Matthew 21 Cross References - JMNT

¹ Later, when they got close to [the] Jerusalem [area], after they went into Bethphage, [then on] into the Mount of Olives, Jesus at that time sent off two disciples on a mission, ² while saying to them, "Be proceeding on you way into the village – the one opposite [us], down within your [view] – and immediately you will be finding an ass: one having been tied, as well as a colt with her. Upon loosing [them], lead [them] to Me. ³ "And if anyone may say anything to you, you will say that the Lord (Master; owner [?]; = Yahweh [?]) is presently having a need of them, so he will at once proceed to be sending them off (or: ... and He will proceed sending them off [= back] right away)." ⁴ Now this whole event has happened (or: come to be) to the end that the [prophecy; oracle] spoken through the prophet would (could; should; may) be fulfilled – the one continuing in saying, ⁵ "Say to (or: Tell) the daughter of Zion, 'Look and consider – your King is progressively coming to you folks with a mild, gentle and friendly disposition, and [He is] mounted upon an ass, even upon a colt, the male offspring of a yoked beast of burden." [Zech. 9:9] ⁶ So, upon going their way and doing according as Jesus had arranged and placed in order together with, and for, them, the [two] disciples ⁷ led the ass and the colt, and then put (or: placed) [their] cloaks upon them. Then He sat on top of them. ⁸ Now most of the crowd spread out their cloaks and scattered their outer garments on (= carpeted) the path (way; road), yet others began cutting branches from trees and continued spreading and scattering [them] on (i.e., carpeting) the road. [cf Lev. 23:40; 2 Kings 9:13] ⁹ By now the crowds who were proceeding – progressively leading ahead of Him – as well as those who were continuing in following, kept on crying out, repeatedly saying, "O save us now by (or: Hosanna to) the Son of David! The One progressively coming in [the] Lord's [= Yahweh's] Name is One having been blessed with words of ease and wellness. O save us, among the highest ones (or: Hosanna within the midst of the highest places)!" [Ps. 118:25-26] ¹⁰ And then, after His entering into Jerusalem, all the city was shaken (set in commotion [as in an earthquake]; caused to tremble), one after another saying, "Who (or: What) is this?" ¹¹ So the crowds kept on saying, "This is the prophet Jesus, the one from Nazareth of the Galilee [district]." ¹² Next, Jesus entered into the Temple courts and threw out all the folks habitually selling [things], as well as those continuing in buying – as in a marketplace – within the Temple courts (or: = and chased out all the vendors and shoppers from inside the Temple grounds), and then He turned upside down the tables of the money-exchangers, along with the chairs and benches of the people continually selling the doves and pigeons. ¹³ And He proceeds saying to them, "It has been written, 'My house will continue being called a house of prayer (speaking, thinking or acting, with a view toward goodness and well-being).' [Isa. 56:7; cf Targum Zech. 14:21] yet you folks habitually make it a den of bandits (or: a highwaymen's cave)!" [Jer. 7:11-15] [note: here he implicitly invokes Jeremiah's prophecy of destruction] ¹⁴ Later, blind folks and lame people came to Him within the Temple grounds (or: courts), and He cured them. ¹⁵ Now the ranking priests and the scribes (scholars; theologians of the Law), at seeing and perceiving the remarkable and wonderful marvels which He performed (or: did), and the young children repeatedly exclaiming (perhaps: shouting-out approval; cheering) within the Temple courts, and continually saying, "O save us now, by the son of David (or: Hosanna to the Son of David)," [Ps. 118:25] they grew displeased, indignant and resentful. ¹⁶ And so they said to Him, "Are you listening and hearing what these people are repeatedly saying?" So Jesus is then saying to them, "Yes! Did you men never read that, 'From out of the mouth of babes, and infants still nursing at the breast, You completely harmonize – by thoroughly adjusting and knitting together – praise for Yourself'?" [Ps. 8:3] ¹⁷ And then, leaving them behind, He went out – outside of the city – into Bethany, and lodged there, spending the night in a court yard (or: camped there in a sheepfold). ¹⁸ Now, while leading [them] back in return into the city early in the morning, He got hungry. ¹⁹ And then, upon seeing one [specific] fig tree upon the way (or: on the path; = by the road), He came up on it and found nothing within it except leaves (or: foliage). So He is then saying to it, "Fruit can under no condition any longer come into existence (= be produced) from out of you, on into the Age." And without delay, the fig tree was caused to dry up and wither. ²⁰ At seeing [this], the disciples kept on expressing astonishment: "How was the fig tree instantly caused to dry up and wither?" ²¹ So Jesus, giving a decided reply, said to them, "Truly (It is so; Depend on it; Amen), I am now saying and laying it out for you, if you can continuously hold trust (or: if you folks should constantly have faith) and would not be affected by some separating factor passing through your act of discerning or judging, leading you to hesitate, doubt, or completely question your decision, [then] not only will you men do [what I did] to the fig tree, but further, you can also say to this mountain range (or: hill country; mountain), 'Be uplifted, and then be flung (cast) into the midst of the lake (or: sea)!' It will progressively come to pass (It will proceed in birthing itself and happening). [comment: in prophetic language a mountain was a figure for a kingdom, and the sea represented the masses of humanity] ²² "And so, you will progressively take to yourselves and receive everything (or: all things) – as much or as many as you folks ever could (or: may) request in thoughts or words toward things going well (or: in union with prayer), while continuously trusting and 'faithing' (= expressing, living in, and being joined to faith and belief)!" ²³ Later, after His coming into the Temple courts and grounds, the chief and ranking priests – as well as the elders (or: older men) of the people – came up to Him while [He was] in the process of teaching. They, one after another, proceeded saying, "In what kind of authority (or: In association with sort of customary law) are you continuing to do these things?" And then, "Who gave this authority (right; privilege) to you?" ²⁴ So Jesus, making a discerning response, says to them, "I, Myself, will proceed also asking you one question (thought; word), which, if you folks can (or: should; would) tell Me, then I also will continue in telling you in what kind of authority (or: in association with what sort of customary law) I am constantly doing these things: ²⁵ "The immersion (baptism; = ceremonial washing) which pertained to and was done by John – from what source or origin was it being; from out of heaven (or: from [the] Atmosphere), or from out of the midst of humans (mankind; people)?" Now they began reasoning and discussing among themselves, one after another saying, "If we should say, 'From out of heaven,' he will say to us, 'Why (Through what cause or situation) did you not trust or put faith in him?' ²⁶ "Yet if we should say, 'From out of humans,' we continue fearing about the crowd (= are afraid of how the crowd might react), for they all are in the habit of holding John as a prophet." ²⁷ And so, giving a determined reply to Jesus, they said, "We have not seen and so we do not know (or: We are not aware)." He also affirms to them, "Neither am I, Myself, laying it out or saying to you folks within what kind of authority (right; privilege; customary law) I continue to do these things. ²⁸ "But how is it normally seeming to you men (= What are you now thinking of this situation; What is your opinion)? A man had two children. Upon coming to the first one, he said, 'Child, be going (or: lead the way) under [my directive] today, and continue working in the vineyard. ²⁹ "Now he, giving a determined reply, said, 'I am neither wanting nor intending [to] (or: I will not)!' – yet afterward, changing his thoughts and interests (or: regretting his behavior), he went off. ³⁰ "So, upon going to the different one, he said similarly. Now, giving a considered reply, he said, 'I [go], sir,' – and yet, he did not go off. ³¹ "Which of the two did the will of the father?" They [as a group] are saying, "The first one." [other MSS read vs. 29-31 thus: "Now he, giving a considered reply, said,' I {go}, sir,' and yet he did not go off. So, upon approaching the second one, he said likewise. Yet he, giving a determined reply, said, 'I will not! 'Subsequently, he thought better of it {and} went forth. Which of {these} two fulfilled the desire of {his} father?" They are saying, "The latter one."] Jesus said, "That's right (You got it; Amen)! I am now saying and laying it out for you that the tax (or: tribute; toll) collectors (or: tax farmers; businessmen who bought the contract to collect taxes for the government) and the prostitutes are constantly preceding you men into God's reign (or: the kingdom of God; the sovereign activity of God)! ³² "You see, John came toward you men within the path (or: on the road) of fairness and equity, in accord with the way pointed out, and in the right relationship which pertains to justice – and you men did not trust him or put your faith in him (or: you did not believe him). However, the tax collectors and the prostitutes trusted him (put their faith in him; believed him), yet you men – upon seeing [this] – still did not change your thoughts or interests (or: regret your behavior and think better of it) [so as] to trust in him (put faith in and believe him). ³³ "Listen, and hear another illustration (parable): There was a man (human), a householder, who planted a vineyard. Then he put a fence (or: wall; hedge) around it and excavated a trough-shaped receptacle as a winepress. Next he erected a viewing tower, then he leased [the vineyard] out to farmer who would cultivate and dress the vines. With that, he left his home country and traveled abroad. ³⁴ "Now when the season of the fruits drew near, he sent off his slaves to the farmers (= tenant-cultivators) for the purpose of receiving and taking his [share of] the fruits. ³⁵ "And then the farmers (vinedressers), upon taking hold of his slaves, thrashed one, killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶ "So again, he sent off other slaves – more than the first ones – and they did the same to them! ³⁷ "Lastly, he dispatched his son to them, saying, 'They will proceed being turned back on themselves in shame, and thus show respect for and reverence my son.' ³⁸ "Yet the vinedressers (farmers; cultivators) – upon seeing the son – said among themselves, 'This one is the heir! Come now! We should (or: can) kill him and then we can have his inheritance!' ³⁹ "And so, upon taking hold of him, they threw him out – outside of the vineyard –and they killed [him]. ⁴⁰ "Therefore, whenever the owner of the vineyard may come, what will he proceed to be doing to those farmers (vinedressers)?" ⁴¹ They, as a group, say to Him, "Worthless men (Evil, bad, ugly and malicious fellows)! He will proceed to destroy them in an ugly and vicious way! And then, he will proceed to lease out the vineyard to other vinedressers (farmers; cultivators), who will be habitually giving away (rendering) to him his due share of the fruits, in their proper seasons." ⁴² Jesus is then saying to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, 'A stone which the builders rejected as the result of a test – this one is birthed into (or: comes to be for) a head of a corner (= a keystone; a capstone; a cornerstone). This [head] was birthed (came into existence) from [the] Lord's [=Yahweh's] side (or: presence), and it is wonderful and marvelous in our eyes'? [Ps. 118:22-23] ⁴³ "Because of this, I am now saying to you men that God's reign (or: the kingdom of God; the influence and activity of God's sovereignty) will be progressively lifted up away from you folks, and it (or: she) will proceed being given to an ethnic multitude (or: nation; people group) consistently producing its (or: her) fruit! ⁴⁴ "Further, the person falling upon this Stone will progressively be shattered together. Yet upon whom it may likely fall, It will be progressively winnowing him and scattering the chaff." ⁴⁵ And so, upon hearing His illustrations (parables), the chief and ranking priests – as well as the Pharisees – knew by this experience that He had been speaking about them. ⁴⁶ And although still seeking to seize Him, they were fearful about the crowd (= were afraid of how the crowd might react), since they had been holding Him into [the position of] (or: for; [other MSS: as]) a prophet."

³ Now later, during His continued sitting on the Mount of Olives, His disciples approached Him, privately (in accord with His being in His own space and place), saying in turn, "Tell us, when will these things proceed in being, and what [is] the sign pertaining to Your presence, as well as (or: even) the combination of parts to one end (or: the bringing to one end together; the combined consummation; the joint, final act) of the age?"

³⁰ Later, after singing a hymn [= the Hallel: a psalm, or, psalms of praise and thanksgiving], they went out into the Mount of Olives.

¹ Now when they are drawing near unto Jerusalem – [close] unto Bethphage and Bethany, facing toward the Mount of Olives – He is in process of dispatching two of His disciples ² and says to them, "Be now going into the village down in the place opposite of you [two], and immediately continuing on your way into it, you will proceed in finding a colt having been tied up (or: bound; tethered) upon which not even one human has yet sat (= which has never been ridden). Loose it at once and proceed in bringing it. ³ "And if anyone should say to you, 'What is this you are proceeding to do (or: Why are you men in process of doing this)?' say, 'The Lord (The Master; perhaps = Yahweh; or: = the owner) is presently having need of it, and He (or: he) continues to at once send it off back here.'" ⁴ So they went off and found a colt having been tied up (tethered), facing a door (or: gate), outside on the open street that goes both ways, and they engage in loosing it. ⁵ Then some of those standing there began saying to them, "What are you men doing in loosing the colt?" ⁶ Now they said to them accordingly as Jesus had told them, so they let them depart. ⁷ So they are progressively bringing the colt toward Jesus, then they, one after another, throw their cloaks or outer garments upon it, and He sat upon (or: mounted) it. ⁸ Next many folks at once spread their own cloaks and outer garment into the road (path; way), yet others began cutting or chopping soft foliage (leafy twigs and boughs; reeds; field grasses) from out of the trees, large bushes and fields, and continued spreading [them] into the road. ⁹ Then those progressively leading the way, as well as those continuing in following behind, began crying out and were repeatedly exclaiming, "Hosanna [Aramaic word: Please save and deliver us now]!" "Blessed and praised in having received the good word and message of ease and wellness [is] the One progressively coming in [the] Name of [the] Lord (or: within [the] Owner's Name; = in union with Yahweh's Name [signifying His authority and character])!" ¹⁰ "Blessed and praised in having received the good word and message of ease and wellness [is] the progressively coming kingdom (or: the continually advancing reign) of our father David!" "Hosanna (= O deliver us now) within the midst of the highest [realms, or places]!" (or: "O [You] within the heights above, please save us now!") [Ps. 118:25-26]

²⁶ And after singing a hymn (perhaps = singing the Hallel; or: chanting a psalm), they went out into the Mountain (or: Mount) of Olives.

²⁸ And then, after saying these things, He began to make His way, ahead [of the crowd] and in front [of them], progressively walking up into Jerusalem. ²⁹ Then it came to pass, as He neared Bethphage and Bethany – at (or: facing toward) the mountain being normally called Olivet (or: the Mount of Olives) – [that] He sent off two of the disciples on a mission, saying, ³⁰ "Be now going, under [these directions], down into the village facing [us] within which, after entering, you will find a colt tied [there] – one upon which not even one person at any time sat down. And then, after loosing [it], lead it [here]. ³¹ "And if anyone may be asking you, 'Why (For what [purpose]) are you now loosing [it]?' you will respond in this way, 'The Lord (or: Master) is now having need of it.'" ³² So, after leaving, those who were sent off found [it] just as He told them. ³³ Now upon their having loosed the colt, its owners said to them, "Why are you now loosing the colt?" ³⁴ So they said, "The Lord (or: Master) is now having need of it." ³⁵ Then they led it to Jesus, and after throwing their cloaks (or: outer garments) upon the colt, they mounted Jesus on [it]. ³⁶ Now then, during His traveling along, folks began strewing, scattering and spreading out their cloaks and outer garments on the path, under [Him]. ³⁷ But at His already progressively drawing near to the road descending the slope from the Mount of Olives, the entire multitude of the disciples started continuously rejoicing – to be repeatedly praising God, in a great (or: loud) voice, concerning all of the powers and abilities (= works and deeds of power) which they had seen and perceived, ³⁸ repeatedly and one after another saying, "Having been spoken well of and blessed [is] the One presently and progressively coming in [the authority of] and in union with the Name of [the] Lord [= Yahweh]: the King! [Ps. 118:26] Peace and shalom within the midst of heaven (or: in [the] atmosphere), and a manifestation which calls forth praise (or: glory and a good reputation) in union with the highest places, and in [the authority of the] highest Ones!"

³⁷ Now He was [during] the days repeatedly teaching within the Temple courts and grounds, yet [during] the nights, after going out into the mountain, He was making it a habit to spend the night (camp out) [in the midst of] the Mount of Olives.

³⁹ Later, upon going out, corresponding to [His] custom (or: as usual) He went His way into the Mount of Olives – now the disciples also followed Him.

¹ Now Jesus went on His way into the Mount of the Olives.

¹² At that time they returned into Jerusalem from [the] mountain being normally called The Olive Grove (or: Olivet; or: = the Mount of Olives) – which is near Jerusalem – having a journey (or: path [to travel]) which corresponded to a sabbath's [allowable distance (= 2000 yards, just over a mile)].

¹⁸ So He said, "Under [these instructions] lead the way and go into the city to so-and-so [note: this may have been a person whose name He did not want to mention], and say to him, 'The Teacher is now saying, "My season (My fitting situation; My appointed encounter; My fertile moment; My 'fullness of time') is near (= close enough to touch). I, with My disciples, am in the process of doing (= celebrating; observing) The Passover with My face toward you (= at your place)."'"

² and says to them, "Be now going into the village down in the place opposite of you [two], and immediately continuing on your way into it, you will proceed in finding a colt having been tied up (or: bound; tethered) upon which not even one human has yet sat (= which has never been ridden). Loose it at once and proceed in bringing it. ³ "And if anyone should say to you, 'What is this you are proceeding to do (or: Why are you men in process of doing this)?' say, 'The Lord (The Master; perhaps = Yahweh; or: = the owner) is presently having need of it, and He (or: he) continues to at once send it off back here.'"

¹³ So He gives two of His disciples a mission and sends them off, and proceeds saying to them, "Be progressively off under [these instructions] into the city, and a person (a human) progressively carrying a small earthenware vessel (jar; pitcher) of water will be encountering (or: proceed meeting) you. Follow after him, ¹⁴ "And wherever he might enter, say to the householder (master or head of the house; = owner) that the Teacher now says, 'Where is My guest-room where I can (or: may; would) eat the passover with My disciples?' ¹⁵ "Then he, himself, will proceed pointing out and showing you [two] a large room upstairs (or: an upper room) ready with furnishings spread, and there you make the necessary preparations for us." ¹⁶ So the disciples went out and came into the city and found [everything] just as He said to them, and they prepared the passover.

