all his father’s house. Let there not fail from the house of Joab one who has an issue, or who is a leper, or who leans on a staff, or who falls by the sword, or who lacks bread.”


The valuation-of-persons in silver ('him upon whom a price had been set, whom some of the children of Israel priced') echoes the priestly assessment of the monetary 'price' of a person, sharpening the irony of pricing the Messiah.

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘When a man consecrates a person to Yahweh in a vow, according to your valuation, your valuation of a male from twenty years old even to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary. If she is a female, then your valuation shall be thirty shekels. If the person is from five years old even to twenty years old, then your valuation shall […]


'Blood pollutes the land, and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood shed in it except by the blood of him who shed it' — the priests' anxiety that blood-money cannot enter the treasury and the land's defilement by innocent blood reflect this Mosaic principle.

“‘So you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, but by the blood of him who shed it.


'He answered nothing... he gave him no answer, not even one word, so that the governor marveled' is a direct dramatization of 'he was oppressed and afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a sheep before its shearers is silent.' Classic Servant-of-Isaiah silence-before-accusers.

He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he didn’t open his mouth.


'I am like a deaf man... like a mute who does not open his mouth... in whose mouth are no rebukes' — the righteous sufferer's deliberate silence before accusers, a Psalmic parallel reinforcing the Isaianic silence motif.

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.


'I was mute, I did not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it' — another silence-of-the-righteous-sufferer text contributing to the wordless-before-Pilate scene.

I was mute. I didn’t open my mouth, because you did it.


'King of the Jews' / kingship theme; Balaam's 'a scepter shall rise out of Israel' lies behind the messianic-king interrogation, though faintly.

I see him, but not now. I see him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob. A scepter will rise out of Israel, and shall strike through the corners of Moab, and break down all the sons of Sheth.


Day of Atonement two-goats typology: of two figures, one (Barabbas, 'son of the father') is released/let go and one (Jesus) is destined to die — many read the Barabbas-or-Jesus choice as a scapegoat/azazel figure. Genuinely debated but thematically coherent.

He shall take the two goats, and set them before Yahweh at the door of the Tent of Meeting. Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats; one lot for Yahweh, and the other lot for the scapegoat. Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for Yahweh, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell for the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before Yahweh, to make atonement for him, to send him away for the scapegoat into the […]


'The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all' — the substitution pattern (guilty man freed, innocent condemned) coheres with the Servant bearing others' guilt; faint.

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.


'Because of envy they had delivered him up' — Joseph's brothers handed him over out of jealousy/envy; the envy-driven handing-over of the favored one is a recurring betrayal motif (cf. Acts 7:9).

His brothers envied him, but his father kept this saying in mind.


'False witnesses have risen against me' and the crowd's clamor for the righteous one's condemnation echo the righteous-sufferer's plea against accusers who breathe out violence.

Don’t deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen up against me, such as breathe out cruelty.


Pilate's washing his hands and declaring 'I am innocent of the blood of this righteous person' enacts the Deuteronomic rite for an unsolved murder: the elders wash their hands over the heifer and say 'Our hands have not shed this blood... do not set innocent blood within your people Israel.' Direct ritual borrowing.

All the elders of that city, who are nearest to the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. They shall answer and say, “Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Forgive, Yahweh, your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and don’t allow innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel.” The blood shall be forgiven them.


'I wash my hands in innocence' — the Psalmic idiom of hand-washing as a declaration of innocence directly underwrites Pilate's gesture and words.

I will wash my hands in innocence, so I will go about your altar, Yahweh;


'I have washed my hands in innocence' — another hand-washing-in-innocence text reinforcing the gesture.

Surely in vain I have cleansed my heart, and washed my hands in innocence,


'Your blood be on your own head' — the OT idiom of self-incurred bloodguilt that the crowd reverses onto themselves ('his blood be on us and on our children'); the verbal pattern of blood 'on' someone.

David said to him, “Your blood be on your head; for your mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have slain Yahweh’s anointed.’”


Jeremiah warns 'you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants' if they kill the prophet — strikingly close to 'his blood be on us and on our children,' and notable given the Jeremiah attribution earlier in the chapter.

Only know for certain that, if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city, and on its inhabitants; for of a truth Yahweh has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.


'His blood shall be on his own head' (Rahab narrative) — another instance of the bloodguilt-on-the-head idiom the crowd appropriates.

It shall be that whoever goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head, and we will be guiltless. Whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand is on him.


'His blood shall be upon his own head' — the watchman oracle's formula of self-incurred bloodguilt, part of the idiomatic backdrop to 27:25.

then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and doesn’t take warning, if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and didn’t take warning; his blood shall be on him; whereas if he had taken warning, he would have delivered his soul.


'I gave my back to those who strike' — the flogging ('Jesus he flogged') anticipates the scourging motif developed next, drawn from the Third Servant Song.

I gave my back to the strikers, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting.


'By his stripes we are healed / he was wounded for our transgressions' — the scourging of Jesus before crucifixion resonates with the Servant's bruising; thematic but apt.

But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.


'I gave my back to those who struck me... I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting' — directly behind the soldiers striking Jesus on the head and spitting on him. The Servant's submission to mockery and spitting.


'Despised and rejected... as one from whom men hide their faces' — the mock-coronation and contempt heaped on Jesus dramatize the Servant's humiliation and being held of no account.

