The opening 'biblos geneseos' (book of the genealogy/origin) directly echoes the LXX heading 'he biblos geneseos anthropon' of Gen 5:1, and recurs at Gen 2:4. Volume is high (rare, distinctive lexical formula reproduced verbatim in Greek); thematic coherence is strong — Matthew frames Jesus' arrival as a new creation/new beginning of humanity's story, deliberately invoking the toledot structure of Genesis.

This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him in God’s likeness.


Naming Abraham as the genealogy's root and inclusio ('son of Abraham') activates the patriarchal promise that in Abraham's seed all nations would be blessed. Recurrence is strong — Matthew's Gospel closes with the universal commission to all nations (28:19), so the Abrahamic blessing-to-the-Gentiles theme frames the whole book. Thematic coherence high.

All the nations of the earth will be blessed by your seed, because you have obeyed my voice.”


The 'son of Abraham' framing also recalls the foundational call and blessing of Gen 12:1-3 ('in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed'). Lower volume than 22:18 (no verbal borrowing) but thematically coherent with Matthew's Gentile-inclusive horizon.

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.”


'Son of David' invokes the Nathan dynastic oracle promising David an everlasting throne and a seed whose kingdom God will establish forever. Volume: 'son of David' is a loaded royal-messianic title; recurrence is heavy in Matthew (9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30-31; 21:9, 15; 22:42-45). Thematic coherence high — the genealogy is constructed to certify Jesus' Davidic, royal legitimacy.

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


A genealogy that climaxes in a Davidic deliverer resonates with the 'shoot from the stump of Jesse / branch from his roots' messianic hope. Volume low (no shared diction here) but Matthew elsewhere works the Davidic-branch motif; thematic coherence with the royal genealogy is real.

A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit.


The Abraham-Isaac-Jacob-Judah sequence and the post-exilic line (Jechoniah, Shealtiel, Zerubbabel) draw on the genealogical registers of 1 Chronicles 1-3, Matthew's principal source for the names. Volume high (verbatim onomastic chains); recurrence in the structuring of the whole list; thematic coherence as the canonical genealogical backbone.

Abraham became the father of Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau, and Israel.


The Perez-to-David segment (Perez, Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, David) reproduces the closing genealogy of Ruth almost name-for-name. Volume very high (an extended verbatim chain); thematic coherence strong, and the naming of Ruth herself (v.5) ties Matthew directly to that book.

Now this is the history of the generations of Perez: Perez became the father of Hezron, and Hezron became the father of Ram, and Ram became the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon became the father of Salmon, and Salmon became the father of Boaz, and Boaz became the father of Obed, and Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David.


Tamar and the twins Perez and Zerah (v.3) point to the irregular levirate episode of Gen 38. Volume high (the distinctive Perez/Zerah-by-Tamar detail); thematic coherence strong — Matthew deliberately foregrounds an unexpected, scandal-tinged maternity that anticipates Mary's irregular conception.

As he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out, and she said, “Why have you made a breach for yourself?” Therefore his name was called Perez. Afterward his brother came out, that had the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.


Rahab (v.5), the Canaanite harlot of Jericho, enters Israel's line. No verbal borrowing, but the inclusion is striking (the OT never names Rahab as Boaz's mother), so thematic coherence carries it: a Gentile outsider grafted into the messianic line, prefiguring Matthew's Gentile theme.

Joshua the son of Nun secretly sent two men out of Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, including Jericho.” They went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and slept there.


Naming Ruth (v.5) flags the Moabite great-grandmother of David — another foreign woman incorporated into the royal genealogy. Coheres with the pattern of four irregular/Gentile mothers (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba) that Matthew weaves to prepare for Mary.

They took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they lived there about ten years.


'David became the father of Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah' (v.6) pointedly invokes the Bathsheba/Uriah affair. Volume high (the unmistakable circumlocution naming Uriah rather than Bathsheba); thematic coherence strong — the deliberate reminder of David's sin and an irregular union sustains the four-women pattern and the grace-amid-scandal motif.

David sent and inquired after the woman. One said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”


The royal line from Solomon through the kings of Judah to Jechoniah (vv.6b-11) follows the Davidic king-list of 1 Chron 3. Volume high (verbatim onomastic sequence); thematic coherence as the certified royal succession, even as Matthew compresses it (omitting Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah) to fit the 14-pattern.

Solomon’s son was Rehoboam, Abijah his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son, Joram his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash his son, Amaziah his son, Azariah his son, Jotham his son, Ahaz his son, Hezekiah his son, Manasseh his son, Amon his son, Josiah his son. The sons of Josiah: the firstborn Johanan, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, the fourth Shallum. The sons of Jehoiakim: Jeconiah his son, Zedekiah his son.


'At the time of the exile to Babylon' / 'after the exile to Babylon' (vv.11-12) frames the deportation as the genealogy's central hinge, drawing on the Babylonian-exile narratives. Volume moderate-high (the explicit, repeated deportation marker); thematic coherence strong — exile is one of Matthew's three epochs, framing Jesus as the one who ends Israel's long captivity.

He carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths; no one remained, except the poorest sort of the people of the land. He carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his officers, and the chief men of the land, carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. All the men of might, even seven thousand, and the […]


The post-exilic link Jechoniah-Shealtiel-Zerubbabel (v.12) is taken from the Chronicler's post-exilic register. Volume high (distinctive verbatim chain); recurrence as part of Matthew's genealogical sourcing; thematic coherence as the bridge from exile to restoration.

The sons of Jeconiah, the captive: Shealtiel his son, and Malchiram, and Pedaiah, and Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah. The sons of Pedaiah: Zerubbabel, and Shimei. The sons of Zerubbabel: Meshullam, and Hananiah; and Shelomith was their sister;


Jechoniah (Coniah) bears Jeremiah's curse that none of his offspring would prosper on David's throne — a tension a careful reader feels when Matthew routes the Messiah's legal line through him (resolved via Joseph's legal, not biological, paternity). Volume low; included as a contested intertext of thematic friction.

Thus says Yahweh, Write you this man childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days; for no more shall a man of his seed prosper, sitting on the throne of David, and ruling in Judah.


Zerubbabel (v.12) is elsewhere made a signet-ring messianic figure ('I will make you like a signet ring'), partially reversing the Coniah curse. Faint thematic resonance with the restoration-of-the-Davidic-line theme; no verbal borrowing, hence low and contested.

In that day, says Yahweh of Armies, will I take you, Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel,’ says Yahweh, ‘and will make you as a signet, for I have chosen you,’ says Yahweh of Armies.”


Matthew's tripartite 3x14 (= 6 sevens) scheme, climaxing in 'the Christ,' may echo Daniel's seventy-weeks chronology of an anointed one, a popular schematized periodization of history in Second Temple thought. Volume low (numerological, not verbal); contested but thematically suggestive of an appointed messianic time.

Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and discern, that from the going out of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to the Anointed One, the prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: it shall be […]


The structuring fixation on fourteen generations may exploit the gematria of David's name (D-W-D = 4+6+4 = 14), itself anchored in Abraham, whose covenant-name change occurs in Gen 17. Faint, learned numerological echo; contested.

Neither will your name any more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.


Matthew's first formula citation: 'that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet' (v.22) introduces a near-verbatim quotation of LXX Isa 7:14 — 'the virgin (parthenos) shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel' (v.23). The paradigm fulfillment quotation: maximal volume, explicit citation formula, heavy rhetorical stress; Matthew uses such formulae throughout (recurrence very high); thematic coherence is the structural core of the pericope.