³⁰ "Be now going, under [these directions], down into the village facing [us] within which, after entering, you will find a colt tied [there] – one upon which not even one person at any time sat down. And then, after loosing [it], lead it [here]. ³¹ "And if anyone may be asking you, 'Why (For what [purpose]) are you now loosing [it]?' you will respond in this way, 'The Lord (or: Master) is now having need of it.'" ³² So, after leaving, those who were sent off found [it] just as He told them.

⁵ His mother proceeds speaking, saying to the attending servants, "Do at once whatever (or: anything which) He may be telling (or: saying to) you." ⁶ Now there were six stone water pots (or: jars) habitually lying there – corresponding to the cleansing (or: purifying) practice pertaining to the Jewish customs (or: ritual and ceremony of washing, originating from the Jews) – having capacities for up to two or three liquid measures (= 18 or 27 gallons). ⁷ Jesus says to them, "Fill the water pots (or: jars) full, with water." And so they filled them up to the upper part (back up to the top, or, brim). ⁸ So then He continues speaking, saying to them, "Now bale out (or: draw off) [some] and proceed carrying (bearing; bringing) [it] to the head man (or: chief) of the dining room (= the director of the feast)." And then they brought [it].

³⁵ "The Father continuously loves the Son, and He has given all humanity (or, as a neuter: all things) [to Him] so that He has it (or: them) as a gift within His hand.

² "Correspondingly as You give (or: gave) to Him right, privilege and authority from out of Being concerning all flesh (= people) to the end that everything (or: each one; all, male or female) which You have given to Him, to them He will continue giving eonian life (life having its origin in, and the characteristics and qualities of the Age [of Messiah]; or: age-enduring life; life of and for the ages).

²⁵ "Neither is He continuously provided for, attended or habitually served by human hands – as constantly being in want, or having a need of something – He Himself being the One constantly giving to all people (or: all things) life and breath and all things (or: everything; the whole [universe])!

¹ Now, brothers (= fellow believers and family members; = members of the body), we are continuing to make known to you the joyous favor from, and which has the character and quality of, God (or: the grace which is God), which has been given and now continues as a gift among the called-out folks (or: in union with the called-out communities) of Macedonia, ² how that within the midst of much testing and proving which came through pressure, tribulation, oppression and affliction, the superabundance of their joy – also contrasted with the depth of their destitution (poverty, and/or life as beggars) – superabounds into the wealth (or: riches) of their singleness [of heart and purpose] and simplicity (un-complexity; or: openness and sincerity in generous sharing with others),

⁹ For you people continue knowing by experience the grace of Jesus Christ (or: the favor whose source and being is Jesus [the] Anointed), our Lord (Master; Owner), that although continuously existing being rich (wealthy), because of and for the sake of you folks He became destitute and led the life of a beggar, to the end that by and in the destitution and poverty of That One, you yourselves could (or: should; may; would) come to be rich (wealthy).

¹⁶ Now grace [is] in and with God (or: Yet favor [is] by God; or, perhaps: But thanks [be] to God) – in (or: by; with) the One constantly imparting within the heart of Titus this very same haste and earnest, diligent care over you folks,

¹⁷ Every good leaving of a legacy, profitable contributing or excellent dosing, as well as all virtuous giving, and (or: All giving [is] beneficial, and yet), every perfect gift (finished, complete or mature result of giving) is from above, descending from the Father of the lights, beside Whom there is no otherness at [His] side (or: in the presence of Whom is no parallel otherness; [other MSS: along with Whom {is} not one interchange, variation, shifting or mutation]), nor a shadow cast by turning [other MSS: an effect caused by the passing of shadows].

²² Now this whole [occurrence; situation] has happened and has come into existence to the end that the thing being spoken by [the] Lord [= Yahweh] through the prophet would (could) be fulfilled, [he] continually saying,

⁵⁶ "Yet this whole [affair] has come to be (has happened) so that the Scriptures of the prophets would (or: could) be fulfilled." At this point His disciples – everyone abandoning Him – took flight (or: fled; made escape).

¹⁵ "Do not continue fearing (or: Stop fearing), O daughter of Zion! Look and consider, your King is progressively coming – presently sitting upon a donkey's colt." [Zech 9:9]

³⁶ for these things came to be (occurred; happened) so that the Scripture could be fulfilled, "A bone belonging to Him will not proceed in being worn down, crushed or broken," [Ps. 34:20; Ex. 12:46; Nu. 9:12] ³⁷ and again, a different Scripture says, "They will proceed seeing, catching sight, and perceiving into Whom they deeply pierce forth (or: lance from out of a stabbing)." [Zech. 12:10]

² They kept on saying, "Where is He being the one born 'King of the Judeans'? You see, we saw His star (or: luminous heavenly body; meteor; flame of light) in [its] rising (or: within the East, the place of rising; or: we, [being] in the east, saw His star), and we come (or: came) to do obeisance (or: to kiss toward, fall down and give reverence, worship and pay homage) to Him."

⁶ 'And you, Bethlehem, [in the] land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders (= leading cities) of Judah, for from out of you will proceed coming forth a Leader and Mentor, which very One will shepherd (= guide, nourish, care for and protect) My People, Israel.'" [Mic. 5:1]

²⁹ "At once lift up My crossbeam (or: the yoke which is Me; the balance beam that comes from and pertains to Me) upon you people, and instantly learn from Me, because I am (or: I continuously exist being) mild-tempered (gentle, kind and considerate) and humble (low) in the heart, and ‘you folks will continue finding refreshment and discovering rest in and for your souls (the whole inner person; the mind, emotions and nerves).’ [Jer. 6:16]

¹⁹ He will neither proceed to quarrel (strive; debate; be contentious) nor will He continue shouting (screaming or making outcry; causing clamoring; behaving loud-mouthed), nor yet will anyone continue hearing His voice [above the ambient noises] in the town squares or broad streets. ²⁰ He will not proceed to break down a reed that has been bruised (or: break in pieces a reed that has been crushed), and He will not proceed to extinguish a flax lamp-wick that is continuing in being wrapped in smoke and made to smolder – until He can thrust-forth [the] separation-derived decision into a victory (or: cast-out judging – unto victory)!

⁴ So they went off and found a colt having been tied up (tethered), facing a door (or: gate), outside on the open street that goes both ways, and they engage in loosing it. ⁵ Then some of those standing there began saying to them, "What are you men doing in loosing the colt?" ⁶ Now they said to them accordingly as Jesus had told them, so they let them depart. ⁷ So they are progressively bringing the colt toward Jesus, then they, one after another, throw their cloaks or outer garments upon it, and He sat upon (or: mounted) it. ⁸ Next many folks at once spread their own cloaks and outer garment into the road (path; way), yet others began cutting or chopping soft foliage (leafy twigs and boughs; reeds; field grasses) from out of the trees, large bushes and fields, and continued spreading [them] into the road. ⁹ Then those progressively leading the way, as well as those continuing in following behind, began crying out and were repeatedly exclaiming, "Hosanna [Aramaic word: Please save and deliver us now]!" "Blessed and praised in having received the good word and message of ease and wellness [is] the One progressively coming in [the] Name of [the] Lord (or: within [the] Owner's Name; = in union with Yahweh's Name [signifying His authority and character])!" ¹⁰ "Blessed and praised in having received the good word and message of ease and wellness [is] the progressively coming kingdom (or: the continually advancing reign) of our father David!" "Hosanna (= O deliver us now) within the midst of the highest [realms, or places]!" (or: "O [You] within the heights above, please save us now!") [Ps. 118:25-26] ¹¹ So Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and then on, into the temple grounds (or: courts). And, upon glancing around upon everything (or: after looking all about), He went out into Bethany with the twelve, since the hour was already being late (= evening had come).

⁴⁹ Nathaniel considered and replied to Him, "Rabbi, You – You are the Son of God! You – You are Israel’s King!"

¹⁵ Therefore those men yelled and shouted, "Lift [him] up at once and carry [him] away!" "Lift [him] up and carry [him] away!" "Crucify him (Put him to death on the stake)!" Pilate says, "Shall I proceed to crucify (put to death on the stake) your king?" The chief (ranking) priests decidedly answered, "We are not having a king (or: we continue holding no king) except Caesar!" ¹⁶ At that time, therefore, he [Pilate] gave Him over to them, to the end that He would be crucified (put to death on a stake). They then took Jesus alongside and led Him away. ¹⁷ So, carrying, supporting and progressively bearing away the cross (torture stake) by Himself, He went out into the commonly-called "Skull's Place" (or: the place of a skull), which is normally called "Golgotha," in Hebrew, ¹⁸ where they crucified Him (attached Him; impaled Him), and with Him two others – [one] on each side (or: hence and hence) – yet Jesus in the middle. ¹⁹ Now Pilate also wrote a notice (or: title) and posted it upon the cross (stake). And that which stood written was: "Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Judeans." ²⁰ Therefore many of the Jews read this notice (title), because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and that which stood written was in Hebrew, Latin (the Roman language) [and] in Greek (or: the Hellenist language). ²¹ Then the chief priests of the Jews began and persisted in saying to Pilate, "Do not be writing 'The King of the Judeans,' but rather, 'That one says, "I am King of the Judeans."'" ²² Pilate considered and replied, "What I have written, I have written!"

¹ Now I myself, Paul, am making a personal appeal in continuing to call you to my side to encourage and entreat you folks through Christ's gentle friendliness (mildness; meekness) and lenient reasonableness (or: considerateness with full probability for being suitable for a situation) – I, who indeed [am] humble and lowly when face to face (= in person) among you, yet, being absent, am constantly showing courage and confidence unto you –

³ nothing down from (or: along the line of; corresponding to; or: descending to) party interests (hireling-like contention; faction; self-serving; or: from a motive of financial gain, or to enhance one's career) nor down from (or: along the line of; corresponding to; or: descending to) empty reputation (futile opinion; vainglory; fruitless appearance) – but rather, in humility (or: by an attitude of being in a low station; in humbleness of disposition and way of thinking) constantly considering one another (or: each other) [as] those habitually holding [a position] above yourselves (or: [as] being superior in regard to yourselves), ⁴ not each one continuing to attentively view (keep an eye on and look out for) the things or interests pertaining to themselves, but to the contrary, each one also [looking out for] the things and interests pertaining to others (or: of different folks; of people that are different). ⁵ You see, this way of thinking (this attitude and disposition) is continuously within and among you folks (or, as an imperative: So let this minding be habitually within you folks) – which [is] also within Christ Jesus,

¹⁴ "You folks are (exist continuously being) My friends! So if you can – or would – [simply] keep on doing (or: be habitually producing) whatever I Myself am constantly imparting as the goal in you (or: repeatedly giving as inner direction to you; progressively implanting as the end for you; now implanting as the interior purpose and destiny by you)! ...

⁴ So they went off and found a colt having been tied up (tethered), facing a door (or: gate), outside on the open street that goes both ways, and they engage in loosing it. ⁵ Then some of those standing there began saying to them, "What are you men doing in loosing the colt?" ⁶ Now they said to them accordingly as Jesus had told them, so they let them depart. ⁷ So they are progressively bringing the colt toward Jesus, then they, one after another, throw their cloaks or outer garments upon it, and He sat upon (or: mounted) it. ⁸ Next many folks at once spread their own cloaks and outer garment into the road (path; way), yet others began cutting or chopping soft foliage (leafy twigs and boughs; reeds; field grasses) from out of the trees, large bushes and fields, and continued spreading [them] into the road.

³² So, after leaving, those who were sent off found [it] just as He told them. ³³ Now upon their having loosed the colt, its owners said to them, "Why are you now loosing the colt?" ³⁴ So they said, "The Lord (or: Master) is now having need of it." ³⁵ Then they led it to Jesus, and after throwing their cloaks (or: outer garments) upon the colt, they mounted Jesus on [it].

¹³ took the branches (or: fronds) of the palm trees (date palms) and went out into a meeting with Him, and they began and kept on shouting, "Ho-san'na [Heb. word meaning: Save now; Send your salvation]! O One having been blessed, now coming (or: repeatedly coming) in [the] Lord's Name (= in [the] Name which is Yahweh): the King of Israel!" [Ps. 118:25, 26]

²⁷ Now later, as Jesus continues leading [the crowd] in passing along from that place, two blind men followed Him [who] kept on crying out, repeatedly saying, "Mercy us (Give mercy to us), O Son of David (this phrase may = "O descendant of David who also displays David's qualities and reminds us of the king of Israel;" or, it may be a phrase = "Messiah")!"

¹⁵ Now the ranking priests and the scribes (scholars; theologians of the Law), at seeing and perceiving the remarkable and wonderful marvels which He performed (or: did), and the young children repeatedly exclaiming (perhaps: shouting-out approval; cheering) within the Temple courts, and continually saying, "O save us now, by the son of David (or: Hosanna to the Son of David)," [Ps. 118:25] they grew displeased, indignant and resentful.

³⁹ "You see, I now say to you, you should by no means perceive (or: see) Me from this time on, until you folks should at some point say, 'The One periodically coming in [the] Lord's [= Yahweh's] Name is One having been given – and still having – words of ease and wellness (or: having been given the Blessing)!'" [Ps. 118:26]

¹⁴ " [This is] a reputation for God, in the highest places! (or: Glory to God, in the midst of the highest [realms]; or: [It is] a manifestation which call forth praise to God, among the highest [peoples]; or: An appearance and a manifestation by God, within the midst of a most elevated location; or: A notion and an imagination within [the] highest places in God); and upon earth – among humanity (or: within mankind; in union with people) – a peace and harmony having the qualities and characteristics of well-thinking and goodwill (or: [= shalom] whose source is good opinions and imaginations of well-being; or: peace which is a manifestation and a reputation of good and ease; or: a peace which belongs to good pleasure; peace from a disposition of goodness)!"

¹³ took the branches (or: fronds) of the palm trees (date palms) and went out into a meeting with Him, and they began and kept on shouting, "Ho-san'na [Heb. word meaning: Save now; Send your salvation]! O One having been blessed, now coming (or: repeatedly coming) in [the] Lord's Name (= in [the] Name which is Yahweh): the King of Israel!" [Ps. 118:25, 26] ¹⁴ Now Jesus, finding a donkey colt (or: a small donkey, or, ass), sits down upon it – according as it stands, having been written, ¹⁵ "Do not continue fearing (or: Stop fearing), O daughter of Zion! Look and consider, your King is progressively coming – presently sitting upon a donkey's colt." [Zech 9:9]

³ Now, upon hearing [of it], King Herod was shaken (disturbed; unsettled; agitated; irritated with anxiety; stirred up) – as well as all Jerusalem along with him!

²¹ At that, the scribes (scholars; theologians; Law experts) and the Pharisees began to be continuing in thorough consideration, reasoning and discussion, one after another saying, "Who (or: What) is this person who is now speaking blasphemies (or: impious and irreligious statements; things abusive or irreverent to God)? Who is now having power or ability to dismiss (send away; forgive) failures, mistakes or sins – except God alone?"

⁴⁹ At this, those folks reclining back together [at the meal] started to be saying among themselves, "Who is this man who also is now dismissing mistakes (forgiving failures and deviations; sending away sins)?"

⁹ So Herod said, "I, myself, beheaded John – but who is this man about whom I continue hearing such things?" And so he began trying (or: seeking [a way]) to see him, and thus, to become acquainted with [him].

² And they spoke up to Him, one after another saying, "Tell us at once in what sort of authority you keep on doing these things, or who is the person giving to you this right?"

¹⁸ Then the [religious authorities of the] Jews decided and respond to Him. And they say, "What sign (authenticating token or distinguishing signal) are you presently showing (pointing out; exhibiting) to us, [seeing] that you are proceeding to do these things?"

¹⁶ Now His disciples did not notice, become personally aware of, or understand these things, at the first, but when Jesus was glorified and became renowned, they were then reminded that these things were written upon Him (= had been written about Him), and that they did these things for Him (or: to Him; with Him). ¹⁷ Accordingly, the crowd of common folks – the one constantly being with Him when He summoned Lazarus forth from out of the memorial tomb and raised him out of the midst of dead ones – kept on bearing witness and giving testimony. ¹⁸ [It was] on account of this, [that] the [other] crowd also came to meet with Him, because they heard [that] He had performed (done; made; produced) this sign. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said among themselves (to one another), "You are observing (noticing; or, as an imperative: Be watching and considering) that your efforts are futile (that you men are benefiting nothing; = that you are getting nowhere). Look and consider! The world (or: Secular society; the system of our culture; = the inhabitants of our organized society; or: = Everyone) went off after (or: goes away behind) him!"

⁵ So he said, "Who are You, Lord (or: Sir; Master)?" Now He replied, "I, Myself, am Jesus... Whom you continue pursuing and persecuting!

²³ and coming into a city being normally called (or: termed) Nazareth, he settled down in a home – so that the [oracle; prophecy] being spoken through the prophets could (or: would; should) be fulfilled, that "He will habitually be called a Nazarene [Hebrew: a sprout; a shoot]."

¹³ Now later, upon coming into the parts (= districts) of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus began putting a question to His disciples, proceeding in saying, "Whom are people (the humans; mankind) customarily saying the Son of the Man (the son of mankind; = the son of Adam [a symbolic reference to the anticipated messiah]) is to be?" ¹⁴ So they said, "Well some, on the one hand, [say] John the Immerser (Baptist), yet other folks [say] Elijah. But then, different people [are saying] Jeremiah, or one of the prophets."