He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him.


'I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised... all who see me mock me' — the soldiers' scorn, mockery, and ridicule of the kneeling 'king' enact the Psalm 22 sufferer's experience of derision (developed further at the cross).

But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people. All those who see me mock me. They insult me with their lips. They shake their heads, saying,


'I have become their taunt-song... they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me' — Joban righteous-sufferer parallel to the spitting and mockery.

“Now I have become their song. Yes, I am a byword to them. They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and don’t hesitate to spit in my face.


'Your king comes to you' — the mock-royal acclamation 'Hail, King of the Jews!' ironically inverts the humble-king motif; faint and ironic.

Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.


'Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him; let him be filled with insults' — the righteous-sufferer ethic of submitting to blows and insults, coherent with the mockery scene.

Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him; let him be filled full with reproach.


The ungodly plot: 'Let us test him with insult and torture... condemn him to a shameful death' — Second-Temple text describing the persecution and mocking of the righteous son of God, closely paralleling the mockery of Jesus who is condemned and tortured as God's son.

With outrage and torture let us put him to the test, That we may learn his gentleness, And may prove his patience under wrong. Let us condemn him to a shameful death; For he will be visited according to his words.


Isaac carrying the wood for his own sacrifice up the mountain is a classic figural antecedent to the cross-bearing; here Simon is compelled to carry it, but the wood-bearing-victim typology stands faintly behind.

Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. He took in his hand the fire and the knife. They both went together.


'Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows' — the bearing/carrying motif loosely resonates with the carrying of the cross.

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


'They gave me poison (gall) for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink' — directly behind 'they gave him sour wine to drink mixed with gall.' Matthew assimilates the wine-and-myrrh of tradition to the Psalm's gall to make the allusion explicit.

They also gave me gall for my food. In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.


'They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots' — almost verbatim in 'they divided his clothing among them, casting lots.' One of the strongest Psalm 22 allusions in the crucifixion narrative.

They divide my garments among them. They cast lots for my clothing.


'Remember my affliction... the wormwood and the gall' — the gall/bitterness of the afflicted righteous one, reinforcing the Psalm 69 gall motif.

Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.


Placed here only insofar as the crucifixion setting is being established; the noon-darkness allusion proper belongs to 27:45 but the scene-setting begins here.

It will happen in that day,” says the Lord Yahweh, “that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.


'Numbered with the transgressors' anticipates the two robbers (27:38) and the criminal placement; introduced as the crucifixion tableau is set.

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.


'He was numbered with the transgressors' — Jesus crucified between two robbers, one on the right and one on the left, fulfills the Servant's being counted among lawbreakers. (Made explicit in Luke 22:37 but clearly operative in Matthew's staging.)


'They made his grave with the wicked' — association of the Servant with criminals in death, coherent with the two robbers and anticipating the rich man's tomb in 27:57-60.

They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.


'All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads' — directly behind 'those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads.' Verbatim gesture of head-wagging derision.

All those who see me mock me. They insult me with their lips. They shake their heads, saying,


'He commits his cause to the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!' — nearly quoted in the mockers' taunt 'He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now, if he wants him.' One of the clearest Psalm 22 allusions, put in the enemies' mouths.

“He trusts in Yahweh; let him deliver him. Let him rescue him, since he delights in him.”


'I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they wag their heads' — a second head-wagging-mockery Psalm reinforcing Psalm 22:7's gesture (imprecatory psalm of the betrayed righteous one).

I have also become a reproach to them. When they see me, they shake their head.


'He calls himself a child of the Lord... boasts that God is his father. Let us see if his words are true... for if the righteous man is God's son, he will help him and deliver him from his adversaries' — the mockers' logic ('He said, I am the Son of God... let God deliver him if he wants him') is virtually a paraphrase of this Second-Temple passage on the persecuted righteous son of God.

He professes to have knowledge of God, And names himself servant of the Lord. He became to us a reproof of our thoughts. He is grievous to us even to behold, Because his life is unlike other men’s, And his paths are of strange fashion. We were accounted of him as worthless metal, And he abstains from our ways as from uncleannesses. The latter end of the righteous he calls happy; And he vaunts that God is his father. Let us see if his words be true, And […]


'All who pass along the way clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads' over fallen Jerusalem — the passers-by + head-wagging combination is a direct verbal parallel to 'those who passed by... wagging their heads.'

All that pass by clap their hands at you. They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men called The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?


'Zeal for your house has consumed me' — the taunt about destroying and rebuilding the temple touches the temple-zeal Psalm associated with the righteous sufferer; faint.

For the zeal of your house consumes me. The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.


'God has forsaken him; pursue and seize him, for there is none to deliver' — the enemies' confidence that God will not rescue the sufferer parallels the cross-taunt.

saying, “God has forsaken him. Pursue and take him, for no one will rescue him.”


'Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us' — the 'if God wants him, let God deliver him' taunt inverts the confident deliverance language of the faithful; faint thematic contrast.

If it happens, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.


The mockery of a righteous man whom enemies assume God has abandoned echoes the scoffing-at-the-supposedly-cursed-sufferer found in Job's friends; faint.

The righteous see it, and are glad. The innocent ridicule them, saying, ‘Surely those who rose up against us are cut off. The fire has consumed their remnant.’


'I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight' — directly behind the darkness 'from the sixth hour (noon) until the ninth hour.' The day-of-the-LORD noon-darkness as sign of mourning/judgment.