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


The interpretive gloss 'Immanuel … God with us' (v.23) draws on the recurrence of 'Immanu-el' in Isaiah 8:8, 10 ('for God is with us'), where the name is unpacked. Volume moderate (shared name and its meaning); thematic coherence strong — Matthew makes 'God with us' an inclusio with 28:20 ('I am with you always').

It will sweep onward into Judah. It will overflow and pass through; it will reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of its wings will fill the breadth of your land, Immanuel.


'God is with us' (LXX 'meth' hemon ho theos') in Isa 8:10 supplies the very wording of Matthew's translation of Immanuel (v.23). Parallel precursor to 8:8; together they ground Matthew's editorial gloss.

Take counsel together, and it will be brought to nothing; speak the word, and it will not stand: for God is with us.”


The angelic announcement pattern — a son foretold, with a divinely mandated name and a stated destiny ('you shall call his name … for …', vv.20-21) — follows the OT birth-annunciation type-scene, as with Isaac ('you shall call his name Isaac'). Volume moderate (form-critical/syntactic borrowing of the naming formula); thematic coherence with the announcement genre.

God said, “No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him.


The Hagar annunciation — 'you shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has heard your affliction' — is the closest formal template for v.21's structure ('she shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save…'): pregnancy + naming + 'for/because' rationale tying name to meaning. Verbal/syntactic parallel gives this allusion-level volume.

Yahweh’s angel said to her, “Behold, you are with child, and will bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because Yahweh has heard your affliction.


The Samson annunciation (angel appears, announces a son who 'shall begin to save Israel') parallels both the angelic appearance and the savior-of-his-people destiny of vv.20-21. Thematic coherence high (deliverer-of-the-people motif); verbal volume moderate.

Yahweh’s angel appeared to the woman, and said to her, “See now, you are barren, and don’t bear; but you shall conceive, and bear a son. Now therefore please beware and drink no wine nor strong drink, and don’t eat any unclean thing: for, behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb: and he shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”


'He shall save his people from their sins' (v.21) closely echoes Ps 130:8 ('he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities'). Volume high (the distinctive collocation of saving the people from sins, not merely from enemies); thematic coherence strong — it interprets the name 'Jesus/Yeshua' (= 'YHWH saves') and sets the soteriological program of the Gospel.

He will redeem Israel from all their sins.


The name 'Jesus' (Iesous) is the Greek form of Joshua/Yeshua, 'YHWH saves'; v.21's etymological wordplay ('Jesus, for he shall save') trades on that name. Recurrence of Joshua-as-deliverer typology gives modest volume; thematic coherence with the savior motif.

Now after the death of Moses the servant of Yahweh, Yahweh spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying,


Joseph being called 'a righteous man' (dikaios, v.19) places him in the OT line of the righteous (Noah 'a righteous man'; Job). Faint characterizing echo of the biblical 'tsaddiq' ideal; low volume, no specific borrowing.

This is the history of the generations of Noah: Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. Noah walked with God.


Joseph 'son of David' (v.20) receiving divine guidance through dreams faintly recalls the patriarch Joseph, the dreamer of Genesis — a 'Joseph who heeds dreams' typology Matthew sustains across the infancy narrative (2:13, 19, 22). Recurrence within Matthew lends some weight, but verbal volume is low, so contested.

Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more. He said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf.” His brothers said to him, “Will you indeed reign over us? Or will you indeed have dominion over us?” They hated him all the more for his […]


Joseph's dilemma over a betrothed woman 'found pregnant' and his option to act privately rather than 'make her a public example' (vv.18-19) presupposes the Mosaic law on a betrothed woman's infidelity. Legal background rather than verbal citation; low volume, included for thematic completeness.

If there is a young lady who is a virgin pledged to be married to a husband, and a man finds her in the city, and lies with her; then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones; the lady, because she didn’t cry, being in the city; and the man, because he has humbled his neighbor’s wife. So you shall remove the evil from your midst.


Explicit formula quotation ('this is written through the prophet') cited by the chief priests. Matthew's wording — 'You Bethlehem, land of Judah, are in no way least among the princes of Judah; for out of you shall come a governor (ruler) who shall shepherd my people Israel' — conflates Micah 5:2 with 2 Samuel 5:2. High Volume (verbatim place-name, ruler-from-Bethlehem motif, distinctive), strong Thematic Coherence (Davidic-messiah birthplace answers Herod's question), and Recurrence (Matthew is the formula-quotation evangelist par excellence).

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come out to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times.


Balaam's oracle — 'a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel' — supplies the messianic star and royal sense the Magi attach to 'his star.' High Thematic Coherence (a gentile seer from the east reads a star as the birth of Israel's king, exactly the Magi's role) and reasonable Volume via the distinctive star-king pairing, though no citation formula; widely read messianically in Second Temple Judaism.

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.


'They shall come from Sheba; they shall bring gold and frankincense' — gentiles arriving from afar bearing gold and frankincense to worship in the light of a rising glory. Strong Thematic Coherence with the eschatological pilgrimage of nations and two of the three gifts named verbatim; Volume is moderate (no myrrh, no formula).

The multitude of camels shall cover you, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praises of Yahweh.


'The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts... all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him' — royal homage and tribute brought to the king. Coheres tightly with the Magi falling down, worshiping, and offering treasures; this royal-psalm undergirds the later 'three kings' reading. Moderate Volume, high Thematic Coherence.

The kings of Tarshish and of the islands will bring tribute. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yes, all kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him.


'Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising' — the gentile-to-light/star pattern reinforcing the Magi following a star to the newborn king. Faint, thematic rather than verbal; contested as distinct from the broader Isaiah 60 field.

Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.


The Queen of Sheba traveling from the east to honor a Davidic-Solomonic king with gold and spices. A figural recurrence of foreign royalty seeking Israel's wise king; Volume is low and the link is mediated by Psalm 72 / Isaiah 60, so contested.

When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning Yahweh’s name, she came to prove him with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bore spices, and very much gold, and precious stones; and when she had come to Solomon, she talked with him of all that was in her heart. Solomon told her all her questions: there was not anything hidden from the king which he didn’t tell her. When the queen of Sheba had […]


Source of the 'shepherd my people Israel' clause fused into the Bethlehem quotation; David anointed at Hebron is told he will shepherd Israel. Distinctive shepherd-ruler language not in Micah, marking a deliberate Davidic conflation. Listed here as well as in the altSource of the Micah entry.

In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. Yahweh said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’”


Explicit fulfillment formula ('that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet'): 'Out of Egypt I called my son.' Verbatim Volume against the Hebrew (not LXX, which reads 'his children'), maximal rhetorical stress, and dense Thematic Coherence — Jesus as God's Son recapitulates Israel's exodus. Paradigm Matthean formula quotation.

“When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.


Moses-typology: God tells Moses 'all who sought your life are dead' (cf. 2:20), Israel is God's 'firstborn son,' and the infant-deliverer is threatened by a murderous king. The flight-into-Egypt / called-out-of-Egypt frame recapitulates the Moses-and-Israel pattern with little verbal borrowing but overwhelming structural coherence; Matthew clearly builds Jesus as a new Moses.