¹⁵ Yet others kept on saying, "It is Elijah." Still others kept on saying, "He is a prophet, as (or: like) one of the prophets [of the past]."

¹⁶ Now fear and respectful awe at once took them all in hand (or: gripped them all), and so they began adding to God's reputation, and continued giving God the glory, one after another saying, "A great prophet was aroused and raised up among us," and, "God visits and looks in on His people so as to closely observe and help them out!"

³⁹ Now the Pharisee – the one inviting Him – upon seeing [this], continued laying the matter out, saying within himself, "If this man were The Prophet, he would have been realizing (or: recognizing) and coming to a personal knowledge of who, and of what sort, [is] the woman who is certainly continuing to touch Him – that she is (or: by habit continues being) an outcast (sinner; societal failure)!"

³³ "Moreover, it continues being binding and necessary for Me to continue journeying today, tomorrow and on the following one [other MSS: in the one still coming], because it continues being inadmissible (not acceptable; = unthinkable) for a prophet to be destroyed outside of Jerusalem!

¹⁹ And then He said to them, "Which (or: What sort of) things?" So they said to Him, "The things about (or: concerning) Jesus – the one from Nazareth – a Man who came to be a prophet, powerful in deed as well as word (or: able in work and expressed thought), before (in front of and in the sight and presence of) God and all the people;

²¹ And so they asked him, "What, then? Are you Elijah?" And then he continues saying, "I am not." "Are you The Prophet?" Then he distinctly replied, "No!"

²⁵ And then they asked him, and said to him, "Why, then, are you continuously immersing (or: baptizing), since (or: if) you are not the Christ nor Elijah nor The Prophet?" [note: by immersing folks, either John was treating the Jews as non-Jewish proselytes, or else it should be the Messiah, or His representative, initiating Israel into the new Age – if all the Jews were now supposed to be immersed]

⁴⁵ Philip proceeds finding Nathaniel [note: probably also called Bartholomew] and says to him, "We have found the One [of] Whom Moses wrote within the Law and the Prophets: Jesus – Joseph’s son (or: a son of Joseph) – the one from Nazareth!" ⁴⁶ Then Nathaniel said to him, "Can anything good be out of Nazareth?" Philip continues, saying to him, "Come and see."

¹⁹ The woman now says to Him, "Sir (perhaps, by now: Lord), in carefully observing, I am perceiving that you, yourself, are a prophet.

¹⁴ Then the people, seeing the signs which Jesus did, began to say (or: kept on saying), "This One is truly (or: really) The Prophet – the One periodically (or: presently) coming into the organized system (or: the world of culture, religion and government)."

⁴⁰ Then from out of the midst of the crowd, [p66 and others read: many] after hearing these words, they began saying, "This one is certainly (really; truly) The Prophet!"

¹⁷ Therefore, they continued again saying to the once-blind man, "What are you yourself now saying about him, seeing that he opened up your eyes?" And the man exclaimed, "He is a prophet!"

²² "Indeed, Moses said, ' [The] Lord [= Yahweh] God will proceed raising up for (or: to; among) you folks a Prophet from out of the midst of your brothers, as (or: like) me. You people will continue listening to His [words] and hearing (= obeying) Him in regard to (or: in accordance with) all things – as much (or: as many) as He may be speaking to you folks! ²³ 'So it will continue being [that] every soul (= person) which may (or: should; or: will) not listen to or hear (= obey) that Prophet will progress being completely brought to destruction (or: ruin and loss) from out of the midst of the People.' [Deut.18:15-16]

³⁷ "This one is Moses, the one saying to the sons of Israel, 'God will proceed to be raising up for (or: to) you people a prophet from out of the midst of your brothers – like me! (or: will proceed appointing and setting up a prophet {one who has light ahead of time and speaks it before the people} like me from your people; [D, C & others add: You will continue hearing and listening to Him!]) ' [Deut. 18:15]

¹¹ So Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and then on, into the temple grounds (or: courts). And, upon glancing around upon everything (or: after looking all about), He went out into Bethany with the twelve, since the hour was already being late (= evening had come).

¹⁵ Now they proceeded on into Jerusalem, and upon entering into the temple courts and grounds, He started to one-by-one throw (cast; drive) out those habitually selling, and those regularly buying or doing business as in a marketplace (= the merchants and their customers) within the midst of the temple courts and grounds. Then He overturned and upset the tables belonging to the money-changers as well as the seats (chairs; benches) of those constantly selling the doves (or: pigeons). [cf Mt. 21:12; Zech. 14:21 in ESV or CVOT] ¹⁶ Further, He was not allowing that anyone should carry merchandise, vessels, furniture or utensils through the midst of the temple courts or grounds [e.g., to use that area as a short-cut between the shops and their houses; also: cf Targum Zech. 14:21]. ¹⁷ Next He began teaching, and kept on saying, "Has it not been written, 'My house will continue being called a house of prayer to, for and amidst all the ethnic multitudes and nations (or: non-Jews; Gentiles; = pagans) '? [Isa. 56.7] "Yet you, yourselves, have made it ‘a cave of robbers (or: a den of highwaymen, bandits, pirates and violent ones).'" [cf Jer. 7:11-15; a "prophecy of... destruction" – Chilton, p 231] ¹⁸ Now the chief (or: ranking) priests and the scribes (experts in the Law; theologians) heard [about this] and began continuously trying to find how they could (or: should) destroy Him, for you see, they continued fearing Him, because all the crowd (or: the entire throng) was continually being struck from, and astounded (astonished) at, His teaching.

²⁴ and also to give (= offer) a sacrifice corresponding to that having been said in the Lord's [= Yahweh's] Law, "a pair of (or: a couple) wild doves (or: turtledoves; murmurers) or two young pigeons."

⁴⁵ And next, after entering into the Temple courts and grounds, He started to progressively throw out (or: chase and drive out; eject) the folks engaged in selling in it – as well as those presently buying, [comment: these actions were prophetic of the soon-coming overthrow by the Romans] ⁴⁶ while saying to them, "It has been written and presently stands on record, 'And My House will continue being a house of prayer,' [Isa. 56:7] yet you people make it a ‘cave of robbers (or: a den for highwaymen).’" [Jer. 7:11; comment: this is the reason for the prophecy of vss. 43-44] ⁴⁷ Later, He was repeatedly teaching, daily, within the midst of the Temple courts and grounds. But the chief (or: ranking) priests and the scribes (scholars; Torah experts; theologians) – along with the foremost folks (or: leaders) of the people – kept on trying to find [a way] to destroy Him,

¹⁴ Now within the Temple grounds [probably the court of the Gentiles] He found those habitually selling cattle, sheep and doves (or: pigeons), and those who [for a fee] exchanged foreign coins for acceptable Jewish money (the money brokers) continuously sitting [at their stations, or tables]. ¹⁵ And so, after constructing a kind of whip out of small rush-fiber cords (or: making like a lash of twisted rush-ropes), He casts (or: ejected) them all out of the Temple grounds (outer courts): both the sheep and the cattle. And He pours out the coins (change; small pieces of money) of the money changers (= bankers for currency exchange), and overturns the tables. ¹⁶ Then He said to the ones habitually selling doves (or: pigeons), "You folks at once take these things from this place! Stop making (or: Do not habitually make) My Father’s House a house of merchandise (a merchant’s store; a market place; a house of business)!" ¹⁷ Now His disciples are (or: were) reminded that it is standing written that "the zeal (passion; the boiling jealousy) of Your House (or: from Your House; or: for Your House) will 'completely consume Me' (or: 'eat Me down and devour Me')." [Ps. 69:9]

⁵ So they said to him, "Within Bethlehem [Hebrew: House of Bread], of the Judean [district], for thus it stands written through the prophet,

¹⁷ Next He began teaching, and kept on saying, "Has it not been written, 'My house will continue being called a house of prayer to, for and amidst all the ethnic multitudes and nations (or: non-Jews; Gentiles; = pagans) '? [Isa. 56.7] "Yet you, yourselves, have made it ‘a cave of robbers (or: a den of highwaymen, bandits, pirates and violent ones).'" [cf Jer. 7:11-15; a "prophecy of... destruction" – Chilton, p 231]

⁴⁶ while saying to them, "It has been written and presently stands on record, 'And My House will continue being a house of prayer,' [Isa. 56:7] yet you people make it a ‘cave of robbers (or: a den for highwaymen).’" [Jer. 7:11; comment: this is the reason for the prophecy of vss. 43-44]

²⁵ "And further – so that the word (message; pronouncement) having been written in their Law would (could; should; may) be fulfilled – 'They hated Me for no cause (for no reason at all; gratuitously).' [Ps. 35:19; 69:4]

²³ Later, Jesus continued leading [them] around (or: about) within [the] whole of Galilee, continuously teaching (or: progressively giving instruction) within their synagogues and repeatedly making loud public proclamations about the good news (the message of goodness, ease and wellness) which pertains to the Kingdom (or: which has its source in the Reign; which characterizes and belongs to the influence of Sovereignty; which is the Reign; or: the kingdom's glad tidings) – as well as continuing in curing (or: giving attentive care and prescribing therapy or ongoing treatment for) every chronic disease and every occasional illness (sickness; delicate condition) among the people.

³⁵ And then Jesus began leading the way around all the cities and villages, habitually teaching within their synagogues and, as a herald, repeatedly making public proclamations of the good news (the message of goodness, ease and wellness) which pertains to and has its source in the "reign" (which exemplifies and comprises the kingdom) – as well as continuing in curing (or: giving attentive care or prescribing therapy or ongoing treatment for) every disease and all incapacities (weaknesses; infirmities; sicknesses).

⁴ And so, giving a considered response, Jesus said to them, "After traveling on your way, report back to John what you men are continuing to hear, and are repeatedly seeing: ⁵ "The blind folks are habitually seeing again, and the lame and crippled folks are continually walking about. The lepers are one-after-another being cleansed, and deaf people are habitually hearing. [Isa. 35:5-6] Even dead people are one-by-one being awakened and raised up [Isa. 26:14] – and the poor folks, the destitute ones, are continually having the good news of ease and wellness announced to them. [Isa. 61:1]

¹ Now during those days Peter and John – as was their habit – were progressively walking up [i.e., ascending the terraces] unto the Temple courts and grounds in the afternoon, as it was coming upon the hour of the prayer [note: the time of the evening sacrifice and the prayer which accompanied the offering of incense; there were three hours of prayer: the third, the sixth, the ninth], the ninth (three o'clock). ² And now a certain adult man, being inherently lame (or: crippled) from out of his mother's womb (= since birth), was in the process of being carried, whom they were in the habit of daily placing near and facing toward the gate (entrance) of the Temple courts – the one normally being called "Beautiful" (or: Timely [from the noun: hour]; Seasonable; Lovely [note: the term is used figuratively of a virgin ready for marriage; the entrance is elsewhere called the Gate of Nicanor; an external gate leading into the court of the Gentiles]) – in order to continue asking for an act of mercy (= to beg for alms) at the side of the folks normally going their way into the Temple grounds and courts, ³ who, upon catching sight of Peter and John being about to be entering into the Temple complex, began requesting to receive a gift of mercy (alms) [from them]. ⁴ So Peter, together with John, staring intently into him, said, "Look unto (or: into) us!" ⁵ Now the man began holding [his] attention on them, progressively anticipating to at once receiving (or: take) something from them. ⁶ However, Peter said, "Silver and gold [coin] is not normally a subsistence for me (or: is not a possession with me), yet what I do continuously have, this I am presently giving to you: Within, and in union with, the Name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, start walking, and then keep on walking about (around)!" ⁷ And so, taking a firm grasp on him by [his] right hand, he raised him up. Now instantly and with usefulness the bases of his feet (the part directly under his legs) and the ankle bones were made firm with strength, and were given stability. ⁸ Then, after repeatedly leaping forth, he stood a moment, then began walking around. Next, together with them, he entered into the Temple courts – constantly walking around and leaping and praising God! ⁹ And so all the people saw him continuously walking around and praising God.

³⁸ "Jesus, the One from Nazareth – even as how God anointed Him with [a/the] set-apart Breath-effect (or: Holy Spirit; Sacred Attitude) even for (or: and with) power and ability – Who went throughout repeatedly doing works bringing goodness, ease and well-being, as well as constantly healing all the folks being continuously held down under power (tyrannized and oppressed) by the one that casts things through folks (the accuser, slanderer, adversary)... because God was with Him.

⁹ By now the crowds who were proceeding – progressively leading ahead of Him – as well as those who were continuing in following, kept on crying out, repeatedly saying, "O save us now by (or: Hosanna to) the Son of David! The One progressively coming in [the] Lord's [= Yahweh's] Name is One having been blessed with words of ease and wellness. O save us, among the highest ones (or: Hosanna within the midst of the highest places)!" [Ps. 118:25-26]

²³ Later, after His coming into the Temple courts and grounds, the chief and ranking priests – as well as the elders (or: older men) of the people – came up to Him while [He was] in the process of teaching. They, one after another, proceeded saying, "In what kind of authority (or: In association with sort of customary law) are you continuing to do these things?" And then, "Who gave this authority (right; privilege) to you?"

⁴² "How does it normally seem to you (or: What do you folks now think and what is your view) concerning the Anointed One (the Christ; = the Messiah): Whose Son (or: Descendant) is He?" They, as a group, are replying to Him, "David's."

³ About that time the chief (or: ranking) priests and the elders (or: the older [Jewish] men [at least some being council members of the Sanhedrin, in Jerusalem]) of the people [of Israel, the Jews] had been gathered together into the courtyard of the high (chief; ranking) priest – the one being usually called Caiaphas.

⁵⁹ Now the chief (ranking) priests and the whole Sanhedrin (the ruling council of the Jewish nation) had been seeking false evidence (testimony from false witnesses) [to bring] down against Jesus so that they could put Him to death.

¹ Now with the coming of morning (or: at morning birthing itself), the chief (or: ranking) priests and the elders of the people took counsel together, deliberating plans against Jesus to bring Him down, even so as to put Him to death.

²⁰ But the chief (ranking) priests and elders persuaded the crowds, to the end that they, themselves, would ask for Barabbas – and so they would destroy Jesus.

¹⁸ Now the chief (or: ranking) priests and the scribes (experts in the Law; theologians) heard [about this] and began continuously trying to find how they could (or: should) destroy Him, for you see, they continued fearing Him, because all the crowd (or: the entire throng) was continually being struck from, and astounded (astonished) at, His teaching.

³⁹ Then some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, at once give [your] valued advice to your disciples [to restrain and silence them]!" ⁴⁰ And yet, giving discerning and decided response, He said, "I am now saying to you folks, If these people will proceed to be silent and continue keeping quiet, the stones will proceed crying out, screaming and exclaiming (or: breaking into cheers)!"

¹ On one of the days during His continuing in teaching the people within the Temple courts (or: grounds), as well as declaring the good news of ease and wellbeing, it then happened [that] the chief (or: leading; ranking) priests and the theologians (scribes; Torah-teachers; scholars) – together with the elders – suddenly took a stand upon the scene.

² And still, the chief (head; ranking) priests and the scribes (scholars; theologians) kept on trying to find how they could take Him up (= assassinate Him) – you see they were still fearing the people.

⁶⁶ Eventually, as it became day, the body of the elders (= the Sanhedrin) of the people was led together (was gathered and assembled) – [including] both chief (or: ranking) priests and scribes (scholars and theologians) – and they led Him away into their Sanhedrin (the supreme Jewish council), saying,

¹ Then, as the Lord [other MSS: Jesus] became personally aware (or: came to know) that the Pharisees heard that Jesus is progressively making and immersing (baptizing) more disciples than John – [comment: "Jesus did not reject baptism, but neither did He require it" – Bruce Chilton]

⁴² "Does not the Scripture say that the Christ (the Anointed One; = Messiah) is proceeding in (or: normally) coming from out of the seed of David [2 Sam. 7:12], and from Bethlehem [Micah 5:2], the village where David was?"

⁴⁷ Consequently, the chief (or: ranking) priests and the Pharisees gathered [the] Sanhedrin (= convoked a council of the leaders of the Jewish religious and political culture), and they began to say, "What are we presently doing, seeing that this man is repeatedly doing many signs? ⁴⁸ "If we let him go on in this way (or: If we disregard him in this manner; or: Suppose we thus abandon, neglect or leave him alone), they will all progressively put trust (will continue believing) into him, the Romans will proceed to come, and they will progressively take away both our place and our nation (= political station, culture and corporate ethnic identity)." ⁴⁹ Yet one of them, Caiaphas, being chief priest of that year, said to them, "You people have not seen, nor perceived, nor know anything,

⁵⁷ As it was, the chief (or: ranking) priests and the Pharisees (= the Sanhedrin) had given goal-oriented directions, with imparted authority, so that if anyone may come to know where He is, he should disclose (or: report) it, so that they might lay hold of and seize Him.

¹⁹ So the Pharisees said among themselves (to one another), "You are observing (noticing; or, as an imperative: Be watching and considering) that your efforts are futile (that you men are benefiting nothing; = that you are getting nowhere). Look and consider! The world (or: Secular society; the system of our culture; = the inhabitants of our organized society; or: = Everyone) went off after (or: goes away behind) him!"

²⁵ Speaking from a discerning and decided perception within that fitting situation (or: during that particular season [of ministry]; or: at that strategic moment), Jesus said, "I continue outwardly acclaiming My concurrence with You, publicly saying the same thing as You, O Father – Owner, Lord and Master of the heaven and of the earth (or: of the sky and atmosphere, as well as of the land) – that You hide (or: because You hid) these things from 'wise folks' (or: 'clever people') and 'understanding, intelligent, intellectuals,' and You unveil (or: revealed; disclosed) them to infants (babes who are not yet able to speak; = untutored, untaught, ordinary folks).