The ninth plague's 'darkness over all the land of Egypt' for three days — a 'darkness over all the land' (same phrasing) signaling divine judgment; exodus-plague resonance at the death of the firstborn Son.

Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.” Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.


'The sun and the moon are darkened' on the day of the LORD; with Joel 2:31 ('the sun shall be turned to darkness') this supplies the eschatological darkening-of-the-heavens motif framing the crucifixion as a day-of-the-LORD event.

The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.


'The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining' — further day-of-the-LORD darkness imagery.

The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.


'A day of darkness and gloom' as the day of the LORD's wrath — coheres with the cosmic darkness at the cross.

That day is a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness,


'You shall grope at noonday as the blind grope in darkness' — covenant-curse noon-darkness imagery; faint.

You will grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. You will only be oppressed and robbed always, and there will be no one to save you.


'Her sun went down while it was yet day' — bereavement/judgment image of the sun setting at midday, akin to Amos 8:9.

She who has borne seven languishes; she has given up the spirit; her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she has been disappointed and confounded: and their residue will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, says Yahweh.


'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' — Jesus' cry, given in Aramaic ('Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani') and then translated, is a direct quotation of the opening line of Psalm 22, the climactic and most explicit of the chapter's Psalm 22 citations.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?


'For my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink' — the sponge filled with vinegar (sour wine) put to Jesus' mouth on a reed is the offering-of-vinegar of Psalm 69:21, here at the moment of death (a second invocation of the gall-and-vinegar text).

They also gave me gall for my food. In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.


'O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer' — the unanswered cry of the forsaken sufferer continues the Psalm 22 frame beyond v.1.

My God, I cry in the daytime, but you don’t answer; in the night season, and am not silent.


'Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great day of the LORD' — the bystanders' '(He) is calling Elijah... let's see whether Elijah comes to save him' plays on the Elijah-eschatology expectation; a sound-pun on Eli/Elijah but thematically tied to Malachi.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.


Elijah's not-dying/being-taken and popular expectation of his return underlie the crowd's hope that Elijah might 'come to save him'; faint.

As they still went on, and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.


'Into your hand I commit my spirit' — 'yielded up his spirit' resonates with the committing-of-spirit of the trusting sufferer's psalm (explicit in Luke 23:46; operative here as the death-of-the-righteous frame, and Psalm 31 shares Psalm 22's lament-of-the-betrayed-righteous form).

Into your hand I commend my spirit. You redeem me, Yahweh, God of truth.


'He poured out his soul to death' — the Servant's voluntary surrender of life resonates with Jesus actively 'yielding up his spirit.'

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.


The veil ('paroketh') that separates the holy place from the Most Holy — 'the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom' presupposes this curtain; its rending signifies access/judgment on the sanctuary.

“You shall make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cherubim. The work of the skillful workman shall it be made. You shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold; their hooks shall be of gold, on four sockets of silver. You shall hang up the veil under the clasps, and shall bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil: and the veil shall separate the holy place from the most holy for you.


The making of the veil of blue, purple, and scarlet with cherubim — corroborates the temple-veil referent torn at Jesus' death.

He made the veil of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubim. He made it the work of a skillful workman.


'Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people' — the tombs opening and 'many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised' directly enacts Ezekiel's vision of the opened graves and resurrection of God's people.

Therefore prophesy, and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, my people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. You shall know that I am Yahweh, when I have opened your graves, and caused you to come up out of your graves, my people.


'Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake' — the raising of 'many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep' echoes Daniel's resurrection-of-the-many; both use 'many' and the sleep-of-death idiom.

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 day-of-the-LORD earthquake on the Mount of Olives ('the mountain shall be split... the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him') resonates with the earthquake, splitting rocks, and emergence of the holy ones.

His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in two, from east to west, making a very great valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south. You shall flee by the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azel; yes, you shall flee, just like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah […]


Wind/earthquake/rocks-splitting as theophany imagery ('a great wind tore the mountains and broke the rocks') colors 'the earth quaked and the rocks were split.'

He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before Yahweh.” Behold, Yahweh passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before Yahweh; but Yahweh was not in the wind. After the wind an earthquake; but Yahweh was not in the earthquake.


'The heavens and the earth shall shake' on the day of the LORD — apocalyptic earthquake imagery accompanying the divine visitation.

Yahweh will roar from Zion, and thunder from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will shake; but Yahweh will be a refuge to his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel.


'Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy' — a resurrection-of-the-dead text closely matching the rising of the entombed saints.

Your dead shall live. My dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast out the departed spirits.


'I will shake the heavens and the earth' — eschatological shaking associated with the temple, resonating with the earthquake at the moment the temple veil is torn.

For this is what Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land;


The Gentile centurion's confession that 'truly this was the Son of God' resonates with the turn at the end of Psalm 22, where 'all the ends of the earth' and 'all the families of the nations' come to worship the LORD — the Psalm's movement from dereliction to universal acknowledgment.

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to Yahweh. All the relatives of the nations shall worship before you. For the kingdom is Yahweh’s. He is the ruler over the nations. All the rich ones of the earth shall eat and worship. All those who go down to the dust shall bow before him, even he who can’t keep his soul alive. Posterity shall serve him. Future generations shall be told about the Lord. They shall come and shall declare his righteousness […]


'If the righteous man is God's son, God will help him' — the centurion's 'truly this was the Son of God' answers, from the opposite side, the scoffers' doubt drawn from Wisdom 2; the vindication the ungodly denied.