Yahweh said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return into Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead.” Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. Moses took God’s rod in his hand. Yahweh said to Moses, “When you go back into Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go. You shall tell Pharaoh, ‘Thus […]


Moses flees from Pharaoh who seeks to kill him, paralleling the holy family's flight from Herod who seeks to destroy the child. Herod-as-Pharaoh / Jesus-as-Moses typology; structural rather than verbal, hence figural.

Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and lived in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.


Israel's family also descends into Egypt for refuge by night under divine reassurance given in a night vision to Jacob ('do not fear to go down to Egypt'). Faint patriarchal recurrence of the protective sojourn-in-Egypt motif undergirding Hosea 11:1; contested.

God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!” He said, “Here I am.” He said, “I am God, the God of your father. Don’t be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation. I will go down with you into Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again. Joseph will close your eyes.”


Joseph the dreamer leads the family to safety in Egypt; Matthew's Joseph is likewise guided by dreams to and from Egypt. Distinctive shared name + dream-revelation + Egypt motif, but no verbal citation, so low-confidence and contested.


Named formula quotation ('that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled'): 'A voice was heard in Ramah... Rachel weeping for her children... because they are no more.' Verbatim Volume, explicit prophetic attribution, and Thematic Coherence — exile-and-lament now answered by hope (the very chapter promises return), framing the slaughtered innocents within Israel's exile pattern.

Thus says Yahweh: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.


Pharaoh's decree to kill the male Hebrew infants is recapitulated in Herod's massacre of Bethlehem's boys two years and under. Herod-as-Pharaoh typology with strong structural coherence (tyrant slays infants, deliverer escapes); little verbal overlap, hence figural but high confidence given the sustained Moses pattern.

Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”


Rachel dies and is buried 'on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem)' — anchoring the weeping mother to the Bethlehem locale of the massacre and explaining why Matthew reaches for the Rachel lament here. Moderate coherence via the geographic tie that activates Jeremiah 31:15.

Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath (the same is Bethlehem).


The infant Moses survives the slaughter of the Hebrew children, prefiguring the threatened-but-preserved child Jesus. Faint, mediated by the broader Pharaoh/Herod pattern; contested as a discrete echo within this pericope.

A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife. The woman conceived, and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. His sister stood far off, to see what would be done to him. Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe at the […]


The angel's words 'those who sought the young child's life are dead' (2:20) closely echo the Lord's words to Moses in Midian: 'all the men who sought your life are dead.' Distinctive, near-verbal parallel completing the Moses-return typology; high Volume and high Thematic Coherence even without a formula.

Yahweh said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return into Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead.”


For 'He will be called a Nazarene,' a leading candidate is the Nazirite consecration of Samson — 'the child shall be a Nazirite (nazir) to God from the womb' — a divinely set-apart deliverer-from-birth. Matthew's plural 'prophets' and the absence of an exact verse suggest a wordplay-cluster; Volume is via sound-alike (Nazoraios/nazir), coherence high. Editorially contested among Nazirite, Branch (netzer), and Nazareth-place readings.

for, behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb: and he shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”


The other principal candidate for 'He will be called a Nazarene': the Davidic 'branch' (netzer) springing from Jesse's root. The Hebrew netzer gives a strong consonantal pun on Nazoraios/Nazareth and fits the messianic-shoot theme; explains Matthew's vague 'prophets.' Contested against the Nazirite (Judges 13:5) reading; listed as alt of that entry and here in its own right.

A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit.


Parallel 'righteous Branch' (tsemach) messianic-shoot prophecy reinforcing the netzer/Nazarene wordplay field behind 2:23. Faint, mediated, and overlapping Isaiah 11:1; contested.

Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.


'Behold, the man whose name is the Branch' — another shoot/Branch text feeding the messianic 'Nazarene' pun cluster Matthew gestures toward with the plural 'prophets.' Low Volume, thematic only; contested.

and speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of Armies, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: and he shall grow up out of his place; and he shall build Yahweh’s temple;


Explicitly formula-marked ('spoken of by Isaiah the prophet') and near-verbatim: 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.' Highest Volume and an unambiguous citation. Matthew reads LXX, attaching 'in the wilderness' to the crying voice (locating John), the foundational identification of John's ministry.

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.


The 'prepare the way' messenger of Malachi 3:1 stands behind the way-preparation motif and is conflated with Isaiah 40:3 in Mark 1:2-3; Matthew cites only Isaiah here but the Malachi messenger-before-the-Lord theme governs John's role and resurfaces explicitly at Matt 11:10. Thematic Coherence and Recurrence high; verbal overlap partial.

“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.


Beyond the quoted v.3, the whole Isaianic New Exodus / wilderness-highway scene shapes the pericope: comfort after exile, the revealing glory of the Lord, all flesh seeing salvation. The wilderness setting of John's preaching enacts the prophetic return-from-exile pattern.

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. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain. Yahweh’s glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low: and all the crooked ways shall become straight, and the rough places plains. And the glory of the Lord shall appear, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God: for the Lord has spoken it.


John's garb — clothing 'of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist' — verbally matches the description of Elijah as 'a hairy man, with a leather belt around his waist.' Strong Volume on the distinctive belt phrase; signals John as the returning-Elijah figure (cf. Mal 4:5; Matt 11:14, 17:12).

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


The Elijah-redivivus expectation ('I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and dreadful day of the LORD') interprets John's Elijah-coded dress and his preaching of coming wrath. No verbal borrowing here but high Thematic Coherence with the wrath-to-come and Elijah typology; explicit later in Matthew.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”


Locusts are named among the few clean, edible insects in the dietary code; John's diet of 'locusts and wild honey' marks him as eating only what is ritually permitted in the wilderness. Faint, thematic — establishes John's ascetic/pure wilderness life rather than a verbal quotation.

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


'Offspring of vipers' resonates with prophetic snake/viper imagery for the wicked who hatch evil (Isa 59:5 'they hatch adders' eggs'); cf. the deceiving serpent. Faint verbal echo; the insult draws on a recurrent OT image of poisonous, deceitful brood.

They hatch adders’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he who eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.


The wicked 'go astray from the womb... their poison is like the poison of a serpent' supplies an alternate background for 'offspring of vipers' — innate corruption of a brood. Low Volume, thematic recurrence of serpent-poison-for-the-wicked.

The wicked go astray from the womb. They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a snake; like a deaf cobra that stops its ear,


'The wrath to come' invokes the prophetic Day of the LORD as burning wrath against the wicked (Isa 13:9 'the day of the LORD comes, cruel with wrath'). Thematic coherence with John's eschatological judgment preaching; no single source verbally dominant.

Behold, the day of Yahweh comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy its sinners out of it.


Zephaniah's 'day of wrath' consumed in the fire of God's jealousy is a prime articulation of the coming-wrath motif behind John's warning. Faint, diffuse; reinforces the eschatological-judgment frame shared with v.10-12 fire imagery.

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, a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements. I will bring distress on men, that they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against Yahweh, and their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold […]


'Who can endure the day of his coming?... he is like a refiner's fire' underlies both 'who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?' and the fire/purging imagery of vv.10-12. Strong thematic and structural parallel (coming one + purging fire); moderate verbal contact.

“But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderer’s soap; and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness.