³ But He said to them, "Do (or: Did) you folks not read what David – as well as those with him – did when he got hungry:

⁴ So He, giving a discerning reply, said, "Do (or: Did) you men not read that the Creator (the Framer and Founder; [other MSS: the Maker]) 'makes (or: made) them male and female,' from [the] beginning? [Gen. 1:27; 5:2]

³¹ "Yet concerning the resurrection of the dead ones, did you not read the thing spoken to, and for, you folks by God, continually saying,

²⁵ And so He then says to them, "Did you men never once read what David did when he had need and was hungry – he and those with him?

⁴⁷ Consequently, the chief (or: ranking) priests and the Pharisees gathered [the] Sanhedrin (= convoked a council of the leaders of the Jewish religious and political culture), and they began to say, "What are we presently doing, seeing that this man is repeatedly doing many signs? ⁴⁸ "If we let him go on in this way (or: If we disregard him in this manner; or: Suppose we thus abandon, neglect or leave him alone), they will all progressively put trust (will continue believing) into him, the Romans will proceed to come, and they will progressively take away both our place and our nation (= political station, culture and corporate ethnic identity)."

¹⁶ one to another saying, "What can or should we do to or with these men? For, in fact, a known and noteworthy sign has occurred through them – one that [is] apparent (obvious and manifest) to all the folks presently inhabiting Jerusalem – and we are unable to continue denying [it]. ¹⁷ "Nevertheless, so that it may not all the more be disseminated and spread abroad, on into the People [at large], let us make threats to them [that they] no longer are to continue speaking on (= about, or, on the authority and basis of) this Name to even one individual of humanity!" ¹⁸ And so, after calling them, they ordered [them] to cease making any utterance at all, as well as to terminate teaching anywhere, on [the authority or basis of] the Name of Jesus.

⁴ "A worthless, wicked and adulterous (or: immoral; [note: an OT word and figure for Israel's idolatry, e.g. Ezk. 16:32]) generation is habitually searching for and thoroughly seeking a sign, and yet a sign will not proceed in being given to it, except the sign of Jonah!" Then He went away, leaving them down behind (or: it may = Then turning His back on them, He walked away).

⁶ Now when Jesus was happening to be in Bethany, within [the] house of Simon the leper,

⁷ Then Jesus, accompanied by His disciples, withdrew back toward a place at the sea (lake) and a vast multitude [of people] from the Galilee [district], as well as from the Judean [area], followed after Him.

¹ Now when they are drawing near unto Jerusalem – [close] unto Bethphage and Bethany, facing toward the Mount of Olives – He is in process of dispatching two of His disciples

¹⁹ And then, when it became late [in the day] (= evening), they were proceeding out on their way, outside the city.

³⁷ As a result, the whole fullness (= the entire populace) of the territory (or: region) surrounding Gerasenes [other MSS: Gergesenes] asked Him to go (or: get) away from them – because they began being constrained and hemmed in with a joint-possession, pressing them together by and in a great fear. ³⁸ So He Himself, upon stepping into [the] sailing vessel, turned away. But the adult man – from whom the demons (Hellenistic concept and term: = animistic influences) had gone out – began begging and kept on asking to continue being together with Him. Yet He dismissed him (loosed him away), while saying,

³⁸ Now on the [occasion for] them to be progressively going on their way, He entered into a certain village. And a certain woman, named Martha, welcomed Him under [her roof] and entertained Him as a guest, [after His entering] into the house.

²⁹ Then it came to pass, as He neared Bethphage and Bethany – at (or: facing toward) the mountain being normally called Olivet (or: the Mount of Olives) – [that] He sent off two of the disciples on a mission, saying,

⁵⁰ Now He led them out [on the Mount Olives] as far as facing toward Bethany (or: to where [the road turns off] toward Bethany), and then, after lifting up His hands on [them], He spoke words of ease and well-being, and blessed them.

¹ Now there was a certain man being constantly ill (habitually weak; progressively infirm; repeatedly sick) – Lazarus, from Bethany, from out of the village of Mary and Martha, her sister.

¹⁸ Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia (= just under four miles) away.

¹ Accordingly then, six days before the Passover feast, Jesus came into Bethany where Lazarus – the one having died – was, whom Jesus raised up out from the midst of dead folks. ² So they made dinner (the evening meal) for Him there, and Martha was serving [them]. Now Lazarus was one of those still reclining (lying back) [at the meal] with Him. ³ Then Mary, taking a pound (Roman pound = about 12 oz.; about a pint) of very costly (of much value; precious) genuine (= pure) perfumed ointment (or: oil; aromatic juice distilled from plants) extracted from the spike-nard plant, anoints and rubs (as in preparing the body with oil for gymnastics) the feet of Jesus, and then wipes His feet off with her hair, and so the house was filled full with (or: from) the fragrance (aroma; odor) of the perfumed ointment.

² And after fasting forty days and forty nights, He subsequently experienced hunger (or: felt famished).

¹ In that particular situation (or: On that occasion; or: Within that season [= the ripening of the grain, just prior to harvest]) Jesus went His way through the fields of sown grain, on [one of] the sabbaths. Now His disciples were hungry, and they began to repeatedly pluck (or: pick; strip) heads of grain and to continue eating [them].

¹² Then on the morrow (or: the next day), at their coming out, away from Bethany, He became hungry. ¹³ And from afar (= in the distance) having seen a fig tree having leaves, He went [to it], assuming He will be finding something in it (or: on it). But coming upon it, He found nothing except leaves, for it was not being the season of (or: fitting situation for) figs. [note: on fig trees, a few first-fruit figs normally come before the tree fully leafs out, but the main harvest of figs comes later] ¹⁴ Then, after considering, He said to it, "It is likely that no one may eat fruit out of (or: forth from) you, on into the Age." Now His disciples had been listening, and heard.

²⁰ Then, while passing by early [in the morning], they noticed the fig tree being withered, having been dried out from [its] roots. ²¹ And so Peter, remembering (it being called back up in his mind), is then saying to Him, "Rabbi (Teacher), see the fig tree which You Yourself brought a vow down on (or: prayed down upon; called down a curse on) has been dried out and is withered!" ²² Then from considering, Jesus proceeds saying to them, "Be constantly holding God's faith (or: Be habitually having trust which has its source in God; or, reading the genitive as in apposition, with the verb as an indicative: You men continue possessing confidence which is God)! ²³ "Indeed, I am now saying (or: I am truly saying now) that whoever may say to this mountain (or: in this mountain), 'Be picked up, and be cast (thrown) into the midst of the sea,' and may not be undecided or be divided in his discernment or judgment within his heart, but to the contrary, can (or: may; would) continuously trust and believe with confidence that what he is speaking is progressively occurring (or: birthing itself; coming into existence), it will proceed being [thus] for him (or: by him; to him; in him; with him). ²⁴ "Because of this (or: Through this) I now say to you folks, All things (Everything) – as much or many as you are habitually praying and repeatedly requesting – be constantly trusting and believing that you received or obtained [them], and it will continue existing for you folks (proceed being in you people, with you folks as well as to or by you).

² [for] forty days being constantly examined and tested (or: tried and proved) by, and under, the one who thrusts or hurls [things; thoughts] through [us] (or: the adversary). And He did not eat anything within those days, and so, at their being brought together to the purposed goal, and concluded, He became hungry.

¹⁵ For you see, we do not have a chief priest who is unable or has no power to sympathize (to have a sense-experience with; to feel a stab of sympathy or suffer together; cf ch. 2:10) with our lack of strength, but One having been put to the proof – in accord with all things (or: down with all men; corresponding to all people) [and] in corresponding likeness – apart from failure (mistake; error; sin; failing to hit the target).

¹⁴ Then, after considering, He said to it, "It is likely that no one may eat fruit out of (or: forth from) you, on into the Age." Now His disciples had been listening, and heard.

⁹ "Now the ax already continues lying [positioned with its aim] toward the root of the trees. So then, every tree not seasonally producing beautiful (fine; ideal; choice) fruit is customarily cut out [of the orchard] and is regularly being tossed into a fire [to heat or to cook]."

⁶ So He went on to tell this illustration (or: parable): "A certain man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard, and so he came seeking (or: searching all over) within it for fruit – and he found none. ⁷ "Then he said to the person who took care of the vineyard, 'Look, for three years now I have been repeatedly coming, constantly searching for fruit within this fig tree, and I continue finding none. Therefore, cut it out [of the vineyard]. For what reason does it also continue making this spot of ground completely idle and unproductive?' ⁸ "But the [vineyard keeper], giving a considered response, then says to him, 'Master (or: Sir; Lord), leave it this year also, until which [time] I can dig and spread manure around it. ⁹ "'And if it should indeed produce fruit [as we progress] into the impending [season], [well and good] – yet if not, you will certainly proceed having it cut out.'"

⁴² then saying, "If you, even you yourself, knew by intimate experience or had discerned in this day the things [leading, moving or tending] toward peace (= shalom; [other MSS: your peace])! – but at this time it is (or: has been) hidden from your eyes – ⁴³ "that days will proceed arriving upon you, and your enemies will be progressively setting up an encampment beside you and will continue casting up a mound beside [you and] a staked fortification (or: rampart) on (or: next to) you, and next will proceed to encircle and surround you, then continue bringing and enclosing pressure on you from every side! ⁴⁴ "Later, they will proceed in dashing you to the ground and razing you, as well as your children within the midst of you – then they will continue not leaving stone upon stone (or: a stone on a stone) within you – in return for what things? Because you do not know the season (or: had no intimate or personal awareness so as to recognize the occasion; have no insights about the fertile moment) of your visitation and inspection."

² "Every tender branch (shoot or twig which can easily be broken) within Me not habitually bearing (bringing forth; = producing) fruit He regularly lifts up and takes it away. And every one consistently bearing the fruit He periodically clears (or: seasonally cleanses) by pruning, to the end that it can continue bearing more (a greater amount of) fruit.

⁶ "If anyone can (or: would; should) not continuously remain (dwell; abide; stay) within the midst of and in union with Me, he is cast (or: thrown) outside – as the tender branch (twig; shoot) – and is caused to dry up and wither. And, they are constantly gathering (or: leading) them together [as in a bundle, or in a synagogue]. And then, they are normally throwing (or: casting) [them] into the fire – and it is progressively kindled (repeatedly ignited; or: habitually lit and progressively burned).

⁵ continuously holding (having) a form of reverence (virtuous conduct; pious awe) yet being folks having refused (or: turned their back on) and now denying its power and ability! And so, be habitually turning your steps in a direction away from these folks and avoid them,

¹⁶ They are repeatedly adopting the same terms of language, and habitually making confession and avowing to have perceived and now know God, yet they are constantly denying (repudiating; disowning; refusing) [this] by the works (in the actions and things done), continuing being detestable (abominable), incompliant (stubborn; disobedient; unpersuasive) and disqualified (disapproved; rejected after trial) with a view toward every good work (excellent and virtuous activity).

⁷ For you see, a piece of land (or: ground; soil; = a field; or: a territory) which is drinking (= soaking in) the rain often coming upon it, and producing vegetation (pasture; produce) fit for and useful to them through whom it is habitually being cultivated, [is] also continuously sharing in and partaking of a blessing from God; ⁸ but when repeatedly and progressively bearing forth thorns and thistles [it is] disqualified (worthless; unable to stand the test [for planting a new crop]) and [is] close to (or: near) [the] curse (or: a down-prayer and a corresponding wish against [the situation] is at hand), the end (the resultant situation) of which [the thorn, briars, thistles and the field is] into [a time of] burning (or: = the field ends up being burned off). [comment: this is a time-honored agricultural practice for preparing a field for planting a crop – the competition has been removed and the ground has been enriched by the ash]

²⁰ For if, fleeing from the stains (pollution; defilements) of the ordered System (dominant world of religion, society, culture, economy and politics; or: secular realm), within an accurate (or: full; added) intimate and experiential knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, but yet being interwoven (intertwined) back again in (or: by) these things, they are continuing to be inferior (less; or: they are repeatedly worsted), the last things (situations; conditions) have come to be (or: have been birthed) for them (to them; in them; with them) worse than the first ones. ²¹ For it were better for them (or: it was existing better to and in them) to have not known (not to have come to an experiential full knowledge of) the Way (road; path) of the fair and equitable dealing (justice; righteousness; or: = covenant participation) than, fully knowing, to turn below (or: back) from out of [other MSS: to bend back, into the things which are behind, from] the set-apart implanted goal (holy impartation of the finished product and destiny within; sacred inward directive) – the one being given over (committed; delivered alongside) to them. ²² Now it has walked (or: stepped) together for them (to them; in them) – the true proverb (saying; byword): "a dog turning about upon its own vomit, " and "a sow (or: hog), into a rolling (wallowing-place) of mire, bathing itself!"

¹² These folks are sharply-cleft portions of rocks (or: reefs; = menaces) in your love [relationship] s (or: love-feasts and table fellowships; movements toward acceptance), repeatedly feasting well together, by habit fearlessly shepherding themselves. [They are] clouds without water, being swept along by winds; wasted autumnal trees – unfruitful, twice-died, uprooted;

¹¹ "The one continuously acting unjustly (unfairly; inequitably; contrary to the Way pointed out; also: = living out of covenant) must yet (or: still) act unjustly (unfairly; = apart form covenant); and the filthy one must yet (still) be filthy; and the just one (fair and equitable one; = the one in covenant) must yet (still) do justice (behave fairly and deal equitably in rightwised, covenant relationships); and the set-apart (holy) person must yet (or: still) be set apart (or: made holy)."

²⁰ Then, while passing by early [in the morning], they noticed the fig tree being withered, having been dried out from [its] roots. ²¹ And so Peter, remembering (it being called back up in his mind), is then saying to Him, "Rabbi (Teacher), see the fig tree which You Yourself brought a vow down on (or: prayed down upon; called down a curse on) has been dried out and is withered!"

¹⁰ but the rich, in his lowness (or: humiliation; depression), because he will be progressively passing by as a flower of grass (or: = a wildflower). ¹¹ For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the grass, and its flower falls off, and the beauty of its face (= loveliness of its appearance) loses itself (finds destruction in itself). Thus also, the rich one will proceed in being extinguished (faded; withered) in his goings (journeys; business; ventures; way of life).

¹² "Yet the 'sons of the kingdom (or: reign; = those who were in line to inherit the kingdom; or: = those who were supposed to manifest its reign)' will be progressively thrown out into the external darkness (external obscurity of the shadows). There [= outside the banqueting building] it will continue be 'weeping and grinding of teeth' (or: The crying and the gnashing of teeth will be in that [outdoor] place, or situation)." [note: grinding/gnashing of teeth = either regret, or anger]

²⁰ So Jesus proceeds saying to them, "Because of your little trust and small faith-confidence. For truly (amen) I am now saying to you men, if you can progressively hold trust, and habitually have faith – as a mustard seed (grain of mustard), you folks will say to this mountain, 'Move at once, from this place [to over] there! (= Change locations!),' and it will be transferring (moving). And so, nothing will continue being impossible for (or: to; in; with) you men."

²² Then from considering, Jesus proceeds saying to them, "Be constantly holding God's faith (or: Be habitually having trust which has its source in God; or, reading the genitive as in apposition, with the verb as an indicative: You men continue possessing confidence which is God)! ²³ "Indeed, I am now saying (or: I am truly saying now) that whoever may say to this mountain (or: in this mountain), 'Be picked up, and be cast (thrown) into the midst of the sea,' and may not be undecided or be divided in his discernment or judgment within his heart, but to the contrary, can (or: may; would) continuously trust and believe with confidence that what he is speaking is progressively occurring (or: birthing itself; coming into existence), it will proceed being [thus] for him (or: by him; to him; in him; with him).

⁶ So the Lord said, "Since you folks continue having trust (or: If you by habit hold faith and progressively possess confidence) as a grain of mustard, you could likely have been saying to this black mulberry tree, 'Be at once rooted out, and then be suddenly planted within the midst of the sea (or: lake),' and it would submissively listen to, and obey, you. ⁷ "Now which one [is there] from among you folks normally having a slave [who is] regularly plowing or tending [sheep, or, cattle], who – upon [his] entering from out of the field – will say to him, 'Upon coming by [the dining area], immediately recline back [for dinner] '?

¹⁹ And so, not being weak (without strength; infirm) in this faith, trust and loyalty, he attentively considered (studied, thought and perceived down upon) his own body by this time (or: already) having been made dead (or: deadened), subsisting in the circumstances of (or: beginning to be under the possession of) about one hundred years, as well as (or: also; and; even) the state of deadness (or: deadening) of Sarah’s womb, ²⁰ but [being moved] into God’s Promise he was not divided in his judgment by unbelief (or: but by and in lack of trust he was not separated or undecided in view of, and with regard to, God’s Promise; or: yet unto God’s Promise he did not waiver or doubt in disloyalty), but on the contrary, he was empowered and enabled by faith (or: in trust; for conviction; with loyalty), giving glory (or: an opinion; an estimation; credit) to God and a reputation for God,

² Even if I am continuously holding light ahead of time (or: repeatedly have prophecy), and I may have seen, and thus know, all the secrets (or: every mystery) and all the intimate knowledge (or: insight; gnosis), and if I now continuously possess all the faith and trust – so as to repeatedly transport mountains (or: to change the place and position of mountain after mountain) – yet do not habitually possess (or: progressively have) love, I am (I exist being) nothing!

⁶ Yet he must keep on asking in faith and conviction (or: continue making [his] request in union with trust), making not one hesitation from habitually distinguishing and constantly evaluating differences (undecidedly separating throughout; discerning between uncertain points; judging dividedly to produce doubt) within himself, for the person repeatedly making undecided distinctions (making a separation and judging dividedly unto doubt) within himself is like a surge of the sea, being constantly raised and tossed by the wind.