For if the righteous man is God’s son, he will uphold him, And he will deliver him out of the hand of his adversaries.


The pagan king's recognition that the fourth figure 'is like a son of the gods/God' offers a loose parallel for a Gentile officer confessing divine sonship at a moment of supernatural sign.

He answered, Look, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are unharmed; and the aspect of the fourth is like a son of the gods.


'My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, and my nearest kin stand far off' — 'many women were there watching from afar' enacts the righteous sufferer's experience of onlookers standing at a distance.

My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague. My kinsmen stand far away.


'You have caused my companions to shun me' / friends kept at a distance — another standing-far-off lament parallel to the women watching from afar.

You have taken my friends from me. You have made me an abomination to them. I am confined, and I can’t escape.


'They made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death' — a rich man (Joseph of Arimathea) gives Jesus an honorable burial in his own new tomb, fulfilling the Servant's burial 'with a rich man.' Striking lexical match ('rich man,' burial).

They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.


Honorable burial of the patriarch in a prepared/owned tomb; the careful, reverent entombment motif faintly resonates.

for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, for a possession of a burial site, from Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.


Honorable royal burial in a hewn tomb with fine spices/linen colors the wrapping in clean linen and laying in a rock-cut tomb.

They buried him in his own tombs, which he had dug out for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumers’ art: and they made a very great burning for him.


'He was cut off from the land of the living' — the burial of the Servant who was taken away in death continues the Isaiah 53 frame into the entombment.

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?


'After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up' — the chief priests' citation of Jesus' 'after three days I will rise' and their guarding 'until the third day' touch the third-day-resurrection schema, of which Hosea 6:2 is a primary OT antecedent.

After two days he will revive us. On the third day he will raise us up, and we will live before him.


'Three days and three nights' — the third-day/three-days motif Matthew elsewhere ties to the sign of Jonah (12:40), faintly present in the securing of the tomb 'until the third day.'

Yahweh prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.


A stone laid over the lions' den and 'sealed' with the king's signet so that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel — closely parallels the rolling and 'sealing' of the stone to secure Jesus' tomb (the righteous one shut in by a sealed stone, then divinely vindicated).

A stone was brought, and laid on the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.


The angel's appearance 'like lightning' and clothing 'white as snow' echoes Daniel's vision of the man clothed in linen whose 'face was like the appearance of lightning' and whose body shone. Matthew draws on the standard Danielic theophany-angelophany vocabulary to mark this messenger as a heavenly being.

his body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as flaming torches, and his arms and his feet like burnished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.


'His clothing white as snow' matches the Ancient of Days whose 'clothing was white as snow.' The dazzling-white garment is a marker of divine/heavenly glory; Matthew transfers the apocalyptic radiance to the resurrection messenger.

I saw until thrones were placed, and one who was ancient of days sat: his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, and its wheels burning fire.


'A great earthquake' (seismos) recalls the theophany at Sinai where the whole mountain quaked greatly at the LORD's descent. Matthew uses earthquake as a recurring sign of divine intervention (cf. 27:51), framing the resurrection as a world-shaking act of God.

Mount Sinai, all it, smoked, because Yahweh descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.


The eschatological awakening of those who 'sleep in the dust' to everlasting life stands behind the resurrection scene; the guards becoming 'like dead men' while the dead one rises figurally inverts Daniel's resurrection hope.

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


'Don't be afraid' (me phobeisthe) on the angel's lips is the recurrent assurance-of-presence formula God speaks to his people: 'Fear not, for I am with you.' It frames the empty tomb as a moment of divine reassurance, anticipating 28:20.

Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.


The 'do not be afraid... for the LORD your God is with you' charge before entering the land resonates with the angel's reassurance and the disciples' coming commission; a faint commissioning-courage motif.

Haven’t I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid, neither be dismayed: for Yahweh your God is with you wherever you go.”


The women's prostration and grasping Jesus' feet in worship recalls the patriarchal pattern of falling before a divine visitor; a faint thematic resonance with theophanic reverence rather than a verbal borrowing.

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,


The women seeking at dawn, then finding and taking hold of the beloved ('I held him and would not let him go') has long been read figurally alongside the women grasping Jesus' feet; a contested, allusive resonance in early reception.

By night on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him. I will get up now, and go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him. The watchmen who go about the city found me; “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?” I had scarcely passed from them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him […]


Jesus' instruction to tell 'my brothers' echoes the vindicated sufferer who declares God's name 'to my brothers' after deliverance; given Matthew's heavy use of Psalm 22 at the cross (27:35,43,46), the brother-language here may extend that figural arc.

I will declare your name to my brothers. In the midst of the assembly, I will praise you.


The chief priests again deploying silver to corrupt the truth recalls the thirty pieces of silver weighed out in Zechariah and used by Matthew at 27:9-10; the bribe of the guards forms a bookend of priestly money-dealing around the Passion.

I said to them, “If you think it best, give me my wages; and if not, keep them.” So they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver. Yahweh said to me, “Throw it to the potter, the handsome price that I was valued at by them!” I took the thirty pieces of silver, and threw them to the potter, in Yahweh’s house.