'Produce fruit worthy of repentance' and the unfruitful-tree judgment draw on the prophetic vineyard/fruit motif where Israel's failure to yield good fruit brings destruction (Isa 5 the vineyard yielding wild grapes). Recurrent fruit-of-righteousness imagery; faint verbal link.

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


'We have Abraham for our father' presupposes the Abrahamic election and promise of descendants. John subverts presumption on physical Abrahamic descent; the covenant-father claim is intelligible only against the Genesis Abraham narrative and promise of seed.

Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Get out of your country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. 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.”


'God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones' plays on Isa 51:1-2: 'look to the rock from which you were hewn... look to Abraham your father.' The stone/rock-and-Abraham pairing is distinctive; God can hew new children from rock as he made many from one Abraham. Notable Volume on the rock-Abraham combination.

“Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek Yahweh: look to the rock you were cut from, and to the hold of the pit you were dug from. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many.


'The ax lies at the root of the trees... every tree... cut down' echoes Isaiah's image of the Lord lopping the boughs and felling the lofty trees/forest in judgment. Shared ax-and-felled-trees judgment imagery; moderate verbal coherence with v.10.

Behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will lop the boughs with terror. The tall will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low. He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.


The fruitful vs. fruitless tree and the chaff driven away / burned (vv.10,12) recall Psalm 1's contrast of the fruit-bearing righteous tree against the wicked who are 'like chaff which the wind drives away.' Faint, but joins tree-fruit and chaff imagery shared with the winnowing saying.

He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper. The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.


'He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit' fulfills the prophetic promise of God pouring out his Spirit on all flesh. Central Spirit-outpouring expectation; thematic coherence high (Pentecost realizes it), verbal contact via Spirit-pouring imagery.

“It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days, I will pour out my Spirit.


'I will pour my Spirit on your descendants' (with water-on-thirsty-ground) supports the Spirit-baptism promise. Faint verbal link via Spirit-pouring; reinforces the prophetic cluster behind v.11.

For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit on your seed, and my blessing on your offspring:


'I will sprinkle clean water on you... and put my Spirit within you' fuses water-cleansing and Spirit-giving exactly as John contrasts water-baptism with Spirit-baptism. Strong Thematic Coherence between cleansing water and indwelling Spirit; key background to v.11.

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, and do them.


The Lord washing away filth 'by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning' anticipates John's joint phrase 'Holy Spirit and fire' (in the fuller saying). Faint verbal contact pairing spirit + purging fire; supports the Spirit-and-fire reading.

when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from its midst, by the spirit of justice, and by the spirit of burning.


The refiner's purging fire that separates is the background for 'he will baptize... with fire' and the burning of chaff 'with unquenchable fire' (v.12). The coming-one-as-refiner pattern of Malachi tightly parallels the mightier-one-who-purges of vv.11-12.


'I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land' supplies the winnowing-as-judgment image directly behind 'his winnowing fork is in his hand.' Distinctive shared instrument and judgment sense; good Volume on the winnowing metaphor.

I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them of children, I have destroyed my people; they didn’t return from their ways.


'The day comes, burning like an oven... all the arrogant and evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes will set them ablaze' parallels the chaff burned 'with unquenchable fire.' Strong thematic and verbal coherence (stubble/chaff consumed by eschatological fire).

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


'Unquenchable fire' for the chaff resonates with Isaiah's final image of the corpses of rebels whose 'fire shall not be quenched' — the canonical source of unending judgment-fire. Faint but specific verbal phrase ('not be quenched'); undergirds Matthew's eschatology of final fire.

“They shall go out, and look on the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”


'The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand' draws on Daniel's vision of the God of heaven setting up an everlasting kingdom that shall never be destroyed. Faint verbal contact ('the God of heaven... a kingdom'); supplies the 'kingdom of heaven' eschatological background distinctive to Matthew.

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 underlies the imminent-kingdom proclamation. Thematic, not verbal; part of the Danielic kingdom-of-heaven matrix behind John's (and Jesus') preaching.

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.


Jesus' coming to the Jordan recapitulates Israel's defining Jordan-crossing into the land under Joshua (the same Hebrew name, Yeshua). Typological geography with little verbal borrowing; the Jordan as threshold of a new entry/beginning frames the baptism scene.

When the people moved from their tents to pass over the Jordan, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant being before the people, and when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark had dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest), the waters which came down from above stood, and rose up in one heap, a great way off, at Adam, the city that is beside […]


The Jordan as site of the Elijah/Elisha Spirit-transfer (parting waters, Spirit passing to the successor) provides a figural backdrop: at this Jordan the Spirit descends and the Elijah-figure John yields to the mightier coming one. Pattern-level, minimal verbal contact.

Elijah said to him, “Please wait here, for Yahweh has sent me to the Jordan.” He said, “As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” They both went on. Fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood opposite them at a distance; and they both stood by the Jordan. Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and struck the waters, and they were divided here and there, so that they two went over on dry ground. When they had gone […]


'The Spirit of God descending as a dove' over the baptismal waters images the Spirit of God hovering/brooding over the waters at creation — the baptism as new creation. Strong patristic and scholarly recurrence; verbal contact via 'Spirit of God' + waters, though the dove form is added.

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.


The dove returning over the receding flood waters (Noah) supplies a flood/new-creation typology for the descending dove after baptismal waters — emergence of a renewed world. Faint, traditional association; thematic dove-over-water link.

He himself sent out a dove to see if the waters were abated from the surface of the ground, but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him into the ship, for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth. He put out his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ship. He waited yet another seven days; and again he sent the dove out of the ship. The dove came back to him at evening and, behold, in her mouth was a freshly […]


'The heavens were opened' verbally matches Ezekiel's call-vision 'the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God' — likewise by a river (Chebar). The opened-heaven theophany formula introduces divine revelation and commissioning, exactly its function at Jesus' baptism.

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.


'Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down' is the eschatological plea answered when the heavens open at the baptism (more starkly 'torn' in Mark 1:10). Faint in Matthew's milder 'opened'; thematic coherence with longed-for theophanic descent.

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


The heavenly voice — 'my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased' — draws on the Servant oracle: 'my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him.' The Spirit-endowment plus divine delight cluster matches precisely (Matthew quotes Isa 42:1-4 at 12:18). High Thematic Coherence and Recurrence; identifies Jesus as the Isaianic Servant.

“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.


'This is my beloved Son' echoes the royal-enthronement decree 'You are my Son; today I have begotten you.' Strong messianic Volume; the divine sonship declaration applies the Davidic king-psalm to Jesus. Combined here with the Servant oracle of Isa 42:1.

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


'My beloved Son' (Greek agapetos) recalls Isaac, 'your son, your only/beloved son whom you love,' bound near a mountain — a faint Aqedah resonance coloring Jesus as the beloved son offered. Verbal contact on agapetos; contested but recurrent in early-Christian typology.

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.”


Jesus' first reply (v.4) quotes verbatim 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.' High Volume (explicit 'It is written' + near-exact wording) and Thematic Coherence: Deut 8:3 interprets the wilderness manna as God's pedagogy to teach Israel dependence on his word; Jesus, fasting in the wilderness, recapitulates and passes the test Israel failed.

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


Jesus' second reply (v.7) quotes 'You shall not test the LORD your God.' Formula 'it is written' + verbatim citation. In Deut 6:16 the warning is 'as you tested him at Massah' (water from the rock); Jesus refuses to coerce God's protective care, again reversing Israel's wilderness failure.