⁷ "Be habitually requesting (or: Keep on asking), and it (or: He) will proceed being given to (or: for; in) you people. Be habitually seeking (or: Keep on searching and trying to find), and you folks will repeatedly find. Be repeatedly (or: Keep on) knocking, and it (or: He) will habitually be opened up to (or: for; in) you.

¹¹ "Since, then (or: If, therefore), you folks – being miserable, bad and useless as you are – have seen [in life] and now know to be habitually giving good gifts (or: the results of virtue and excellence) to your own children, how much more will your Father – the One within and in union with the heavens and within the midst of the atmospheres – continue giving good, excellent things as well as virtues to those continuing in requesting from Him (or: asking Him)?

¹⁹ "Again, truly, I continue saying to you men that, if ever two from your group can utter sounds together that are harmonious and in symphony (or: should voice together in agreement) upon the earth concerning every effect of what is practiced (or: every transaction of business; every result of the execution of operations or other matters) – regarding which they may be requesting – it will progressively come to be (be birthed into existence; happen) for them (in them; to them) at the side (or: from the side [= presence]) of My Father – the One within [the] heavens and in [the] atmospheres.

²⁴ "Because of this (or: Through this) I now say to you folks, All things (Everything) – as much or many as you are habitually praying and repeatedly requesting – be constantly trusting and believing that you received or obtained [them], and it will continue existing for you folks (proceed being in you people, with you folks as well as to or by you).

⁸ "I am now saying to you folks, [that] although he will not, after getting up, proceed in giving [something] to him because of the [situation of] him being his friend, [yet] because of the fact of his bold and shameless persistence (or: chutzpah), upon getting up he will proceed giving to him as much as he is presently needing. ⁹ "And so I, Myself, continue saying to you folks, Be continuously asking – and it will continue being given to you. Be constantly seeking and trying to find – and you folks will be constantly finding. Repeatedly knock (or: Keep on knocking) and it will repeatedly be (or: proceed in being) opened up to (or: for; in; among) you people. ¹⁰ "You see, everyone continuously asking is continuously receiving; and the person constantly seeking is constantly finding; and to (or: for; in) the person repeatedly and continually knocking it will repeatedly be (or: proceed in being) opened up.

¹³ "And because [reading 'oti an] you would have sought in petition within My Name (or [reading 'o ti an]: Also whatever you could seek in petition in union with My Name), I will proceed doing it: to the end that the Father can (could; would) be glorified (be given a good reputation; have a good opinion formed about Him; receive a manifestation which calls forth praise) within the Son.

⁷ "If you people can (or: would; should) remain (abide) within the midst of and in union with Me – and My gush-effects (flow of declarations; results of spoken words) can (should; would) remain (abide) within the midst of and in union with you – seek in petition whatever you folks may habitually purpose (constantly intend; repeatedly will; continuously want or desire), and it will proceed coming to be in and among you folks (it will progressively occur for you; it will continue being birthed by you; it will habitually happen to you).

²⁴ "Until the present time (right now) you folks petitioned nothing within (or: in union with) My Name. Be habitually making petitions, and you folks will habitually receive, to the end that your joy may constantly exist being having been filled full and continuing filled up."

¹⁶ Consequently, make it a habit to fully speak in accordance with and admit (or: openly speaking out similarly about) your failures (errors; misses of the target; sins) among another folks (or: to one another), and then be habitually speaking toward having well-being over [those failures] of other folks (or: continue praying and thinking goodness on behalf of one another), in such a manner that you folks would be cured (or, as an indicative: as you are instantly healed). A binding need (or: a petition and an entreaty out of need) of a person within the Way pointed out (of a fair and equitable person; of one in right relationship; of a rightwised and rightly aligned man; of a just one) – which progressively works inwardly and itself continuously creates energy from union – constantly exerts much strength.

²² and whatever we may continuously ask (or: habitually request), we keep on progressively receiving from Him, because we are regularly keeping (attentively watching over, guarding and observing) His implanted goals (impartations of the finished product within; inward directives of purpose and destiny) and are constantly doing (performing; constructing; producing) the things [that are] pleasing and acceptable in His sight (or: before Him).

¹⁴ And this is the freedom of speech with outspoken boldness inherent to citizenship which we constantly have toward, and hold face to face with, Him: that if we ourselves should keep on asking or persistently request anything in line with (or: down from; in the sphere of; that accords with) His will [A reads: Name], He is continuously hearing us. ¹⁵ And if we have seen and are thus aware that He constantly hears, and listens to, us, whatever we may keep on requesting concerning or for ourselves, we have seen and are aware that we habitually have (or: hold; possess) the requests (the things asked for) which we have asked – and now stand requested – from Him.

⁵⁵ In that hour Jesus said to the crowds, "You folks come out as upon a robber (highwayman) or an insurrectionist – with knives, swords, staffs and clubs – to jointly seize (or: apprehend) Me. Daily I used to habitually sit facing you men within the Temple grounds, constantly teaching, and you did not take hold of Me (= lift a hand against Me or attempt to arrest Me).

²⁷ Later, they proceed coming again into Jerusalem. Then, during His progressively walking around within the midst of the temple grounds (or: courts), the chief (or: ranking) priests, the scribes (theologians; experts in the Law; scholars) and the elders (or: older men) proceed to be coming toward Him, ²⁸ and they began saying to Him, "Within what authority are you continuing to do these things and engage in these activities?" ²⁹ So Jesus said to them, "I Myself will proceed also asking you men one word (one question from reasoned thought; = one point). You folks respond to me from your considered deliberation (or: decided opinion), and I will continue saying to you within what authority I continue doing these things and engaging in these activities: ³⁰ "The immersion [performed] by John (or: John's baptism): was it from out of heaven (or: from [the] atmosphere), or forth from humans, as a source? Give to me a decided reply (or: a definite answer)." ³¹ So they began reasoning with themselves in face to face dialogues, eventually saying, "If we should say, 'From out of heaven (or: atmosphere),' he will proceed in saying, 'Why (Through what reasoning or situation), then, did you men not trust him (or: it) or believe in him (or: it)?' ³² "But on the other hand, should we say, 'Forth from humans'?" They had been fearing the crowd, for everyone (all [the] folks) continued holding John as being real – that he was a prophet (or: progressively had it that John in reality was a prophet), ³³ and so, giving a considered response, they proceed saying to Jesus, "We have not seen (have not perceived; have not been aware), so we do not know." Then Jesus, with a decided reply, proceeds to say to them, "Neither am I Myself now laying out My thoughts in saying to you within what authority or right I continue doing these things and engaging in these activities."

⁴⁷ Later, He was repeatedly teaching, daily, within the midst of the Temple courts and grounds. But the chief (or: ranking) priests and the scribes (scholars; Torah experts; theologians) – along with the foremost folks (or: leaders) of the people – kept on trying to find [a way] to destroy Him,

⁷ So then, standing [Peter and John] in their midst [note: the Sanhedrin sat in a semicircle], they began by inquiry to investigate and ascertain: "Within, or in union with, what sort of power or ability – or in what kind of name (= in whose authority or invoking whose power) – did you people do this?"

²⁷ "But the one presently hurting (and: treating unfairly) the associate (or: neighbor) pushed him away, saying, 'Who established you (set you down) [as the] ruler and judge (or: arbitrator) upon us?

¹⁶ "Now look, and really see this situation: I, Myself, am now sending you folks off – being emissaries on a mission – as sheep within the midst of [a pack of] wolves! Therefore, habitually come to be thoughtful, prudent, cautious and discreet (or: = wary and on the alert; = observant, decisive and timely) – as the snakes [are]; and yet [still] unmixed (pure; = without negative characteristics added) – as the doves [are].

⁹ Then Jesus said to them, "I now ask you men if on the sabbath it is allowed by custom and Law to do good, perform virtue and produce excellence, or to do bad, perform worthlessness and produce ugliness; to heal (deliver; restore to health and wholeness; save) a person, or to destroy one (or: to rescue someone, or to lose a soul)?"

⁶ [with] your word (your conversation; your message) – at all times within grace (or: = always favorable) – being one having been prepared and fitted by salt (or: seasoned in salt; or: = one being interesting and not insipid), [and for you] to have seen, and thus be aware, how it continues binding for you folks to be habitually answering each person with discernment (or: making a decided reply to or separating [issues] away in order to respond with a decision for each individual).

¹ Now in those days [i.e., years later, when Jesus would have come to be known as a Nazarene], John, the Immerser (or: Baptist; the one who immerses), is repeatedly coming to be at the side, progressively birthing himself (= making an appearance) in the midst of the wilderness (within the uninhabited area; in the desert) of the Judean [district], continually making public proclamation as a herald, ² habitually saying, "You folks be continuously and progressively changing your thinking – change your perceptions, attitudes, frame of mind, mode of thought and understanding, and turn back [toward God], because the reign of the heavens (the expression and effect of kingdom rule which has its source in the atmospheres; the activity of exercising the sovereignty which exists being the heavens; the reigning [of the King] which pertains to the heavens; the kingdom which belongs to and comes from the atmosphere; the influence of the sovereignty which is the heavens) has approached and is now near at hand and is close enough to touch (= has arrived and is now accessible)!" ³ You see, this is the man being spoken [of?] (or: this is the one [= declaration, or, prophecy] being spoken) through Isaiah the prophet, continuing in saying, "A voice! One repeatedly crying out (shouting; exulting; exclaiming; imploring): 'Within the midst of the wilderness (desert; desolate place; abandoned and uninhabited region) you folks prepare and make ready the road of [the] Lord (or: the path whose source is [Yahweh]; the Way whose character is that of, and which pertains to, [the] Owner [= Yahweh])! Be progressively constructing (making) His highway (thoroughfare) well-placed and straight.'" [Isa. 40:3] (or: "A sound! One is continuously crying out within the midst of the desert: ... ") ⁴ Now John himself was in the habit of having his clothing of woven camel's hair with a leather belt (or: a girdle made of an animal skin) around his waist and loins, and his nourishment continued being locusts and wild honey. ⁵ At that time [folks from] Jerusalem, all the Judean [area], and the region around the Jordan [River] were traveling out to (or: toward) him in a steady stream, ⁶ and they were one after another being immersed (baptized) by him in the Jordan River, while in turn openly confessing (speaking out in agreement with) their failures (their mistakes, sins and failures to hit the target). ⁷ Now upon seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees [two religious and political sects of the Jewish culture] repeatedly or in turn coming upon the immersion (baptism) [event], he said to them, "O offspring (progeny; brood) of vipers (poisonous snakes)! Who secretly pointed out to you people (gave you a private, confidential suggestion) to flee, so as to escape, away from the inherent fervor (the internal swelling that gives rise to an impulse and mental bent which may be expressed in strong emotion, such as anger or wrath; a vigorous upsurge of [God's] nature) which is progressively about to be [demonstrated]? ⁸ "Produce, then, fruit which has a corresponding value to, and is appropriate of, a change in thinking and attitude, as well as a turn [toward God]. ⁹ "Furthermore, do not presume to be habitually saying among yourselves, 'We continue having Abraham [as] a father,' for I am now saying to you that God continues able (or: constantly has power) to at once raise up (or: awaken) children to Abraham (or: for Abraham; in Abraham) from out of these stones! ¹⁰ "Now you see, the ax is already continuing lying [being focused] toward (or: facing toward) the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree not habitually (repeatedly; = seasonally) producing beautiful (ideal; fine) fruit is customarily being cut out [of the orchard or garden], and is normally thrown into a fire. [comment: to be used for fuel] ¹¹ "I myself, on the one hand, continue immersing you folks in water, [which proceeds] into the midst of a change in thinking ([leading you] into a change of perception, frame of mind and mode of thought – into a change of understanding and a turning back [to Yahweh]). On the other hand, the One progressively coming close after me is (exists being) stronger than me (or: I), whose sandals I am not competent (or: adequate) to lift up and carry off. He, Himself, will proceed immersing (baptizing) you folks within the midst of a set-apart Breath-effect and Fire (or: will repeatedly submerge you to the point of saturation, in union with [the] Holy Spirit, even to the permeation of a Sacred Attitude, as well as with [the] Fire) – ¹² "Whose winnowing fork (or: shovel) [is] within His hand, and He will proceed thoroughly cleaning up (clearing, scouring and cleansing) His threshing floor and then will progressively gather (bring together) His grain into the storehouse (granary; barn), yet the chaff (straw and husks) He will continue completely burning, in an inextinguishable Fire."

⁷ Now with these men going their way, Jesus started saying to the crowds, concerning John, "What did you people go out into the wilderness to gaze (or: gawk) at and watch? A reed being constantly shaken (cause to move to and fro) by a wind? ⁸ "But further, what did you folks go out to see and perceive? A person having been clothed in soft, delicate garments? Think about it! Those normally wearing soft and delicate garments are in the houses that belong to kings. ⁹ "But to the contrary, why did you come out? To see or perceive a prophet? Yes, I now say to you, even exceedingly more than a prophet. ¹⁰ "This person is he concerning whom it has been written, 'Look and consider! I, Myself, am repeatedly sending forth My messenger, as an emissary on a mission – before Your face (or: ahead of Your personal presence) – who will progressively make Your road (or: path) useable by constructing or repairing and preparing it in front of You (or: who will prepare Your way before You).' [Mal. 3:1] ¹¹ "Truly, I am now saying to you folks, among those born of women there has not been raised up a person greater than John the Immerser (the baptizer; the Baptist). Yet the one of lesser importance (or: the least; the smaller) within the reign of the heavens (or: kingdom of the atmospheres) constantly exists being greater than him. ¹² "Now from the days of John the Immerser until right now, the reign of the heavens (or: sovereign rule of the kingdom of the atmospheres) is itself continuously pressing (or: is progressively pressing and forcing itself) forward with urgency, and those urging and pressing forward [toward the goal] are one after another grasping it and then drawing it up [to themselves]. [note: I have rendered biazomai (press and force) as a middle; it can also be rendered as a passive] ¹³ "For you see, all the Prophets and the Law prophesy (showed light ahead of time) until (to the point of time up to; till the time of) John. ¹⁴ "And so, if you now desire and continue purposing to welcome, embrace and accept [it; or: him], he is (or: this very one exists being) Elijah – the one being at the point of being at [his] periodical coming (or: the person now being about to be presently and progressively coming). ¹⁵ "Let the person now having ears to continue hearing, continue listening and hearing (or: = pay attention)!

¹² "Yet, I am continuing in telling you men that Elijah already comes and they do not recognize (or: fully know) Him. But even more, they perform on Him as many things as they wish and intend. (or: ... Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but rather, they did in him as much as they wanted.) In this way, even the Son of the Man (mankind's son; = Adam's Son; or: = the eschatological Messianic figure; or: the Human Being) is progressively about to continue experiencing [things] by them, even suffering under them." ¹³ At that point, the disciples put it together that He spoke to them about John the Immerser (or: baptist).

¹ A beginning of the good news, which is Jesus Christ, God's Son (or: [The] beginning of the message of ease and wellness which pertains to and has its source in Jesus Christ – Son of God). ² In accord with what has been written in Isaiah the prophet [other MSS: in the prophets]: "Look and consider! I, Myself, am periodically sending forth My agent (messenger) on a mission – before Your face – who will progressively construct (build; furnish; equip; put in readiness) Your road (Way; path). [Mal. 3:1] ³ "A voice! One repeatedly crying out (shouting; exulting; exclaiming; imploring): 'Within the midst of the wilderness (desert; desolate place; abandoned and uninhabited region) you folks at once prepare and make ready the road of [the] Lord (the path whose source is [Yahweh]; the Way whose character is that of, and which pertains to, [the] Owner [= Yahweh])! Be progressively constructing (or: Make it a habit of making) His highway (thoroughfare) well-placed and straight.'" (or: "A sound! One is continuously crying out within the midst of the desert: ... ") [Isa. 40:3] ⁴ John – the one habitually baptizing (immersing; dipping) – came into the scene within the wilderness (or: came to be in the uninhabited area of the desert), repeatedly heralding the proclamation of a baptism (an immersion) which signifies, is connected to, and has the characteristics of a change of thinking [= recognition of being headed in the wrong direction] (a change of perception, frame of mind and mode of thought; a change of understanding; = a new attitude involving trust and obedience) and a turning back [to Yahweh, which leads] into an abandoning of and divorcing from failures (a sending-away of errors; a letting-go of sins; a release from and a dismissal of mistakes; a letting-flow-away of situations where the target was missed). ⁵ And all the Judean territory (province; region; country) – even all the people of Jerusalem – kept on traveling out to him in a steady stream, [to be] face to face with him, and were one by one being immersed (baptized) by him within the midst of the Jordan River, while they were continuing in openly confessing-out and acknowledging their failures (mistakes; errors; sins; times of being out of line and falling short of the goal). ⁶ Now John was by habit being one who had dressed himself in a garment woven of camel's hair with a leather belt (or: a girdle made of an animal skin) around his waist and loins, and was customarily eating locusts (or: [dried] grasshoppers) and wild honey [as his food]. ⁷ And he had kept on making a loud public proclamation, as a herald, repeatedly saying, "Behind me the One (or: the Man) stronger than me is progressively approaching (steadily coming) – of Whom I am not (do not exist being) of adequate size or sufficient strength to be competent to, while stooping down, loose and unfasten the strap (thong; lace) of His sandals. ⁸ "I myself, indeed, immerse (or: baptized) you folks within water, yet He Himself will proceed immerse and saturating (or: baptizing) you in a set-apart spirit (or: within [the] Holy Spirit; within a Holy Wind; in a set-apart Breath-effect; in union with a sacred attitude)." ⁹ And within the course of those days it occurred [that] Jesus came from Nazareth, of the Galilee [district], and was immersed into (baptized in) the Jordan by John. ¹⁰ Then immediately, while stepping back up straight from out of the water, He saw (perceived & became aware of) the atmosphere and sky (or: the heavens) being progressively split and torn apart, so as to be divided, and the Breath-effect (the Spirit; the Wind; the Attitude) – as a dove (or: pigeon) – progressively descending into Him! [with other MSS: progressively stepping down and continuously remaining upon Him.] ¹¹ And a Voice was birthed (or: a sound occurred) from out of the midst of the heavens (or: [torn] atmospheres; or: = the sky and outer space; or = the realms of God's presence; or = the holy places of the realms of spirit): "You Yourself are (or: continue being; habitually exist being) My Son – the Beloved One! I seem at ease and appear well and prosperous in union with and within the midst of You (or: I delight in You; I think and imagine ease and wellness within You; I am well-pleased and approve in You)!"