'You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds... and subverts the cause of the righteous' stands ironically behind the priests bribing soldiers to spread a lie; a thematic indictment rather than a verbal quotation.

“You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.


'The wicked accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the ways of justice' resonates with the secret payment and concocted cover story; faint sapiential coloring of the leaders' deceit.

A wicked man receives a bribe in secret, to pervert the ways of justice.


The Great Commission is built on the enthronement of the one like a son of man: 'to him was given dominion (authority) and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.' Matthew's 'all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me' + 'make disciples of all nations' transposes the Danielic grant of universal, everlasting authority to the risen Jesus.

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.


'The kingdom and the dominion... shall be given to the people of the saints' extends the son-of-man grant to his people; the commission to disciple all nations enacts the spread of this everlasting dominion through the Son's authority.

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.


'I am with you always' is the divine-presence/commissioning formula God speaks to Moses at the bush: 'I will be with you.' The promise that secures a commissioned agent for an impossible task is given here by the risen Jesus, claiming the role of God-with-his-people.

He said, “Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”


'Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go' to Jacob is the patriarchal divine-presence promise tied to a worldwide blessing ('all families of the earth'). Jesus' closing assurance to disciples sent to all nations recapitulates this guarantee of accompaniment.

Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken of to you.”


'I am with you, declares the LORD' spoken to the post-exilic community as they take up a great work parallels the presence promise underwriting the disciples' mission; part of the recurrent 'I am with you' presence formula.

Then Haggai, Yahweh’s messenger, spoke Yahweh’s message to the people, saying, “I am with you,” says Yahweh.


'Fear not, for I am with you... I will strengthen you' is the Isaianic presence-and-courage oracle. The risen Jesus' 'I am with you always' assumes this divine first-person assurance to the servant people.


'They shall call his name Immanuel, God with us.' Matthew opens (1:23) and closes (28:20 'I am with you always') with the Immanuel theme, forming a deliberate inclusio; the final presence promise fulfills the naming prophecy that frames the Gospel.

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.


Moses commissions Joshua: 'Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the people into the land... and I will be with you.' The risen Jesus (whose name is Joshua) commissions his successors to take the nations, with the same 'I will be with you' guarantee; a typological commissioning scene.

He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “Be strong and courageous; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore to them. I will be with you.”


'As I was with Moses, so I will be with you... I will not leave you nor forsake you' is the divine charge to Joshua at the threshold of conquest. Jesus' perpetual-presence promise to disciples advancing into all nations echoes this commissioning template.

No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake you.


'In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed' — the Abrahamic promise of universal blessing. 'Make disciples of all nations' realizes the worldwide scope of the covenant, a thread Matthew began with the genealogy 'son of Abraham' (1:1).

I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you.”


The servant given 'as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth' undergirds the universal-mission mandate to all nations; Matthew's Galilee-of-the-nations theme (4:15-16) is here brought to fulfillment.

yes, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.”


The nations streaming to the mountain of the LORD to be taught his ways resonates with the disciples gathered on a mountain and sent to teach all nations to observe Jesus' commands; faint Zion-mountain/pilgrimage-of-nations coloring.

It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many peoples shall go and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For out of Zion the law shall go out, and Yahweh’s word from Jerusalem.


Jesus teaching the nations to observe 'all that I commanded you' on a mountain casts him in a Moses-on-Sinai role giving authoritative commandments; a figural new-Sinai resonance consistent with Matthew's Moses typology.

Yahweh said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and stay here, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commands that I have written, that you may teach them.”


'Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession' — the enthroned royal Son granted the nations. The risen Son's authority over all and claim to all nations echoes this messianic enthronement psalm.

Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.


The God of heaven setting up an everlasting kingdom that fills the earth resonates with the universal, age-spanning ('to the end of the age') scope of the commission; faint apocalyptic kingdom-extension motif.

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.


Cyrus' decree, 'The LORD... has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build... Whoever is among you... let him go up' pairs a grant of universal authority with a sending commission; a faint structural parallel to 'all authority... go.'

“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘Yahweh, the God of heaven, has given all the kingdoms of the earth to me; and he has commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, Yahweh his God be with him, and let him go up.’”


Mark's programmatic noun 'gospel/good news' (euangelion) leans on Isaiah's herald who publishes 'good news' that 'your God reigns.' Volume is conceptual rather than verbal in 1:1 itself, but recurrence is strong: Mark returns to Isaianic euangelizō language at 1:14-15 (the reign of God). Coherence is high since the whole Gospel frames itself as the announcement Isaiah anticipated.

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!”


Isaiah 40:9 pairs 'good tidings' with Zion's herald immediately before the 40:3 'voice in the wilderness' that Mark quotes in 1:3. The proximity of the two Isaiah loci makes it likely Mark heard 'gospel' from this same context. Volume is low in v.1 but the deliberate quotation of 40:3 two verses later raises availability and coherence.

You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up. Don’t be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold, your God!”


The Servant 'anointed to bring good news' supplies another Isaianic root for Mark's euangelion. Verbal contact is faint here and the link is largely thematic; included for maximal coverage because Mark's Jesus is the Spirit-anointed herald (cf. 1:10).

The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound;

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to preach glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken in heart, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind;


The title 'Son of God' in the superscription anticipates the divine voice of 1:11, which quotes Psalm 2:7. Volume in v.1 is a single title, but recurrence within the chapter (and at 9:7; 15:39) gives the royal-sonship reading strong coherence. The superscription programmatically front-loads the enthronement language Mark unpacks at the baptism.