You shall not tempt Yahweh your God, as you tempted him in Massah.


Jesus' climactic reply (v.10) 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and you shall serve him only' quotes Deut 6:13 (LXX adds 'only/alone'). High Volume formula citation; the demand for exclusive worship answers Satan's demand to be worshiped (v.9).

You shall fear Yahweh your God; and you shall serve him, and shall swear by his name.


Satan's temptation (v.6) quotes verbatim 'He will command his angels concerning you... on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.' Verbatim citation with formula 'it is written' — Scripture cited by the tempter, demonstrating the contest is over interpretation, not knowledge.

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.


The forty days and forty nights of fasting (v.2) echoes Moses' forty days and nights on Sinai without bread or water (Exod 34:28; also Exod 24:18). Strong verbal and numeric match; the new-Moses typology recurs throughout Matthew (mountain, law-giver).

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.


Moses 'neither ate bread nor drank water forty days and forty nights' (Deut 9:9, 18) parallels Jesus' fast; Matthew's Deuteronomic quotation chain makes this Deuteronomy theophany-fast a likely background to the forty-day frame.

When I had gone up onto the mountain to receive the stone tablets, even the tablets of the covenant which Yahweh made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.


Israel's forty years of wilderness wandering/testing (a year for each day of spying) stands behind Jesus' forty days. Hays' Thematic Coherence: each of Jesus' three answers is drawn from Deut's reflection on those forty years (manna, Massah, idolatry), framing Jesus as faithful Israel reduced to one obedient Son.

Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies are consumed in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you will bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you will know my alienation.’


The manna 'test' ('that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law') underlies the bread temptation; Deut 8:3 (quoted) is the interpretive lens, but Exod 16's hunger-and-bread test is the recurrent narrative source.

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


Massah/Meribah, where Israel 'tested the LORD' demanding water — the very event Deut 6:16 names — supplies the recurrent background for the temple-pinnacle scene where Jesus refuses to put God to the test.

All the congregation of the children of Israel traveled from the wilderness of Sin, by their journeys, according to Yahweh’s commandment, and encamped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?” The people were thirsty for water there; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, “Why […]


'The LORD led you these forty years in the wilderness... testing you to know what was in your heart.' Verbal kinship with v.1 ('led up... into the wilderness to be tempted') and the whole framing of a divinely-led wilderness test.

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.


'As a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you' — the father/son wilderness-discipline theme resonates with the repeated 'If you are the Son of God' challenge framing Jesus' wilderness testing.

You shall consider in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so Yahweh your God disciplines you.


'Israel is my firstborn son' — the divine-sonship of Israel that Jesus recapitulates; Satan's taunt 'If you are the Son of God' presses on the sonship just declared at the baptism (3:17) and rooted in Israel's corporate sonship.

You shall tell Pharaoh, ‘Thus says Yahweh, Israel is my son, my firstborn, and I have said to you, “Let my son go, that he may serve me”; and you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.’”


The tempter ('serpent'/devil) offers food and god-like status; Eve's threefold desire (good for food, delight to eyes, to make wise) loosely patterns the three temptations (bread, spectacle, kingdoms). Adam typology: where the first man fell, Jesus stands. Disputed in detail, hence contested.

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 woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, but not the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t surely […]


'The Satan' (the adversary) granted access to test a righteous man under divine permission parallels the devil's testing role; the title 'Satan' Jesus uses (v.10) draws on this adversary figure.

Now on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan also came among them. Yahweh said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil.” Then Satan […]


From a high mountain Moses is shown all the land/kingdoms; the devil takes Jesus to 'an exceedingly high mountain' and shows him all the kingdoms of the world (v.8). The Moses-on-Pisgah panorama is inverted — a counterfeit Nebo offering the world by idolatry rather than promise.

Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. Yahweh showed him all the land of Gilead, to Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, to the western sea, and the south, and the Plain of the valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, to Zoar. Yahweh said to him, “This is the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to […]


The demand for undivided allegiance ('serve him only', v.10) recalls the Deuteronomic monotheism dramatized at Carmel; faint thematic recurrence of 'serve the LORD alone.'

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


The Father gives the Son 'the nations as your heritage'; Satan counterfeits this by offering 'all the kingdoms of the world' (v.8-9) on his own terms. Royal-Son enthronement (cf. 3:17 'my Son') makes the kingdoms-offer a parody of Ps 2's promised dominion.

I will tell of the decree. Yahweh said to me, “You are my son. Today I have become your father. Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.


Universal dominion over 'all peoples, nations' given to the Son of Man — the legitimate eschatological kingship the devil offers as a shortcut without the cross. Faint, thematic.

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.


Elijah in the wilderness, fed by an angel, journeys forty days; angels minister to Jesus after his forty-day wilderness fast (v.11). Recurrent prophet-in-wilderness, angelically-sustained pattern.

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 […]


The verse immediately after Satan's quotation ('you will tread on the lion and the adder') promises mastery over the adversary — an ironic uncited remainder of Ps 91 that the narrative enacts as Jesus masters the devil.

You will tread on the lion and cobra. You will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot.


'The LORD rebuke you, Satan!' — the heavenly rebuke of the accuser resonates with Jesus' 'Get behind me, Satan!' (v.10). Faint verbal/thematic recurrence of rebuking the adversary.

He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before Yahweh’s angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary. Yahweh said to Satan, “Yahweh rebuke you, Satan! Yes, Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?”


The Shema's command to love/serve God with whole heart frames the cluster of Deut 6 citations; exclusive devotion to the one LORD is the theological center of Jesus' resistance.

Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one. You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.


vv.15-16 quote Isa 9:1-2 with formula 'that it might be fulfilled... through Isaiah': 'land of Zebulun and Naphtali... Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sat in darkness saw a great light.' High Volume formula citation; Matthew geographically anchors Jesus' Galilean ministry in Isaiah's promise of light to the despised northern tribes first to suffer Assyrian conquest.

But there shall be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter time he has made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who lived in the land of the shadow of death, on them the light has shined.


The immediately preceding context of the quotation — 'gloom of anguish... region and shadow of death' — supplies the contrast of darkness the 'great light' dispels; Matthew's citation spans the Isa 8/9 seam.

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


Tiglath-pileser's deportation of Zebulun/Naphtali (Galilee) sets the historical 'darkness' Isa 9 reverses; the named tribes carry this exile memory. Background, faint.

In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel Beth Maacah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria.


'Arise, shine, for your light has come... nations shall come to your light' — recurrent Isaianic light-to-the-nations theme reinforcing 'Galilee of the Gentiles' seeing the light. Thematic, contested as a distinct source.

“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and Yahweh’s glory is risen on you. For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but Yahweh will arise on you, and his glory shall be seen on you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.


The servant given 'as a light to the nations, to open eyes that are blind' resonates with Jesus as the light dawning on Gentile Galilee. Faint thematic recurrence.

“I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and make you a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations; to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison.


'Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand' (v.17) opens with the prophetic call to repentance characteristic of Jonah/the prophets; Matthew later pairs Jonah-Nineveh with repentance preaching (12:41). Faint, generic prophetic echo.

“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.


'Repent and turn... why will you die?' — the prophetic summons to repentance underlies Jesus' inaugural proclamation. Generic, contested.

Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, everyone according to his ways, says the Lord Yahweh. Return, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, in which you have transgressed; and make yourself a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies, says the Lord Yahweh: therefore turn yourselves, […]


'The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed' grounds 'the Kingdom of Heaven' (v.17); Matthew's signature 'Kingdom of Heaven' reflects Danielic heaven-kingdom expectation. Thematic, recurrent.

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.


Elijah's call of Elisha — who is plowing, leaves his oxen, and immediately follows — patterns the immediate abandonment of nets/boat/father by the fishermen (vv.20, 22). Strong narrative parallel of prophetic call met by instant, total following.

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, […]


'I will send for many fishers, says the LORD, and they shall fish them' — the prophetic 'fishers' image stands behind 'I will make you fishers for men' (v.19). Verbal borrowing of the fishing-for-people metaphor, though Jeremiah's is judgment and Jesus' is gathering.

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.


Fishermen spreading nets at the life-giving river/sea of the eschatological temple vision; faint resonance with calling fishermen into kingdom-mission abundance.

It shall happen, that every living creature which swarms, in every place where the rivers come, shall live; and there shall be a very great multitude of fish; for these waters have come there, and the waters of the sea shall be healed, and everything shall live wherever the river comes. 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 […]


'He will take you away with hooks, the last of you with fishhooks' — another prophetic fishing-as-gathering image contributing to the recurrent metaphor behind 'fishers for men.' Faint, judgment-toned.

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.


Humanity caught 'like fish of the sea... they bring them up with a net' — recurrent OT trope of people-as-fish-in-nets resonant with the fishing-for-men commission. Contested.

and make men like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? He takes up all of them with the hook. He catches them in his net, and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad.


Jesus 'healing every disease and every sickness' (v.23-24) enacts the Isaianic restoration where 'the eyes of the blind shall be opened... the lame leap'; Matthew elsewhere makes this explicit (11:5). Thematic Coherence with the in-breaking kingdom.

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing; for waters will break out in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.


'He bore our sicknesses' — the healing summary anticipates Matthew's own citation of Isa 53:4 over the healings in 8:17, making this servant-healing theology a likely background here too.

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


'Who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases' — the divine prerogative to heal 'all diseases' is exercised by Jesus, a faint resonance of God's healing kingship.

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


'The sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings' — eschatological dawning healing connects to the 'light dawned' (v.16) now realized in the healing ministry. Faint, thematic.

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


Jesus 'went up onto the mountain' to teach Torah, evoking Moses ascending Sinai to receive the law; Matthew presents a new-Moses giving authoritative instruction from a mountain.

Moses went up to God, and Yahweh called to him out of the mountain, saying, “This is what you shall tell the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel:


Moses summoned up the mountain to receive the tablets of law and commandment; the Sermon's mountain setting figurally recasts the giving of Torah.

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.”


Moses assembles and teaches Israel the statutes; the seated Teacher addressing disciples mirrors the Mosaic instruction frame.

Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, “Hear, Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears this day, that you may learn them, and observe to do them.”


'The gentle/meek shall inherit the earth/land' is a near-verbatim echo of LXX Ps 36:11 (Ps 37:11), the clearest single source behind the third beatitude.

But the humble shall inherit the land, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.


Isaiah's anointed proclaims good news to the poor and comfort to all who mourn; multiple beatitudes (poor, mourning-comforted, righteousness) cluster on this Servant text, which Jesus elsewhere claims.

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; to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of […]

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; that there should be given to them that mourn in Sion glory instead of ashes, the oil of joy to the mourners, the garment of glory for the spirit of heaviness: and […]


God dwells with the contrite and lowly in spirit; 'poor in spirit' draws on this prophetic ideal of humble dependence on God.

For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.


God regards the poor, contrite in spirit, who tremble at his word — background for 'blessed are the poor in spirit.'

For all these things has my hand made, and so all these things came to be,” says Yahweh: “but to this man will I look, even to him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.


The LORD is near the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit; coheres with poor-in-spirit and those who mourn.

Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.


The mourners shall possess a double portion and everlasting joy; reinforces the inheritance/reward logic of the beatitudes.

Instead of your shame you shall have double; and instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be to them.


'Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? ... He who has clean hands and a pure heart' — direct source for 'blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.'

Who may ascend to Yahweh’s hill? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not sworn deceitfully.


'God is good to the pure in heart' — recurrent Psalter theme behind the sixth beatitude.

Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.


'Blessed is the man...' — the makarism/beatitude form itself is rooted in the Psalter's wisdom blessing formula.

Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers;


Beatitude-form blessing ('Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven'); shapes the genre of Jesus' blessings.

Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn’t impute iniquity, in whose spirit there is no deceit.


The redeemed 'shall not hunger nor thirst'; background for 'hunger and thirst after righteousness ... shall be filled.'

They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun strike them: for he who has mercy on them will lead them, even by springs of water he will guide them.


God satisfies the hungry and thirsty soul; coheres with the fourth beatitude's promise of being filled.

Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses, he led them also by a straight way, that they might go to a city to live in. Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, for his wonderful works to the children of men! For he satisfies the longing soul. He fills the hungry soul with good.


'Blessed is he who is generous/merciful to the poor'; wisdom background for 'blessed are the merciful.'

He who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is he who has pity on the poor.


'I desire mercy'; the mercy-receives-mercy logic of the fifth beatitude resonates with Hosea, a text Matthew cites twice elsewhere.

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


To do justice, love mercy (hesed), walk humbly — clusters mercy, righteousness, and humility that pervade the beatitudes.

He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?


'I shall behold your face in righteousness' — beatific seeing of God promised to the pure in heart.

As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with seeing your form.


Jacob saw God face to face and lived; background to the extraordinary promise 'they shall see God.'

Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for, he said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”


The saints of the Most High receive and possess the kingdom; underwrites 'theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven' (bracketing beatitudes 1 and 8).

But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.


Kingdom and dominion given to the people of the holy ones; reinforces the kingdom-inheritance frame.

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.


Israel as God's 'children'/friends; background for peacemakers 'called children of God.'

Didn’t you, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it to the seed of Abraham your friend forever?


'You are children of the living God' — divine-sonship language behind 'they shall be called children of God.'

Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can’t be measured nor numbered; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’


'Seek peace and pursue it'; the active peacemaking blessed in the seventh beatitude.

Depart from evil, and do good. seek peace, and pursue it.


Israel mocked and persecuted the prophets; basis for 'so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.'

but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of Yahweh arose against his people, until there was no remedy.


Elijah laments the slaying of the prophets; the persecuted-prophets motif of v.12.

He said, “I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”


The prophet Uriah killed for prophesying; concrete instance of persecuted prophets behind v.12.

There was also a man who prophesied in Yahweh’s name, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath Jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah: and when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt: and Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, Elnathan the son […]


'Fear not the reproach of men' addressed to those with God's law in their heart — close parallel to being reproached/reviled for righteousness' sake.

“Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; don’t fear the reproach of men, neither be dismayed at their insults.


The wicked plot against the righteous one, reproaching and persecuting him to test his patience; Second Temple background for the persecuted-righteous beatitudes.

But let us lie in wait for the righteous man, Because he is of disservice to us, And is contrary to our works, And upbraids us with sins against the law, And lays to our charge sins against our discipline. 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 […]


Elijah among the persecuted prophets; deuterocanonical recollection of the prophets' suffering invoked in v.12.