¹¹ Now an agent of [the] Lord (= Yahweh's messenger), standing to the right of the altar of incense, was seen by him, ¹² and Zechariah became troubled (was made to shake and become unsettled) – upon seeing – and fear fell upon him. ¹³ So the agent said to him, "Stop fearing (or: Do not continue being afraid), Zechariah, because your request in regard to your need was listened to – upon [its] entering into hearing – and so your wife, Elizabeth, will proceed in generating and giving birth to a son by and for you, and you will proceed calling his name 'John,' ¹⁴ "and he will continue being a joy and an extreme exultation to you (or: and there will progressively be joy and exceeding elation to and for you), and upon [the occasion of] his birth many people will progressively find joy and will continue rejoicing. ¹⁵ "You see, he will continue being great (or: = important) in the sight of (or: before) [the] Lord [= Yahweh], and he should under no circumstances drink wine or [other] strong drink (= intoxicating beverage). Also, he will be continuously filled with a set-apart breath-effect (or: holy spirit; a separated and consecrated wind; [the] Holy Spirit; a sacred Attitude) still [not] out from (or: still from the midst of) his mother's womb. ¹⁶ "Later, he will proceed turning many of the sons (= people) of Israel back upon [the] Lord [= Yahweh] their God. ¹⁷ "And so, he himself will continue advancing in His presence (or: going forward in His sight) – within and in union with a breath-effect (or: wind) and ability having the character and qualities of Elijah (or: in association with Elijah's spirit and power; or: in an attitude and an ability which is Elijah [= God is Yah]) – ‘to turn back hearts of fathers upon children,’ [Mal. 3:23] and stubborn folks (or: incompliant ones; unpersuaded people) in a thoughtful (sensible; prudent) frame of mind which has the character and qualities of fairness, equity, rightwised relationships, and justice which pertain to the Way pointed out: to prepare and make a people having been fully formed into vessels and utensils, as well as being completely furnished and supplied with equipment, by, for and in [the] Lord [= Yahweh]."

⁶⁷ And then Zechariah, his father, was filled with a set-apart Breath-effect (or: a sacred spirit and attitude; or: a holy wind; or: [the] Holy Spirit), and he prophesied, saying, ⁶⁸ "‘ [The] Lord [= Yahweh], the God of Israel, is characterized by good words and blessings,’ [Ps. 41:14] because He visits and closely looks upon with attentiveness, and also creates a loosing and liberation, for (or: in; to; among) His people. ⁶⁹ "And He raises up a horn of deliverance (rescue; safety; health and wholeness; salvation) for us within the midst of His boy David's house, ⁷⁰ "Just and correspondingly as He spoke through [the] mouth of His set-apart (or: holy) prophets from [that] age, ⁷¹ " [about] a deliverance (rescue; safety; health and wholeness; salvation) from out of the midst our enemies, and from out of [the] hand of all those constantly hating us and repeatedly treating us with ill will, ⁷² "to do (or: perform; form; construct; create) mercy with our fathers, and to have called to mind His set-apart (or: holy) arrangement (thorough setting and placement; covenant; testament): ⁷³ "an oath (solemn promise) which He swore to Abraham, our father, ⁷⁴ "to give to us – upon being drug out of danger from [the] hand of enemies – ⁷⁵ "to fearlessly render habitual sacred, public service to Him, in pious ways sanctioned by divine law and in accord to the way pointed out (or: with [covenant] fairness, equity, justice and right relationships) in His sight (or: before Him and in His presence) for all our days. ⁷⁶ "Now you also, little boy, will proceed being called a prophet of [the] Most High, for you will continue to ‘go your way before and in the sight and presence of [the] Lord [= Yahweh], to prepare and make ready His paths (roads; ways) ’: [Mal. 3:1; Isa. 40:3] ⁷⁷ "to give intimate, experiential knowledge of deliverance (salvation; safety; rescue; health and wholeness; return to the original state and condition) to and for His people, in conjunction with a sending away (a divorcing; an abandoning; a flowing away; forgiveness) of their mistakes, failures, shortcomings, deviations and sins, ⁷⁸ "because of our God's inner organs which are composed of mercy (= His tender compassions which have the character and quality of mercy), in union with and amidst which an upward performance and a rising (= a daybreak) from out of the midst of an exaltation (or: from on high), ⁷⁹ "to at once ‘shine upon the people continuously sitting within the midst of darkness the realm of the shadow and obscurity; dimness and gloom’ [Isa. 9:1] – even within death's shadow; to cause our feet to be fully straight and to [walk] in correspondence to straightness, into the path (way; road) of peace [= shalom]." ⁸⁰ Now the little boy was continuing to progressively grow and increase, and was being progressively made stronger in Breath-effect (or: by [the] Spirit; in spirit; with an attitude), and later he continued existing within the midst of desolate places (deserts; uninhabited areas; wildernesses) until the day of his upward exhibit (the raising aloft to show him) to Israel.

² on the [occasion and term of the priesthood of] chief (or: ranking) priests, Annas and Caiaphas, a gush-effect which was God (or: the result of a flow from God; God’s spoken word; a declaration from God) came into existence (came to be; was birthed) upon John, son of Zechariah, within the midst of the wilderness (the uninhabited, desolate place). ³ And so he came (or: went) into all [the] region around the Jordan [River], repeatedly making a public proclamation heralding an immersion (or: baptism) of a change of mind and way of thinking [which also implied a return to God], into a flowing-away of failures (a sending-away of mistakes; a letting-go and release of failed attempts to hit the target and attain the goal; abandonment of sins; a divorce from, and a forgiveness of, errors). ⁴ As it has been and stands written within the scroll of [the] words of Isaiah the prophet, "A voice (or: sound) of someone repeatedly exclaiming and imploring loudly within the midst of the wilderness (the desolate place): 'You people at once make ready (or: 'Within the wilderness [now] prepare) the Way (Road) of [the] Lord [= Yahweh's Path]! Be progressively making His worn thoroughfares and highways straight. ⁵ 'Every ravine (or: gully; place narrowly enclosed by cliffs) will be progressively filled, and every mountain and hill (or: all hill country and rising ground) will continue being made low. Then the crooked things (or: places) will proceed in being [made] into straight ones, and rough and uneven places, into smooth roads! ⁶ 'Then all flesh will proceed in seeing God's Deliverance (Salvation; Rescue; health and wholeness; Returning [all; things] to the original state and condition)!'" [Isa. 40:3-5] ⁷ However, he [i.e., John] kept on saying to the crowds that were one after another going their way out to be immersed by him, " [You] offsprings (or: Results of the births) of poisonous snakes (vipers), who (or: what) privately suggested (or: secretly showed; pointed out under [cover]) to you folks to be at once taking flight (fleeing) away from the progressively impending inherent fervor (internal swelling towards fruition; agitation of soul; or: anger; wrath)? ⁸ "Be at once, then, producing fruit of corresponding value to (or: of equal worth of; worthy of) the aforementioned change of mind and way of thinking! And so, you should not start (or: begin) to be repeatedly saying among yourselves, 'We continue having Abraham [as; for] a father,' for I am now saying to you folks that God continues able (constantly has power) to raise up children to (or: for) Abraham from out of the midst of these stones! ⁹ "Now the ax already continues lying [positioned with its aim] toward the root of the trees. So then, every tree not seasonally producing beautiful (fine; ideal; choice) fruit is customarily cut out [of the orchard] and is regularly being tossed into a fire [to heat or to cook]." ¹⁰ And so the crowds began putting questions to him, one after another saying, "What, then, should we be doing?" ¹¹ So, giving a decided reply, he began saying to them, "The person habitually having two tunics (undergarments), let him at once share with the one not normally having [one]; and the person habitually having things to eat (food), let him regularly do likewise." ¹² Now tax collectors (or: government revenue contractors; customs agents) also came to be immersed (baptized), and they said to him, "Teacher, what should we be doing?" ¹³ So he said to them, "Be habitually practicing (thus: collecting, demanding or exacting) nothing more besides the thing having been precisely arranged and prescribed for you (= charge nothing beyond the standard rates)." ¹⁴ And then soldiers (men serving in the army) also began putting questions to him, as a group saying, "What should we also be doing?" And he said to them, "You men should not at any time violently shake anyone (thus, also: intimidate, harass or extort from anyone), nor should you at any time inform on, blackmail or falsely accuse [people]. Also, be habitually content and satisfied with your subsistence rations and pay." ¹⁵ Now during the people's continued anticipation – keeping an eye open and directed forward in watchful expectation – [and] while everyone kept on reasoning and debating in their hearts concerning John, whether perchance he might be the Christ (the Anointed One; = the Messiah), ¹⁶ John gave a decided response, repeatedly saying, "I, myself, on the one hand am in the process of immersing (baptizing) you folks in (or: with) water. Yet on the other hand, the Person stronger than I is now progressively coming – the lace (or: strap; thong) of Whose sandals I am not competent (fit; sufficient) to loosen or untie. He, Himself, will proceed immersing (or: baptizing) you folks within the midst of set-apart Spirit (or: set-apart spirit; sacred attitude; Holy Breath-effect) and (or: even) Fire – ¹⁷ "Whose winnowing shovel (or: fork) [is] in His hand to thoroughly clean [other MSS: and He will thoroughly cleanse] His threshing floor and to gather together [with other MSS: He will collect] the grain into His storehouse (granary; barn) – but then He will progressively burn down (or: up) the chaff (husks and straw; = the useless remains of the dead plants) with (or: in) an inextinguishable Fire." [comment: the same fire as in vs. 16; cf 1 Cor. 3:7-17] ¹⁸ Then, indeed, constantly calling the people alongside to give encouragement, exhortation and assistance, he kept on bringing and announcing many and different things as good news of ease and wellness. ¹⁹ Now Herod, the tetrarch (district ruler) – being repeatedly put to the proof (or: being constantly questioned, as in a cross-examination, and refuted, exposed, convicted and treated with contempt) by him concerning Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, as well as about all [the] worthless, malicious and wicked things which Herod did and does – ²⁰ added this also, upon everything [he had done]: he locked down John within the midst of a prison (or: jail).

²⁸ "For truly, I now say to you folks, among the people born of women, no one exists being greater than John [with other MSS: there is not even one prophet more important than John the immerser; or: no one continues being a greater prophet than John the Baptist]. Yet the smaller (= less significant) person within the midst of God's reign (or: in union with the sovereign kingdom of God) exists being greater (= more important) than he. ²⁹ "And so all the people hearing [him] – as well as (or: even) the tax collectors (or: customs and toll agents; tax farmers/contractors) – [by] being immersed (or: baptized) showed (or: declared) that God is fair, equitable and just [through] John's immersion (baptism). ³⁰ "Yet the Pharisees and the scholars of the Law, [by] not being immersed (or: baptized) under and by him, set aside (displaced; = disregarded or rejected) God's intent (design; purpose) [which He was offering] into (thus: for) themselves. ³¹ "So to whom, therefore, shall I compare the people (humans) of this generation, and what are they like? ³² "They are like little boys (or: children; boys and girls) who are habitually sitting in a marketplace and are constantly shouting (or: calling out) to one another, who are repeatedly saying, 'We play the flute (or: pipe a tune) for you guys, and yet you are not dancing; we sing funeral songs (or: wail), and yet you do not cry (= they would play neither games of festivals nor of funerals).' ³³ "You see, John the immerser (or: Baptist) has come neither habitually eating bread nor normally drinking wine (= living the life of an ascetic), and yet you men are constantly saying, 'He continues presently having (or: constantly possesses) a demon (Hellenistic concept and term: = animistic influence).' ³⁴ "[While] the Son of the Man (Mankind's son; = Adam's son, or, the eschatological Messianic figure) has come constantly eating and habitually drinking (= living the life of a normal person), and you men are constantly saying, 'Look, and think of that! A person (man) [who is] a glutton and a drunkard (person normally drinking too much wine); a friend of (one fond of, or, liking) tax collectors and outcasts (failures; sinners; irreligious folks who do not adhere to the conduct prescribed by custom and religious law)!' ³⁵ "And yet (or: = For all that, or, All the same), Wisdom is shown to be fair, equitable and just (or: is vindicated and declared right) from all Her children (= offspring)!"

⁵ So then they reasoned together to each other, and drew conclusions, saying, "If we should say (reply),'From heaven,' he will continue saying, 'Why did you not trust and believe in him?'

⁶ A man came to be (was birthed), being one having been sent forth with a mission, as a representative, from God’s side (or: having been commissioned as an emissary and sent forth from beside God; having been sent forth to the side, as an envoy, whose source was God); a name for him: John.

¹⁵ John is continuing witnessing about It (or: Him) and has cried out, repeatedly saying, "This One was the One of Whom I said, 'The One progressively coming behind me has come to be in front of me (or: has taken precedence of me),' because He was existing first, before me (or: ‘that He was first [in place and station] in regard to me’),"

²⁵ And then they asked him, and said to him, "Why, then, are you continuously immersing (or: baptizing), since (or: if) you are not the Christ nor Elijah nor The Prophet?" [note: by immersing folks, either John was treating the Jews as non-Jewish proselytes, or else it should be the Messiah, or His representative, initiating Israel into the new Age – if all the Jews were now supposed to be immersed] ²⁶ John replies distinctly to them, saying, "I am repeatedly immersing (baptizing) within water. He, Whom you men have not seen or perceived, and have no knowledge of or acquaintance with, has stood in your midst [other MSS: continues presently standing in your midst]. ²⁷ "He is the very One, Who, progressively coming behind me, has come to be in front of me, of Whom I am not worthy (equal of value) that I should loose the lace (strap; thong) of His sandal." ²⁸ These things occurred (or: came into being) in Bethany, on the other side of the Jordan, where John was living his life (or: was existing), repeatedly immersing. ²⁹ The next day (or: On the morrow) he is looking at and observing Jesus progressively coming toward him, and he begins saying, "Look! (Pay attention, see and perceive)! God’s Lamb (or: the Lamb from God; the Lamb having the character and qualities of God; or, in apposition: the Lamb which is God), the One continuously lifting up and progressively carrying away the Sin of the world, and removing the sin which belongs to and is a part of the System (or: habitually picking up and taking away the failure and error brought on by the organized system; progressively removing the falling short and the missing of the goal from the world of culture, religion, economy and government [= from humanity and secular society])! ³⁰ "This One is He over whose situation [other MSS: concerning Whom] I said, 'An adult male is progressively coming behind me Who has come to be in front of me,' because he was existing before me (or: was continuously being first in rank and importance in regard to me). ³¹ "And I had not seen Him to know, recognize or be aware of Him, but nevertheless, to the end that He may be brought to light in (or: for) Israel (or: be manifested to Israel) – because of this – I came continuously immersing (or: baptizing) in water." ³² And John testified (gave witness), repeatedly saying that, "I have viewed and continued gazing at, so that I can now visualize, the Spirit progressively stepping down (or: the Breath-effect continuously descending), as a dove, forth from out of [the] atmosphere (or: as a pigeon out of the sky, or from heaven), and It remains and dwells upon Him (or: It abode upon Him). ³³ "And yet, I had not seen Him to know or be aware of Him! But further, the One sending me to be habitually immersing (baptizing) in water, that One said to me, 'Upon whomever you may see the Spirit progressively stepping down (or: the Breath-effect continuously descending) and then continuously remaining (dwelling; abiding) upon Him, this One is (continuously exists being) the One progressively (or: habitually) immersing (or: baptizing) within a set-apart spirit (or: in [the] Holy Spirit; in union with the Sacred Breath).' ³⁴ "And so I myself have seen and given witness, and thus now bear testimony, that this One is God’s Son (or: continuously exists being the Son which is God; or: the Son having the character and qualities of God; or: the Son from God)."

¹⁸ "The one habitually believing and progressively placing trust into Him is not being continuously sifted or evaluated (is not habitually being separated for decisions or being judged). The one not habitually trusting and believing has already been sifted and evaluated (separated for a decision; judged) and that decision yet exists, because he has not believed so that he trusts into the Name [note: “name” is a Semitism for the person, or his authority, or his qualities] of the uniquely-born Son of God (or: into God’s Son – the only-begotten One).