I will tell of the decree. Yahweh said to me, “You are my son. Today I have become your father.


Nathan's dynastic oracle ('I will be his father, he shall be my son') stands behind the messianic 'Son of God' title alongside Psalm 2. Verbal volume in Mark is minimal; the link is by way of the Davidic sonship tradition rather than direct citation, hence low and contested.

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;


'The beginning' (archē) may evoke the Genesis incipit, casting Jesus' advent as a new creation. Volume is one word and many read 'beginning' merely as a heading for the narrative, so the echo is genuinely contested; coherence rises only if Mark intends a creation-typology, which 1:10-13 (Spirit, wilderness, wild beasts) may support.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.


Mark's 'Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way' is a near-verbatim citation of Malachi 3:1, though Mark misattributes the fused text to 'Isaiah.' Volume is maximal (sustained verbal repetition), and recurrence is confirmed by Mark 9:11-13, where the Elijah-messenger of Malachi is again applied to John. Coherence is total: the messenger prepares the way of the Lord.

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!” says Yahweh of Armies.


The opening clause 'Behold, I send my messenger before your face' matches Exodus 23:20 LXX (the angel guarding Israel on the wilderness road) even more closely than Malachi for the first half. Mark has conflated Exodus 23:20 with Malachi 3:1; the shared 'before your face' wording and new-Exodus 'way' imagery give high volume and coherence to a deliberate fusion.

“Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.


'The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make ready the way of the Lord' quotes Isaiah 40:3 (LXX), the only part Mark's 'as written in Isaiah' formula actually names. Volume is maximal and the wilderness/way motif structures the whole prologue (John baptizes 'in the wilderness,' 1:4). The new-Exodus comfort-of-Zion context is highly coherent with Mark's gospel announcement.

The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.


John's garb of camel's hair and a leather belt around the waist deliberately mirrors Elijah, 'a hairy man with a leather belt around his waist' (2 Kings 1:8 LXX, zōnēn dermatinēn perthan identical phrase). High volume in a distinctive sartorial detail; recurrence at Mark 9:13 ('Elijah has come') confirms the identification. Coherence is strong: John is the returning Elijah of Malachi.

They answered him, “He was a hairy man, and wearing a leather belt around his waist.” He said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”


Malachi 4:5 (3:23 MT) promises Elijah's return 'before the great day of the LORD'; Mark casts John in this role, fusing it with the messenger of Malachi 3:1. Verbal volume in 1:2-8 is indirect, but the Elijah dress (v.6) and Mark 9:11-13 make the figural identification explicit and recurrent. Coherence is the engine of the whole prologue.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.


Zechariah 13:4 mentions prophets wearing 'a hairy mantle' as a deceptive sign; some see John's camel-hair garment drawing on the generic prophetic-mantle convention rather than Elijah specifically. Volume is low and the negative valence in Zechariah weakens coherence; included as a contested alternate source for the prophet's dress.

It will happen in that day, that the prophets will each be ashamed of his vision, when he prophesies; neither will they wear a hairy mantle to deceive:


John's diet of locusts reflects the one insect category Leviticus 11:22 permits as clean food, anchoring his wilderness asceticism in Torah dietary law. The contact is a single permitted-food detail with no verbal borrowing, so the echo is faint and contested; it functions mainly to authenticate his wilderness piety.

Even of these you may eat: any kind of locust, any kind of katydid, any kind of cricket, and any kind of grasshopper.


The heavenly voice 'You are my beloved Son' echoes the royal enthronement decree 'You are my Son' of Psalm 2:7. Volume is high (the opening clause is near-verbatim) and recurrence is strong (Mark 9:7; the title frames the Gospel). Coherence is maximal: the baptism functions as a messianic enthronement, declaring Jesus the Davidic king-son.


'In whom I am well pleased' draws on the Servant of Isaiah 42:1, 'my chosen, in whom my soul delights,' paired with the Spirit resting on him (v.10). Volume is high on the 'well pleased / delight' clause and the Spirit-endowment, and the fusion of royal Son (Ps 2) with suffering Servant (Isa 42) is a load-bearing Markan Christology. Coherence is high.

“Behold, my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delights— I have put my Spirit on him. He will bring justice to the nations.


Mark's distinctive 'the heavens being torn' (schizomenous) recalls Isaiah 64:1 LXX, 'O that you would rend the heavens and come down.' Volume rests on the violent verb 'tear,' which Mark uniquely chooses (vs. Matthew/Luke's 'opened') and reuses at the temple veil (15:38). Coherence is high: God rends the heavens to descend in the Spirit upon Jesus.

Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence,


'Beloved Son' (agapētos) may invoke Isaac, 'your only/beloved son,' in the Aqedah of Genesis 22:2 LXX, foreshadowing the offered son. Volume is the single distinctive adjective agapētos (which LXX uses for Isaac), giving real verbal contact; recurrence at 9:7 and the passion's sacrificial logic raise coherence. Genuinely contested—agapētos may simply intensify 'Son.'

He said, “Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, even Isaac, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there for a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of.”


The Spirit descending over the baptismal waters may evoke the Spirit/wind hovering over the primordial waters of Genesis 1:2, framing the baptism as new creation. Volume is conceptual only (no 'dove' in Genesis), so the link is faint; some rabbinic traditions compared the Genesis Spirit to a bird, which marginally supports it. Contested.