Also there arose Elijah the prophet as fire, And his word burned like a torch: Who brought a famine upon them, And by his zeal made them few in number. By the word of the Lord he shut up the heaven: Thrice did he thus bring down fire. How was you glorified, O Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! And who shall glory like to you? Who did raise up a dead man from death, And from the place of the dead, by the word of the Most High: Who brought down kings to […]


Those who sow in tears reap with joy; coheres with mourners being comforted and rejoicing.

Those who sow in tears will reap in joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed for sowing, will certainly come again with joy, carrying his sheaves.


Deuterocanonical exhortation to mercy/almsgiving that obtains divine favor; background to 'blessed are the merciful.'

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.


The 'salt of the covenant' required with every grain offering; salt as covenant-fidelity image behind 'you are the salt of the earth.'

Every offering of your meal offering you shall season with salt; neither shall you allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your meal offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt.


'A covenant of salt forever' — salt symbolizing enduring covenant loyalty, the failure of which (losing savor) is the warning.

All the wave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to Yahweh, have I given you, and your sons and your daughters with you, as a portion forever. It is a covenant of salt forever before Yahweh to you and to your seed with you.”


Davidic kingship given by a 'covenant of salt'; reinforces salt's covenantal connotation.

Ought you not to know that Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?


The Servant made 'a light to the nations/world' — direct background for 'you are the light of the world,' extending Israel's vocation to the disciples.

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 Servant given 'as a light to the nations'; reinforces the light-to-the-world commission.

“I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and make you a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations;


Zion's light arises and nations come to its brightness; a city/light that cannot be hidden draws on this eschatological imagery.

“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and Yahweh’s glory is risen on you. For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but Yahweh will arise on you, and his glory shall be seen on you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.


The mountain of the LORD's house lifted up, with nations streaming to it; 'a city set on a hill cannot be hidden' evokes the eschatological Zion.

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.


The wise 'shall shine like the brightness of the firmament'; the radiance of the righteous behind 'let your light shine.'

Those who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the expanse; and those who turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.


The path of the righteous is like the dawning light that grows brighter; wisdom image of righteous luminance.

But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light, that shines more and more until the perfect day.


When justice is done, 'your light shall break forth like the dawn'; light as visible righteous deeds (cf. 'see your good works').

Then your light shall break out as the morning, and your healing shall spring out speedily; and your righteousness shall go before you; Yahweh’s glory shall be your rear guard.


Doing good to the afflicted causes one's light to rise in darkness — coheres with light shining through good works.

and if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then your light shall rise in darkness, and your obscurity be as the noonday;


Do not add to or take from the commandment; 'not one jot or tittle shall pass' affirms the law's inviolability in the same spirit.

You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you.


Warning against adding to or diminishing God's commands; background to the permanence of every least commandment.

If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises in your midst you, and he gives you a sign or a wonder,


'The grass withers... but the word of our God stands forever'; heaven-and-earth-may-pass-but-the-law-endures echoes the abiding word.

The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”


'The heavens shall vanish... but my salvation shall be forever' — direct background for 'until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter shall pass from the law.'

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment; and those who dwell therein shall die in the same way: but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.


'Forever, O LORD, your word is settled in the heavens'; the eternal stability of Torah affirmed in v.18.

Yahweh, your word is settled in heaven forever.


'Every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever'; coheres with the permanence of the least commandments.

All of your words are truth. Every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever.


'The law... endures forever' — Second Temple affirmation of Torah's eternity behind v.18.

This is the book of the commandments of God, and the law that endures for ever: all those who hold it fast are appointed to life; but such as leave it shall die.


Call to keep and not depart from God's statutes; resonates with not breaking the least commandments.

From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says Yahweh of Armies. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’


'You shall not murder' — verbatim citation of the sixth commandment (Decalogue) introduced by the antithesis formula.


Parallel Decalogue form of 'You shall not murder'; the cited commandment stands in both Exodus and Deuteronomy.


Bloodshed brings judgment ('whoever sheds man's blood...'); background for 'whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.'

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


Mosaic law on the murderer being put to death by the court; 'liable to the judgment/council' draws on this judicial framework.

“‘Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be slain at the mouth of witnesses; but one witness shall not testify against any person that he die. “‘Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death; but he shall surely be put to death.


Hard cases of bloodshed brought before judges/priests; the escalating tribunal (judgment, council) reflects Israel's courts.

If there arises a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within your gates; then you shall arise, and go up to the place which Yahweh your God chooses. You shall come to the priests who are Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those days. You shall inquire, and they shall give you the verdict.


'You shall not hate your brother in your heart' — the interiorizing of murder into anger toward 'your brother' draws on the Holiness Code.

“‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.


Prohibition of grudge-bearing against one's kin; coheres with reconciling before offering one's gift.

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


Cain's anger toward his brother culminating in murder is the archetype of the anger-to-murder continuum Jesus expounds.

but he didn’t respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and the expression on his face fell. Yahweh said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why has the expression of your face fallen? If you do well, won’t it be lifted up? If you don’t do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you are to rule over it.” Cain said to Abel, his brother, “Let’s go into the field.” While they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, […]


Wisdom on settling with one's adversary before wrath/ruin; background for 'agree with your adversary quickly... lest he hand you to the judge.'

For jealousy arouses the fury of the husband. He won’t spare in the day of vengeance. He won’t regard any ransom, neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.


'Do not hastily bring to court... settle your case with your neighbor'; coheres with vv.25-26's counsel to reconcile en route.

Don’t be hasty in bringing charges to court. What will you do in the end when your neighbor shames you? Debate your case with your neighbor, and don’t betray the confidence of another;


God rejects sacrifice from those whose hands are unjust until they do right; prophetic priority of reconciliation over cultic gift (vv.23-24).

“What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?”, says Yahweh. “I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed animals. I don’t delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts? Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me; new moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can’t bear with evil assemblies. My soul hates […]


God despises offerings divorced from justice; background to leaving one's gift to be reconciled first.

I hate, I despise your feasts, and I can’t stand your solemn assemblies. Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals. Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.


'You shall not commit adultery' — verbatim citation of the seventh commandment.


Parallel Decalogue form of the adultery prohibition.


'You shall not covet your neighbor's wife' — the interiorizing of adultery into lustful looking draws directly on the coveting commandment.

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”


'I made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?' — the closest parallel to lustful looking already being sin.

“I made a covenant with my eyes, how then should I look lustfully at a young woman?


If my heart followed my eyes — the eye-heart link Jesus develops ('looks with lust... in his heart').

if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement has stuck to my hands,


'Do not desire her beauty in your heart, nor let her capture you with her eyelashes' — wisdom on lust of the eyes/heart.

Don’t lust after her beauty in your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids.


Potiphar's wife 'cast her eyes' on Joseph; the gaze-leading-to-adultery motif.

After these things, his master’s wife set her eyes on Joseph; and she said, “Lie with me.”


'Turn away your eyes from a shapely woman... many have been led astray by a woman's beauty' — Second Temple wisdom on the lustful gaze.

Turn away your eye from a comely woman, And gaze not on another’s beauty: By the beauty of a woman many have been led astray; And herewith love is kindled as a fire.


Prayer against the lust of the eyes and sinful desire; coheres with guarding the eye against lust.

O Lord, Father and God of my life, Give me not a proud look, And turn away concupiscense from me. Let not greediness and chambering overtake me; And give me not over to a shameless mind.