²⁶ So they went to (or: come toward) John, and said (or: say) to him, "Rabbi, he who was with you across (on the other side of) the Jordan [River], to whom you have borne witness (or: for whom you have testified), look (see; consider), this one is continually immersing (baptizing), and everyone is (or: all are) constantly coming toward (or: going to) him." ²⁷ John deliberated in reply and says, "Man continues without ability (or: remains unable) to be receiving anything, unless it may have been existing being having been given to him from out of the heaven (or: A man is continually powerless to lay hold of and take anything, unless he was possibly being one having been given [ability] from out of the atmosphere and heaven in him). ²⁸ "You folks, yourselves, repeatedly bear me witness (or: habitually testify for me) that I myself said, 'I am not the Christ (the Anointed One)!' But rather that, 'I am one having been sent forth as an emissary (one sent forth with a mission as a representative) in front of That One.' ²⁹ "The One continually holding (or: constantly having) the bride is (exists being) a Bridegroom (or: [the] Bridegroom). Yet the friend of the Bridegroom – the man having taken a stand, and continuing standing, and continuously listening and hearing from Him in joy – is constantly rejoicing because of the Bridegroom’s voice! This joy – the one [that is] mine – has therefore been fulfilled (or: This, then, my joy, has been made full). ³⁰ "It is necessary and binding for That One to be progressively growing and increasing, yet for me to be progressively less (or: continually made inferior). ³¹ "The One repeatedly coming back again from above (or: habitually going again to a higher place) is above upon all people (or: constantly exists being up over upon all things). The person continuously being forth from out of the earth [as a source] is (or: constantly exists being) from out of the earth, and is habitually speaking forth from out of the earth. The One continuously coming (or: habitually going; repeatedly coming and progressively going) forth from out of the midst of the heaven (or: the atmosphere) is, and constantly exists being, above upon all people (or: up over upon all things). ³² "What He has seen and hears (or: heard), to this He continuously bears witness (or: is repeatedly testifying and giving evidence), and yet no one is presently grasping (or: habitually takes in hand; continues receiving) His witness (or: testimony; evidence). ³³ "The one receiving (grasping; taking in hand; getting hold of) His witness (or: testimony; evidence) certifies – by setting a seal (= giving attestation) – that God is true (real; genuine; truthful), ³⁴ "for He Whom God sends forth with a mission (dispatches as an Emissary and Representative) habitually is speaking the gush-effects from God (the results of the flows of God; God's declarations or sayings), for God is habitually (or: continuously) giving the Spirit (Breath; or: Attitude) [and] not from out of a measure (= not by a measured portion or limit; = without measure and without limitation). ³⁵ "The Father continuously loves the Son, and He has given all humanity (or, as a neuter: all things) [to Him] so that He has it (or: them) as a gift within His hand. ³⁶ "The one habitually trusting (or: continuously going on confidently believing with loyalty) into the Son is now constantly holding and progressively having eonian life (life having the characteristics and qualities of the sphere of the Age; life of and for the ages; eon-lasting life; life whose source is the Age [of Messiah]). Yet the person now continuing being unpersuaded by the Son (or: presently being constantly incompliant, disobedient or disbelieving to the Son; being repeatedly stubborn toward the Son) will not be catching sight of (seeing; observing; perceiving) [this] life. To the contrary, God’s inherent fervor (teeming passion and swelling desire; mental bent and natural impulse; propensity and disposition; or: anger, wrath and indignation) is continuously remaining (is now habitually dwelling and abiding) upon him." [note: vss. 31-36 may be narrative by the author, John, and not continued sayings of the Baptist]

³³ "You folks have dispatched [men] to John, and he has borne witness to the Truth (or: testified by the Truth; made confirmation in the Truth; attested with reality), ³⁴ "yet, for Myself, I am not by habit taking the witness (or: receiving testimony or claim) from a person (from [the] side of a human), but rather, I presently say these things to the end that you folks yourselves may be delivered (or: could and would be rescued, saved, made healthy and whole, and restored to your original condition). ³⁵ "That one was continuing being the continuously burning (ignited; lighted) and constantly shining lamp, and you folks yourselves, for a short time (= for an hour), want (or: purposed) to exult and rejoice in its light (or: within his light). ³⁶ "Yet I Myself constantly hold (or: am continuously having) the Witness (or: the evidence) [that is] greater and more important than [that] from John (or: the greater testimony compared to the one that John gives), for the works (or: actions; deeds) which the Father has given in Me (to Me; for Me; by Me) – to the end that I may bring them to the goal (finish, mature and perfect them to their destined purpose) – the works themselves (or: these same actions) which I am continuously doing (performing; producing) continuously bear witness (testify; make claim; give evidence) about Me, that the Father has sent Me forth with a commission (as a Representative, or Emissary).

⁴⁴ "How are you folks, yourselves, able to trust or believe, when habitually getting a reputation and receiving fame (or: repeatedly taking opinions and glory) from one another, and yet you folks are not constantly seeking the glory (or: reputation; opinion; manifestation which calls forth praise) which comes from the only God (or: from God alone)? ⁴⁵ "Stop thinking (supposing; presuming; having opinions) that I, Myself, will publicly speak down against (or: accuse) you folks to the Father; the one constantly accusing (publicly speaking down against) you people is (or: exists being) Moses, into whom you folks have put your expectation, and on whom you now rely. ⁴⁶ "For if you folks had been trusting by, adhering to, having loyalty for and believing in Moses, you would have been trusting by, adhering to and believing in Me: for that one wrote about Me! ⁴⁷ "Yet if you are not habitually trusting by, adhering to, having loyalty for and believing in that one’s writings, how will [other MSS: do] you folks continue to trust by, have loyalty for, adhere to and believe in My sayings (or: My declarations; My gush-effects; the results from flow in Me)?"

²⁵ Jesus directly answered them, "I did tell you folks, and you continue not trusting or believing with conviction. The works (The deeds; The actions) which I Myself am continually doing (or: progressively performing; regularly producing) within My Father's Name, these are continuously bearing witness (giving testimony; showing evidence) about Me. ²⁶ "But you folks yourselves are not in the habit of trusting or believing, because you are not from out of My sheep (or: because you presently exist being no sheep of Mine), just as I told you,

³⁷ Yet, [even with] His having performed (done; made; produced) so many signs in front of them, they were not proceeding to believe or place their trust into Him, ³⁸ to the end that the word (or: message) of Isaiah the prophet could (may; should; would) be made full (or: fulfilled), which he said: "O Lord [= Yahweh], who trusts or believes in our report (tidings; the thing heard from us)? And to whom was the Lord's [= Yahweh's] arm unveiled (revealed; uncovered)?" [Isa. 53:1] ³⁹ On account of this they were unable (or: they had no power) to be trusting or believing, because, again (= elsewhere), Isaiah says, ⁴⁰ "He has blinded their eyes with the present result that they are still blind, and He hardened (or: petrified) their heart, to the end that they could (or: should; would) not see with [their] eyes nor could they direct [their] mind so as to perceive and get the thought in (or: with) the heart and be turned, so I, Myself, will proceed to heal (or: cure) them." [Isa. 6:10] ⁴¹ Isaiah said these things because he saw His glory and knew His reputation, and spoke about Him. ⁴² Just the same, however, many of the rulers also (or: many, even from among the chiefs,) believed and placed their trust into Him, but still, because of the Pharisees, they did not begin confessing (= openly avowing their faith) or keep on speaking in agreement so that they would not become ones cut off from (separated away from) the synagogue, ⁴³ for they loved and held precious the opinion, esteem and reputation (the glory; the manifestation which calls forth praise) of the humans (or: from people) rather than even the opinion, esteem and reputation (the glory; the manifestation which calls forth the praise) of, and which come from, God.

²⁰ because, even if our heart may continually condemn (censure; know-down by experience), God is constantly greater than our heart, and He knows all mankind, (all people; or: everything; all things) by intimate experience.

⁹ "But to the contrary, why did you come out? To see or perceive a prophet? Yes, I now say to you, even exceedingly more than a prophet.

⁵ However, although constantly wanting and intending to at once kill him, he was made afraid by the crowd, because they continued holding (= regarding) him as a prophet.

⁴⁶ And although still seeking to seize Him, they were fearful about the crowd (= were afraid of how the crowd might react), since they had been holding Him into [the position of] (or: for; [other MSS: as]) a prophet."

²⁰ for Herod continued fearing (perhaps: reverencing) John, having seen and thus knowing him [to be] a fair (equitable; in accord with the way pointed out; a just) and set-apart (holy) man, so he continued with a consorted effort to watch over and guard him (keep him safe and sound). And after hearing many things in regard to him (or: So often hearing from him), he became perplexed and continued hesitating, at a loss to decide. And yet, he gladly continued hearing of him (or: from him; = what he had to say; [or, with A C D & other MSS: And upon hearing him, he continued doing many things and hearing him with pleasure]).

³² "But on the other hand, should we say, 'Forth from humans'?" They had been fearing the crowd, for everyone (all [the] folks) continued holding John as being real – that he was a prophet (or: progressively had it that John in reality was a prophet),

¹² So they further continued seeking [a way] to take a strong grasp of Him (= to arrest Him), for in this experience they knew that He said the parable directing it toward them – and yet they were afraid of the crowd. Then, abandoning Him, they went off.

⁶ "Yet if we should say (or: reply),'From humans,' all the people will proceed in hurling stones down on us, for they have been persuaded and remain confident that John is to be permanently [held as and reckoned] a prophet."

¹⁹ At this, the scribes (scholars and theologians) and the chief priests sought (tried to find [some way]) to throw [their] hands on Him in that very hour, and yet they feared the people. You see, they realized that He spoke this illustration (parable) [with an aim] toward them.

³⁵ "That one was continuing being the continuously burning (ignited; lighted) and constantly shining lamp, and you folks yourselves, for a short time (= for an hour), want (or: purposed) to exult and rejoice in its light (or: within his light).

²² His parents said these things because they had been fearing the Jews (= religious authorities), for the Jews (= Jewish leadership) had put it together and agreed, so that if anyone should ever confess (acknowledge; avow) Him Christ (or: express the same idea, that He is [the] Anointed), he should come to be [put] away from the synagogue (= be excommunicated; = be cut off from membership in the synagogue, and thus be considered an outcast).

⁴¹ Then many came to Him, and they began saying, "John, indeed, did not perform a single (or: one) sign, yet all – whatever John said about this one – was true." ⁴² And so many believed and put convinced trust into Him there.

²⁶ At that point the captain, after going off with the subordinate officers, proceeded in leading them, [bringing them] without force or violence – for they were fearing the people, lest they could (or: should; would) be stoned.

¹⁴ "Abandon them at once! (other choices: Divorce them; Let them flow away; Leave them; Leave them [alone]; Send them away; Let them go!) They exist being blind guides of the Path (or: blind leaders of the Way). Now if a blind person should ever lead or guide [another] blind person, both people will proceed to be falling into a pit!"

³ "and early in the morning, [you say], 'Today [it will be] stormy (or: rainy; or: wintry weather), for the sky continues being fiery-red [and] is progressively being gloomy-looking.' On the one hand you, by experience and familiarity, habitually know how to read and discern (thoroughly discern, judge and decide about) the face and appearance of the sky, yet on the other hand, you continue unable and without power [to discern and interpret] the signs of the appointed seasons and fitting situations (or: fertile moments)!

¹⁶ "It will be a tragic fate for you, blind guides of the way and leaders on the path, folks who are constantly saying, 'Whoever should lay hold of a sacred object in the Temple (or: swear within, or in union with, the Temple), it is nothing (= it does not matter). Yet whoever should lay hold of the gold of the Temple, as a sacred object (or: swear an oath pertaining to a connection with the gold of the Temple), he continues indebted and is owing [it].' ¹⁷ "[You are] senseless morons (stupid folks), as well as blind ones! For which is greater: the gold, or the Temple which is setting apart and consecrating the gold? ¹⁸ "Further, [you say], 'Whoever grabs hold of the altar as a sacred object (or: Whoever may swear an oath in connection with the altar), it means nothing. Yet, whoever should lay hold of the gift (or: may swear an oath in connection with the offering) which is on top of it, he continues indebted and is owing [it].' ¹⁹ "Senseless morons and blind ones! You see, which one [is] more important (greater): the gift (offering), or the altar which is constantly setting the gift (the offering) apart and consecrating [it]? ²⁰ "Therefore, the person laying hold of the altar for a religious purpose (or: swearing an oath in conjunction with the altar), continues holding onto it (or: swearing in relation to it) as well as in union with all the things which are on top of it. ²¹ "Also, the person holding onto something in the Temple, or swearing in union with it, continues to hold onto it – or swearing in its midst – and also to, and in union with, the one making His home down in (dwelling in; inhabiting) it. ²² "Further, the one taking hold of something within heaven (or: in union with the atmosphere, sky or outer space), or swearing in its midst, continues to hold onto, and is swearing in the presence of, God's throne, as well as the One constantly sitting on top of it. [comment: the term heaven refers figuratively to the Temple; the ark was "God's throne"] ²³ "O the tragic fate by (or: for; with) you folks – scholars, theologians and experts in the Scriptures and [the] Pharisees – [you] under-discerning folks who live by close inspection of minor details [see 6:3, above]: [it is] that you habitually give away a tenth (or: tithe back) from the mint and the dill and the cummin, and yet you abandon and let flow away the weightier (= more important) matters of the Law [= Torah]: the justice (equity; fairly evaluated decisions), the mercy, and the trust (the faith; the faithfulness and the fidelity; the reliance and the reliability; the confidence). Now these things it continued being binding and necessary [for you] to do and perform – and not to abandon (send away; set aside) those things! ²⁴ "Blind 'guides and leaders' of the way: constantly filtering and straining [out] the gnat, yet habitually gulping (drinking; swallowing) down a camel! ²⁵ "How tragic is the fate in you people – scribes (scholars, etc.) and Pharisees: overly-critical interpreters [see 6:2, above]! For you folks are habitually cleansing the outside of the cup and of the fine side dish – yet inside they continuously contain a full load from snatching (plunder; pillage; = the fruits of forceful greed) and lack of strength (or: self-indulgence). ²⁶ "Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and of the fine side dish – so that its outside can also come to be (be birthed) clean! ²⁷ "Tragic will be the fate of you Law scholars and Pharisees – you who recite a front of your own opinions and answers (or: overly-critical folks; [see 6:2, above])! [It will be] because you continue closely resembling whitewashed (i.e., smeared or plastered with lime) tombs (sepulchers; grave sites), which indeed, from outside, continue being made to appear in the prime of beauty, for a time – yet inside they contain a full load of bones of dead folks, as well as every uncleanness. ²⁸ "In this way you, yourselves, also on the one hand are continually made to outwardly appear to people [to be] just (fair, righteous, in right relationships, and in accord with the way pointed out) – yet inside you continuously exist being men glutted and distended, full of opinionated answers (or: perverse detail-oriented scholarship; hyper-criticism and judgmentalism; well-sifted wicked interpretations) and lawlessness (= practice which is contrary to the Law [Torah]).

⁷ And so they gave the decided answer not to have seen and thus not to know from where (= its source). ⁸ Then Jesus replied to them, "As for me, neither am I laying it out and saying to you folks in what sort of authority (in union with what privilege) I continue doing these things."

³⁰ The man insightfully replied, saying to them, "Accordingly indeed, in this [situation] is the marvelous thing (the wonder; the astonishing state of affairs): that you yourselves have not seen nor know where he is from, and yet he opened up my eyes (= made me able to see)!

⁴⁰ And so those from out of the Pharisees – being with Him – heard these things, and said to Him, "We ourselves are not also blind ones, are we?" ⁴¹ Jesus says to them, "If you men had been and were continuing being blind ones, you were not holding and would not be having sin (error; a miss of the goal; failure). Yet now you continue saying that, 'We are continuously seeing and habitually observing.' Your error (sin; failure; miss of the target) continues remaining (is habitually dwelling; constantly abides).

¹⁸ You see, God’s personal emotion (or: inherent fervor; mental bent; natural impulse; teeming desire and swelling passion; temperament; disposition; or: anger; wrath) is continuously and progressively being unveiled (revealed; disclosed) from heaven upon every irreverence (lack of awe or absence of pious fear; disrespect) and injustice (wrong; unrighteousness; situation or act contrary to the Way pointed out) of mankind (or: that arises from humans) – the folks continuously holding down (restraining; stopping while possessing) the Truth (or: reality) in the sphere of (or: within the midst of) injustice (unrighteousness; that which is not right; unfairness and inequality) – ¹⁹ simply because the thing experientially known (or: personally knowable; able to be gained by insight) pertaining to God (or: from, and which has its origin in, God; which is God) is continuously made visible (made apparent; manifested by light) within (or: among) them, for God at one point made (or: makes) it visible (manifests it) to them (or: for them; in them; by them; among them). ²⁰ For you see, from [the] creation (framing; founding of order out of chaos; settling) of [the] ordered System (cosmos; universe; or: world of culture, religion and government) His invisible things (unseen [qualities and attributes]) – both His imperceptible (unobservable, but effecting-all) power, ability and capacity, as well as divinity (Godship; God-state) – are habitually seen down the line (or: are normally correspondingly perceived), being continually apprehended (grasped by the mind; mentally conceived) in the results and by the effects of things which are made or done, in order for them to be continuously defenseless (without an excuse), ²¹ simply because, although at one point experientially knowing God with insight, they did (or: do) not glorify (imagine; esteem; suppose; fancy; conjecture about; hold an opinion of; repute) [Him] as God, or even thank [Him] (or: give thanks in joyously expressing the goodness and well-being inherent in [His] grace and favor). And so in contrast, they were made futile (vain; fruitless; without profit; empty; useless; worthless; subject to a process of meaningless frustration; subject to exercises in futility) in their reasonings (or: thought processes; dialogues; ideas that went throughout in every direction), and their [collective] unintelligent (stupid; unable-to-put-things-together) heart was darkened (= the core of their being was made to experience an absence of light in a dim, shadowy gloom of obscurity [= ignorance]). ²² [So] continuously claiming (asserting; alleging with pretense) to be wise ones, they were made to be dull (sluggish; moronic; stupid; foolish)

²⁸ And then, correspondingly as they did not (or: to the same degree as they do not) put God to the proof and so approve [Him] as fit and suitable, to be continuously holding [Him] within full experiential knowledge (or: having [Him] in union with added intimate insight; or: possessing [Him] in recognition and acknowledgment), God gave them over (hands or delivers them) into a mind which fails to meet the test (a disqualified mind) to continuously do (practice; make) things that consistently are not fitting (not reaching the proper level),

³ Now if the good news coming from us (or: our message of goodness, ease and wellness) continues being covered from having been veiled with a head-covering, it continues being thus covered within the midst of and among those on their way to ruin (being progressively lost; repeatedly loosing-away so as to be undone; or: destroying themselves),

⁹ whose presence is continuously existing in correspondence to (or: in line with; in the sphere of; on the level of) the adversary's (opponent's; or: satan's) in-working activity (or: is constantly in accordance with the operation of the “adversary” or satan), in all power (or: within all ability) as well as signs and wonders of falsehood (or: which are a lie), ¹⁰ and within every deception (delusion; seduction) of the injustice (wrong; thing that is not the way pointed out and which is not right) within the folks continuously or repeatedly being lost (or: by the folks progressively destroying themselves) in return for which (or: in the place of which) they do (or: did) not take unto themselves and welcomely receive the love of, and from, the truth (or: Truth's love; the Love which is Truth and Reality; or: an appreciation of and affection for reality), into the [situation for] them at some point to be suddenly delivered (restored to health and wholeness; rescued; saved; restored to the original state and condition).