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.


Ezekiel's inaugural vision opens with 'the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God,' a prophetic-commission topos that Mark's heaven-rending and Spirit-descent may share. Volume is low and the verb differs (open vs. tear), so this is a generic apocalyptic-opening echo rather than a targeted citation; included for completeness.

Now in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.


Isaiah 63 recalls God putting his Holy Spirit among his people at the Exodus through the sea, a new-Exodus matrix coherent with Jesus' Spirit-anointing at the Jordan. The contact is thematic (Spirit + water + sonship of Israel) rather than verbal, so volume is low; it strengthens the new-Exodus reading of the whole prologue.

Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying, Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? where is he who put his holy Spirit in their midst? who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses? who divided the waters before them, to make himself an everlasting name? who led them through the depths, as a horse in the wilderness, so that they didn’t stumble? As the livestock that go down into […]


Jesus' forty days 'tempted' in the wilderness recapitulates Israel's forty years in which the LORD led them to test (peirazō) them. Volume is thematic (forty + wilderness + testing) rather than verbal, but the typology of the new Israel re-running the wilderness probation is coherent and recurrent in early Christian reading. Mark, unlike Q, gives no scriptural debate, so the link is figural.

You shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not.


Moses' forty days and forty nights on Sinai (also Exodus 24:18) supplies one of the canonical 'forty days' fasts that Jesus' wilderness sojourn evokes. Volume is the shared numeral and wilderness setting; the Moses typology is coherent with Mark's broader new-Exodus framing, though Mark's brevity keeps it allusive rather than verbal.

He was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.


Elijah's forty days in the wilderness, sustained by an angel who 'served' him with food, closely parallels Mark's 'forty days... and the angels were serving him.' Volume includes the shared forty days plus angelic ministration, a distinctive combination; given Mark's heavy Elijah typology (John as Elijah, 1:6), recurrence and coherence are notable.

He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat!” He looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on the coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. Yahweh’s angel came again the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” He arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty […]


Psalm 91 promises angelic guardianship and treading on lion and serpent unharmed; Mark's pairing of 'wild animals' and 'angels serving him' may reflect this protection motif. Volume is low and indirect (the psalm is explicit in the Q temptation, not Mark), so for Mark this is a contested thematic echo rather than a citation.

For he will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, so that you won’t dash your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and cobra. You will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot.


Jesus 'with the wild animals' may evoke the eschatological peace where beasts no longer harm, marking him as inaugurator of restored creation. Volume is purely thematic and the wild beasts in Mark could equally signal danger (cf. Ps 91), so the irenic-Eden reading is contested; included for the new-creation typology.

The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat; The calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together; and a little child will lead them. The cow and the bear will graze. Their young ones will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play near a cobra’s hole, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for […]


The new-Adam reading sees Jesus, tempted by Satan yet among the beasts and served by angels, reversing Adam's failure in the garden among the animals. Volume is conceptual (Satan as tempter, the beasts, paradise restored) with no verbal borrowing, so this Adam-Christ typology is faint and contested in Mark, who never names Adam.

Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’”


'The kingdom of God is at hand' announced as 'good news' fulfills the herald of Isaiah 52:7 who proclaims good news and says 'Your God reigns.' Volume couples the distinctive verb euangelizō with the reign of God, both present here; recurrence binds it to 1:1's euangelion. Coherence is maximal—this is Mark's thesis statement drawn from Isaiah's gospel of God's kingship.

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!”


The expectation that 'the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed' supplies the apocalyptic content of Jesus' 'kingdom of God.' Volume is conceptual but the specific phrase 'kingdom of God/heaven' has its clearest Second-Temple anchor in Daniel; coherence with Mark's 'the time is fulfilled' (an apocalyptic timetable) is strong.

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.


The everlasting dominion given to the 'one like a son of man' is the kingdom Mark's Jesus proclaims and later claims (Mark 13:26; 14:62). In 1:15 the contact is thematic—the inbreaking eternal kingdom—rather than verbal, but the recurrence of Daniel 7 across Mark gives the echo real weight here.

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.


'The time is fulfilled' resonates with Isaiah 61:2's 'the acceptable year of the LORD,' the proclamation of the eschatological jubilee by the Spirit-anointed herald (cf. Jesus' anointing at 1:10). Volume is moderate on the 'favorable/fulfilled time' motif; coherence with the gospel-of-God framing is good, though Mark does not quote it as Luke does.

The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to preach glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken in heart, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind; to declare the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of recompence; to comfort all that mourn;


Ezekiel 7:7,12 declare 'the time has come, the day is near,' a near-formula for Mark's 'the time is fulfilled.' Volume is the shared 'the time has come' idiom, but Ezekiel's announcement is judgment, not gospel, weakening coherence; included as a faint, contested verbal parallel.

Your doom has come to you, inhabitant of the land: the time has come, the day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting, on the mountains.


'I will make you into fishers for men' draws on Jeremiah 16:16, 'I will send for many fishers... and they shall fish them.' Volume rests on the distinctive 'fishers of men' image, which is rare in scripture; coherence is the chief question because Jeremiah's fishers gather for judgment while Jesus' gather for salvation, a deliberate transvaluation. Distinctiveness makes the allusion likely.