Even a beloved relation must be cut off if leading to sin; background to the radical 'pluck out the eye, cut off the hand.'

you shall not consent to him, nor listen to him; neither shall your eye pity him, neither shall you spare, neither shall you conceal him; but you shall surely kill him. Your hand shall be first on him to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people.


'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce' — direct citation of the Mosaic divorce provision Jesus qualifies.

When a man takes a wife and marries her, then it shall be, if she finds no favor in his eyes, because he has found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorce, and put it in her hand, and send her out of his house.


The fuller divorce-and-remarriage statute; Jesus reframes its concession around the cause of immorality.

When she has departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. If the latter husband hates her, and write her a bill of divorce, and puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, who took her to be his wife; her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before Yahweh. You shall not cause the land to sin, which Yahweh your […]


'The two become one flesh' — the creation order of marriage underlies Jesus' restriction of divorce (made explicit in Mt 19).

Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.


God hates divorce / the treacherous putting-away of a wife; prophetic background to Jesus' tightening of the divorce concession.

Yet you say, ‘Why?’ Because Yahweh has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant. Did he not make you one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. For I hate divorce”, says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “and him […]


'You shall not swear by my name falsely' — direct source for 'you shall not swear falsely.'

“‘You shall not swear by my name falsely, and profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh.


'When a man vows a vow to the LORD... he shall do all that proceeds from his mouth' — basis for 'but shall perform to the Lord your vows.'

When a man vows a vow to Yahweh, or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.


Vows to the LORD must be paid and not delayed; reinforces the obligation-to-perform clause Jesus cites.

When you vow a vow to Yahweh your God, you shall not be slack to pay it; for Yahweh your God will surely require it of you; and it would be sin in you. But if you refrain from making a vow, it shall be no sin in you. You shall observe and do that which has gone out of your lips. Whatever you have vowed to Yahweh your God as a freewill offering, which you have promised with your mouth, you must do.


'You shall not take the name of the LORD in vain' — the Decalogue prohibition behind false/empty swearing.

“You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.


Who has not 'sworn deceitfully' — the false-oath concern of the oath antithesis (and ties to the pure in heart of v.8).

He who has clean hands and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not sworn deceitfully.


'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool' — direct source for swearing 'neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God; nor by the earth, his footstool.'

Thus says Yahweh, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what kind of house will you build to me? and what place shall be my rest?


Zion 'the city of the great King' — direct source for 'nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.'

Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the north sides, the city of the great King.


'The LORD's throne is in heaven'; coheres with heaven as God's throne, making oaths by it oaths by God.

Yahweh is in his holy temple. Yahweh is on his throne in heaven. His eyes observe. His eyes examine the children of men.


Better not to vow than to vow and not pay; wisdom critique of rash vows behind 'swear not at all.'

When you vow a vow to God, don’t defer to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which you vow. It is better that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay.


'Do not accustom your mouth to oaths' — Second Temple wisdom counseling against habitual swearing, closely parallel to v.34.

Accustom not your mouth to an oath; And be not accustomed to the naming of the Holy One. For as a servant that is continually scourged will not lack a bruise, So he also that swears and names God continually will not be cleansed from sin. A man of many oaths will be filled with iniquity; And the scourge will not depart from his house: If he shall offend, his sin will be upon him; And if he disregard it, he has sinned doubly; And if he has sworn in vain, […]


Human powerlessness to effect things by one's word; coheres with 'you cannot make one hair white or black' (v.36).

Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord doesn’t command it?


'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth' — verbatim citation of the lex talionis Jesus sets in antithesis.

eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,


'Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth' — parallel talion formula behind the citation.

fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has injured someone, so shall it be done to him.


'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth' — third Pentateuchal statement of the talion principle.

Your eyes shall not pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.


'Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him' — close parallel to 'turn the other cheek.'

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


The Servant 'gave my back to those who strike, my cheeks to those who pull the beard' — nonretaliatory suffering behind turning the cheek.

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.


'Do not say, I will repay evil; wait for the LORD' — wisdom renunciation of retaliation behind 'do not resist the evildoer.'

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


'Do not say, I will do to him as he has done to me' — direct rejection of tit-for-tat, paralleling the non-resistance teaching.

Don’t say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will render to the man according to his work.”


Feed your enemy, give him drink; the generous-to-the-aggressor ethic extending into giving coat and cloak.

If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. If he is thirsty, give him water to drink: for you will heap coals of fire on his head, and Yahweh will reward you.


The cloak taken in pledge must be returned; legal background sharpening 'let him have your cloak also.'

If you take your neighbor’s garment as collateral, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What would he sleep in? It will happen, when he cries to me, that I will hear, for I am gracious.


Do not harden your heart but open your hand to the poor and lend freely; direct background to 'give to him who asks, do not refuse the borrower.'

If a poor man, one of your brothers, is with you within any of your gates in your land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother; but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, which he lacks.


Give freely and open your hand to the needy; reinforces v.42's command to give.

You shall surely give, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him; because that for this thing Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work, and in all that you put your hand to. 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 righteous is generous and gives'; coheres with the giving/lending ethic of v.42.

The wicked borrow, and don’t pay back, but the righteous give generously.


'He is ever lending generously'; the open-handed righteous of v.42.

All day long he deals graciously, and lends. His seed is blessed.


'You shall love your neighbor as yourself' — direct citation of the love command, the cited half of the antithesis.

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


Commands not to seek the welfare of Ammon/Moab; one strand behind the popularly inferred 'hate your enemy' (no OT verse commands hatred per se).

An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into Yahweh’s assembly; even to the tenth generation shall no one belonging to them enter into Yahweh’s assembly forever; because they didn’t meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. Nevertheless Yahweh your God wouldn’t listen to Balaam; but Yahweh your God turned the curse into a […]


'Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? ... I hate them with perfect hatred' — the scriptural posture of hating enemies Jesus overturns.

Yahweh, don’t I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you? I hate them with perfect hatred. They have become my enemies.


'Love the sojourner as yourself' — the love command already stretched beyond kin in the Holiness Code, anticipating love of enemies.

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


Return your enemy's stray ox; help the donkey of one who hates you — Torah's seed of active goodwill toward enemies.

“If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, don’t leave him, you shall surely help him with it.


'If your enemy is hungry, give him bread' — direct wisdom command to do good to enemies, behind 'love your enemies, do good.'

If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. If he is thirsty, give him water to drink:


'Do not rejoice when your enemy falls' — renunciation of enmity coherent with loving enemies.

Don’t rejoice when your enemy falls. Don’t let your heart be glad when he is overthrown;


Job claims he never rejoiced at his enemy's ruin nor cursed him — pious refusal of vengeance behind the enemy-love ethic.

“If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him; (yes, I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse);


'Be holy, for I am holy' — the imitatio Dei formula directly behind 'be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.'

For I am Yahweh your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy: neither shall you defile yourselves with any kind of creeping thing that moves on the earth.


'You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy' — the Holiness Code's call to imitate God, reframed as perfection in v.48.

“Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘You shall be holy; for I, Yahweh your God, am holy.


'You shall be blameless/perfect (tamim) before the LORD your God' — the LXX 'teleios' here closely matches 'be perfect.'

You shall be perfect with Yahweh your God.


'Walk before me and be blameless (tamim)' — the call to integrity before God behind 'be perfect.'

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me, and be blameless.