Behold, I will send for many fishermen, says Yahweh, and they shall fish them up; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.


Ezekiel's vision of fishermen spreading nets along the life-giving temple river offers a more positive 'fishers' background than Jeremiah's judgment. Volume is low (no verbal contact beyond 'fishermen/nets') and the link is thematic, so it is a contested alternate backdrop to the call of the fishermen.

It shall happen, that fishermen shall stand by it: from En Gedi even to En Eglaim shall be a place for the spreading of nets; their fish shall be after their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.


Amos 4:2 threatens that the people will be taken away 'with fishhooks,' another OT fishing-for-people image. Volume is faint and, like Jeremiah, the valence is judgment; included for maximal coverage of the 'catching people' metaphor though coherence with Jesus' summons is weak.

The Lord Yahweh has sworn by his holiness that behold, “The days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks, and the last of you with fish hooks.


The abrupt prophetic call—Jesus passing by, the brothers immediately leaving father and livelihood—mirrors Elijah's call of Elisha, who left his oxen and his father to follow. Volume lies in the shared call-narrative form (summons in the midst of work, leaving family/trade), and Mark's pervasive Elijah typology raises coherence and recurrence for the pattern, even without direct quotation.

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 demon's confession 'the Holy One of God' uses a title applied in Psalm 106:16 (LXX 105:16) to Aaron, 'the holy one of the LORD.' Volume is the shared distinctive title, but its referent differs sharply (Aaron vs. Jesus), so the link is contested; it may simply mark Jesus as the consecrated agent of God whose holiness repels the unclean spirit.

They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron, Yahweh’s saint.


Samson is to be 'a Nazirite/holy one of God from the womb' (Judges 13:7; 16:17 LXX 'hagios theou'), the closest verbal match to the demon's 'Holy One of God.' Volume on the exact phrase is real, but the Samson connection is thematically thin, so this is a contested lexical parallel for the title rather than a developed allusion.

but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”


'The Holy One of Israel,' Isaiah's signature divine title, may stand behind 'the Holy One of God' as a claim to Jesus' divine identity recognized by the demon. Volume is partial (Holy One + God/Israel) and the genitive differs, so coherence is suggestive but the link remains faint and contested.

Ah sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken Yahweh. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are estranged and backward.


Jesus taking the sick woman 'by the hand' and raising her up loosely follows the Elijah/Elisha healing pattern (Elijah revives the widow's son). Volume is purely formal (prophet restores a stricken person), with no verbal borrowing in Mark's terse account, so this is a contested figural echo riding on Mark's broader Elijah typology.

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 raising of the Shunammite's son by personal touch offers another prophetic-healing template for Jesus' gesture of taking the hand and 'raising' the feverish woman. The contact is thematic and the language non-distinctive, so the echo is faint; included to register the prophet-healer typology underlying the miracle.

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 […]


Mark's summary of Jesus healing 'all who were sick' and casting out demons resonates with the Servant who 'bore our infirmities,' the verse Matthew explicitly cites at this point. For Mark the link is unmarked and thematic, so volume is low and it is contested whether Mark intends the Servant-of-Isaiah reading here, though it coheres with the Isa 42 Servant motif of 1:11.

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


Jesus rising 'early in the morning' to a solitary place to pray faintly echoes the Servant who is wakened 'morning by morning' to hear and speak God's word. Volume is minimal (the morning-prayer motif) with no verbal borrowing, so this is a contested, low-confidence echo; it coheres only loosely with Mark's Servant Christology.

The Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary: he wakens morning by morning, he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.


Jesus' command to 'show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing the things which Moses commanded' directly invokes the leper's purification rite of Leviticus 14, where the cleansed person presents himself to the priest with the prescribed offerings. Volume is high (Mark names 'the things Moses commanded' for cleansing), coherence total, and the reference is explicit Torah citation in substance.

“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 leper's condition—ritual uncleanness and exclusion from the community—presupposes the diagnostic law of Leviticus 13, the necessary backdrop to the cleansing of v.42. Volume is conceptual but the legal framework is unmistakably in view (the leper must be declared clean by a priest), and it coheres tightly with the offering command of v.44.

“The leper in whom the plague is shall wear torn clothes, and the hair of his head shall hang loose. He shall cover his upper lip, and shall cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ All the days in which the plague is in him he shall be unclean. He is unclean. He shall dwell alone. Outside of the camp shall be his dwelling.


The cleansing of a leper evokes Elisha's healing of Naaman, the paradigmatic OT leprosy cure by a prophet. Volume is the shared distinctive event (only Elisha cleanses a leper in the OT narratives) plus Mark's Elijah/Elisha typology; coherence is strong, and Luke 4:27 makes the Naaman link explicit, supporting its availability and recurrence in the tradition.

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's leprosy and Moses' intercession, with the priestly/Mosaic handling of her exclusion and restoration, sits in the background of leprosy as a divinely-managed impurity. Volume is low and the contact thematic rather than verbal, so this is a contested supporting echo to the Levitical leprosy frame.

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 […]


The scribes' objection "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (v.7) presupposes the prophetic axiom of Isa 43:25, "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake." High volume on the distinctive theology that pardon of sin is God's sole prerogative; Mark stages Jesus' authority precisely against this exclusive divine claim. Recurrence is strong in Isaiah's forgiveness oracles (44:22).

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