²⁵ He then says, "Yes." However, upon coming into the house, Jesus anticipates and gets ahead of him by saying, "What do you normally think or suppose (or: What is your usual opinion), Simon? From which people are the kings of the land (or: earth) normally taking (or: receiving; = collecting) payment of duties (taxes; customs; tributes) or a census tax (or: poll tax) – from their sons (= family; perhaps = their own tribe or people; perhaps idiomatically = their own citizens), or from the aliens (strangers; those belonging to another, perhaps a conquered country)?"

¹ "So you see, the reign of the heavens (the heavens' kingdom; or: the sovereign rule and activities pertaining to the atmospheres) exists being like a person (human) – a householder – who went out at the usual time, early in the morning (or: at daybreak), to hire for himself workers [to send] into his vineyard.

⁵ "So they went off. Now again, upon going out about [the] sixth hour (= around noon), and later [at the] ninth hour (= about three in the afternoon), he did similarly (or: in just the same way). ⁶ "Now about the eleventh hour (= around five o'clock), after going out, he found other folks having taken their place standing, and he is proceeding to say to them, 'Why have you taken your place and are still standing here idle and unemployed the whole day?' ⁷ "They are, as a group, responding to him, 'Because nobody hired us.' He then replies to them, 'You people, also, lead the way under [my word and direction] into the vineyard.'

³³ "Listen, and hear another illustration (parable): There was a man (human), a householder, who planted a vineyard. Then he put a fence (or: wall; hedge) around it and excavated a trough-shaped receptacle as a winepress. Next he erected a viewing tower, then he leased [the vineyard] out to farmer who would cultivate and dress the vines. With that, he left his home country and traveled abroad.

¹⁷ "Tell us, then, how it normally seeming to you (= what are you now thinking of this situation; What is your opinion): Is it normally allowed by [our] custom and Law to give (= pay) a poll (or: census) tax to Caesar (the Roman emperor), or not?"

³⁴ "[It is] like a person (human), a traveler (one who journeys away from home and country), leaving his home and giving the authority to his slaves – to each one his work – and imparts a directed goal in the gatekeeper (or: to the doorkeeper; for the person in charge of the entry) that he should be constantly watchful and alert.

⁴ "Or then, those eighteen people upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them off – does it usually seem to you (or: do you continue to imagine or suppose) that they, themselves, had come to be debtors more so than and beyond all the people permanently settling down in and inhabiting Jerusalem?

¹¹ Now He said, "There was a certain man having two sons. ¹² "And the younger of them said to [his] father, 'Father, give to me the part of the estate (the existing substance; the property; the essence) normally falling upon [me].' So he apportioned (divided in two parts and distributed) to (or: for; between) them the livelihood (or: [the means of] living). [note: Jewish law allotted one-half as much to the younger as to the older] ¹³ "Later, after not many days, upon gathering everything together the younger son traveled from his homeland into a far country – and there he squandered (thoroughly scattered; dissipated) his substance for existing (or: essence; or: property; [portion of] the estate), constantly living as one having no chance of safety or preservation (one not being in a condition of health, wholeness or salvation; the disposition and life of one who is abandoned and reckless). ¹⁴ "Now after his expending everything (= using up all his money and possessions), a severe famine was birthed down on that country (or: occurred that extended throughout that region), and he himself began to be caused to progressively fall behind so as to be in want and need (= he became nearly destitute, facing starvation). ¹⁵ "And so, after making his way [from place to place around the area], he was joined (glued together) to one (= put in the service of a person) of the citizens of that country, and [that person] sent him into his fields to continue tending and grazing young pigs (hogs; swine). ¹⁶ "As time went on, he kept on having a strong desire to be fed, until satisfied, from out of the little horn-shaped pods of the carob trees which the young pigs were habitually eating – and still, no one was giving [anything] to him. ¹⁷ "Now at some point, coming into (or: to) himself, he affirmed, 'How many of my father's hired workers are surrounded by an abundance of bread – yet I, myself, am progressively perishing (loosing myself away) in a famine (or: by deprivation of food)! ¹⁸ "'Upon rising, I will continue traveling (journeying on) to my father, and then I will proceed saying to him, "O father, I failed to hit the target [leading] into the heaven (or: I missed my aim into the sky; or: I sinned in regard to heaven), as well as in your sight and before you. ¹⁹ "'"I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired workers."' ²⁰ "And so, upon rising, he went toward his father. Now while he continued being still a long way off (or: But during his progressive holding off yet far away), his father saw him and was moved with compassion. Then, after running, [his father] fell upon his neck and tenderly kissed him (or: expressed affection down on him). ²¹ "So the son said to him, 'O father, I failed to hit the target [leading] into the heaven (or: I missed my aim into the sky; or: I sinned in regard to heaven; or: I [sowed] failure into the atmosphere), as well as in your sight and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired workers.' ²² "But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly! Bring out the first robe – the one that signifies the first arrangement with the first equipment and which places him in first place – and clothe him! Then give a ring into his hand, and sandals unto (= for) [his] feet. ²³ "'Next, you folks proceed in bringing the grain-fed young animal (e.g.: fat and choice calf): at once slaughter (or: sacrifice) [it], and, after eating, we can be put in a good and easy frame of mind (or: we should be given thoughts of well-being, cheer and celebration), ²⁴ "'because this one, my son, was existing being dead – and now he becomes back alive again (or: lives up, again); he was existing being one having been destroyed and lost – and now he is found!' And so they began to be progressively put in a good and easy frame of mind and were continually given thoughts of well-being and cheer. ²⁵ "Now his older son was continuing being in the midst of a field. Later, while progressively coming – as he drew near to the house – he heard [the sound] of a symphony (a concert of musical instruments) and choruses (or: = music and choral dancing). ²⁶ "And so, calling one of the servants to him, he began inquiring so as to ascertain what these things might be (or: mean). ²⁷ "So the man told him, 'Your brother is now arriving, and your father slaughtered the grain-fed young animal (= the fat and choice calf), seeing that he got him back being still sound and healthy.' ²⁸ "But now the [older brother] swelled with internal teeming, expressing his natural disposition with agitation and irritation (or: grew angry or enraged), and then was not willing (or: wanting; intending) to enter. So his father, upon coming out, began calling him to his side and continued entreating him. ²⁹ "Yet the [older brother], making a judging reply, said to his father, 'Look, and think about it! For so many years I constantly slaved for (or: worked as a slave to) you, and not even once did I transgress (go to the side of) your implanted goal (impartation of the finished product within; inward directive) – and yet not even once did you give to (or: for) me a kid (a young goat), so that I could be put in a good and easy frame of mind (or: should be given thoughts of well-being, cheer and celebration) with my friends. ³⁰ "'But when this son of yours came – the one eating down (or: devouring) your livelihood with prostitutes – you slaughtered (sacrificed) the grain-fed young animal (e.g.: fat and choice calf)!' ³¹ "So now the [father] said to him, 'Child, you yourself continue being with me always – and all my things continue being yours (or: everything [that is] mine is yours). ³² "'But it continued being binding and necessary to at once be in a good and easy frame of mind (or: be given thoughts of well-being, cheer and celebration) and to rejoice, because this one – your brother – was existing being dead, and now he comes to life; and was one having been lost and destroyed – and now he is found!'"

¹⁵ I am now saying [this] as to and for sensible and thoughtful people (ones with a prudent and intelligent frame of mind; discreet and discerning folks): you, yourselves, sift and decide about (or: separate and judge) what I continually affirm and mean.

⁵⁸ Consequently, my beloved brothers, progressively come to be seated and settled folks – immovable and unswerving people – continuing to always be surrounded by more than enough (or: superabounding) within the midst of the Lord's work (= [Yahweh's or Christ's] deed or act), having seen and now knowing that your fatiguing labor (or: toil) does not exist without contents (is not empty) within and in union with [the] Lord [= Christ or Yahweh].

² habitually saying, "You folks be continuously and progressively changing your thinking – change your perceptions, attitudes, frame of mind, mode of thought and understanding, and turn back [toward God], because the reign of the heavens (the expression and effect of kingdom rule which has its source in the atmospheres; the activity of exercising the sovereignty which exists being the heavens; the reigning [of the King] which pertains to the heavens; the kingdom which belongs to and comes from the atmosphere; the influence of the sovereignty which is the heavens) has approached and is now near at hand and is close enough to touch (= has arrived and is now accessible)!" ³ You see, this is the man being spoken [of?] (or: this is the one [= declaration, or, prophecy] being spoken) through Isaiah the prophet, continuing in saying, "A voice! One repeatedly crying out (shouting; exulting; exclaiming; imploring): 'Within the midst of the wilderness (desert; desolate place; abandoned and uninhabited region) you folks prepare and make ready the road of [the] Lord (or: the path whose source is [Yahweh]; the Way whose character is that of, and which pertains to, [the] Owner [= Yahweh])! Be progressively constructing (making) His highway (thoroughfare) well-placed and straight.'" [Isa. 40:3] (or: "A sound! One is continuously crying out within the midst of the desert: ... ") ⁴ Now John himself was in the habit of having his clothing of woven camel's hair with a leather belt (or: a girdle made of an animal skin) around his waist and loins, and his nourishment continued being locusts and wild honey. ⁵ At that time [folks from] Jerusalem, all the Judean [area], and the region around the Jordan [River] were traveling out to (or: toward) him in a steady stream, ⁶ and they were one after another being immersed (baptized) by him in the Jordan River, while in turn openly confessing (speaking out in agreement with) their failures (their mistakes, sins and failures to hit the target). ⁷ Now upon seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees [two religious and political sects of the Jewish culture] repeatedly or in turn coming upon the immersion (baptism) [event], he said to them, "O offspring (progeny; brood) of vipers (poisonous snakes)! Who secretly pointed out to you people (gave you a private, confidential suggestion) to flee, so as to escape, away from the inherent fervor (the internal swelling that gives rise to an impulse and mental bent which may be expressed in strong emotion, such as anger or wrath; a vigorous upsurge of [God's] nature) which is progressively about to be [demonstrated]? ⁸ "Produce, then, fruit which has a corresponding value to, and is appropriate of, a change in thinking and attitude, as well as a turn [toward God].

³¹ "Which of the two did the will of the father?" They [as a group] are saying, "The first one." [other MSS read vs. 29-31 thus: "Now he, giving a considered reply, said,' I {go}, sir,' and yet he did not go off. So, upon approaching the second one, he said likewise. Yet he, giving a determined reply, said, 'I will not! 'Subsequently, he thought better of it {and} went forth. Which of {these} two fulfilled the desire of {his} father?" They are saying, "The latter one."] Jesus said, "That's right (You got it; Amen)! I am now saying and laying it out for you that the tax (or: tribute; toll) collectors (or: tax farmers; businessmen who bought the contract to collect taxes for the government) and the prostitutes are constantly preceding you men into God's reign (or: the kingdom of God; the sovereign activity of God)!

¹⁷ "Now at some point, coming into (or: to) himself, he affirmed, 'How many of my father's hired workers are surrounded by an abundance of bread – yet I, myself, am progressively perishing (loosing myself away) in a famine (or: by deprivation of food)! ¹⁸ "'Upon rising, I will continue traveling (journeying on) to my father, and then I will proceed saying to him, "O father, I failed to hit the target [leading] into the heaven (or: I missed my aim into the sky; or: I sinned in regard to heaven), as well as in your sight and before you.

²⁰ "but to the contrary, both to the folks in Damascus, first, and then in Jerusalem – besides all the country of Judea – and later to the ethnic multitudes (the nations; the non-Jews) I kept on reporting the message to be progressively changing one's way of thinking and perspective, as well as to be turning back upon (= oriented to) God, while habitually performing works (or: constantly committing deeds and practicing acts) worthy of that change of mind and that embody the value equal to [a return to Yahweh].

¹¹ And some of you were these things. But now you folks bathed yourselves off (took a bath to cleanse things away). But further, you were set apart (made holy; sanctified). But also you were rightwised and placed in the Way pointed out (turned in the right direction, made fair and equitable, and then joined in right relationship with God and mankind; = put in covenant) in union with and within the midst of the Name of our Lord, Jesus Christ – even in union with and within the midst of the Spirit of (or: Breath-effect and Attitude which is) our God!

¹ And you folks [who were] continuously existing being dead ones by (or: to; with; in) the results and effects of your stumblings aside (offences; wrong steps) and failures to hit the mark (or: mistakes; errors; times of falling short; sins; deviations) ² within the midst of and in union with which things you once walked about (= lived your lives) in accord (or: in keeping; corresponding) with (or: as directed by) the age of this ordered System (or: down through the time period of this world of secular culture, religion, economy and government), in line with the primary directive of the right and privilege of air (or: corresponding to the Ruler out of Being with regard to air): the Breath-effect of the One at the present time continuously operating within the sons of The Disobedience (or: down under the controlling aspect of the authority of "the blowing" of the Spirit of the One now progressively working internally in union with people having the character and qualities of incompliance; or: in correlation to the chief and leader of the privilege which comes from blowing: the attitude which expresses a lack of persuasion, or of not being convinced, which repeatedly energizes at the present time; or: in keeping with the one in first position with regard to the right concerning the atmosphere the attitude now habitually effecting inward action within the midst of people displaying non-conviction or an incompliant disposition), ³ immersedamong which folks we all also were once twisted up (or: entangled; overturned; upset) within the cravings (full longings; over-desires) of our flesh (= the estranged human nature, or the alienated self; or: = system of our works and sacrificial religion), continually doing the will (or: producing the intentions) of the flesh (= our existence while in bondage, or the duties of religion), and of the divided thoughts and things passing through the mind. Furthermore, we were continuously existing in essence (in natural condition; by instinct) being children of natural impulse (natural disposition; inherent fervor and swelling passion; teeming desire; or: anger; wrath) even as (or: as also) the rest (the remaining ones) [were]. ⁴ But God, continuously being wealthy and rich in mercy, because of His vast (much; great in magnitude and quantity; outstretched; long-lasting; repeated) Love in (or: with) which He focused love on (or: loves and accepts) us [p46 reads: had mercy on us], ⁵ even us, being continuously dead ones by (or: in; to; with) the results and effects of stumblings aside (wrong steps; offences) [p46 reads: ... in (to; by) the bodies; other MSS: by the failure (s) to hit the mark (sin/sins); B reads: within the stumblings aside and the cravings (lusts)], He made alive together by (or: joins us in common life with, for and in; [p46, B: within; in union with]) the Christ by Grace and joyous favor you continually exist, being folks having been delivered (rescued and saved, so that you are now safe; made whole)! ⁶ and He jointly roused and raised (or: suddenly awakens and raises) [us] up, and caused [us] to sit (or: seats [us]) together within the things situated upon [thus, above] the heavens (or: in union with the full, perfected heavenlies; or, although neuter: among those comprising the complete and perfected heavenlies; among the ones [residing] upon the atmospheres; in union with the celestials) within and in union with Christ Jesus, ⁷ to the end that within the continuously oncoming ages (the indefinite time periods continually and progressively coming upon and overtaking [us]) He may exhibit (display; point out; give proof of) the continuously transcending (being cast beyond; overshooting) riches and wealth of His grace and favor, in useful goodness (beneficial kindness) [flooding] upon us, within Christ Jesus (or: in union with [the] Anointed Jesus). ⁸ For you see, by (or: to; in; for; with) the grace and joyous favor you are (you continuously exist being) folks having been delivered (rescued; kept safe; saved; made whole; restored to your original state and condition) so as to now be enjoying salvation through [some MSS add: the] faith (or: trust; confidence), and this not forth from out of you folks, [it is] the gift of and from God (or: the gift which is God; or: the gift whose source is God), ⁹ not out of works (or: not forth from the midst of actions or deeds done; = not self-produced), to the end that no one could boast, ¹⁰ or the fact is, we are (continually exist being) the effect of what He did (or: His creation; the thing He has constructed; the result of His work; His achievement; His opus; the effect of His Deed): people being founded from a state of disorder and wildness (being framed, built, settled and created), within and in union with Christ Jesus, upon good works (virtuous actions; excellent deeds) which God made ready (prepared; or: prepares) beforehand, to the end that we may walk about (= live our lives) within and in union with them. ¹¹ On which account (or: Wherefore) you must continuously call to mind (or: keep in mind; remember) that once you, the nations (multitudes; ethnic groups; Gentiles; non-Israelites) in flesh (= in your physical beings and cultural heritages) the ones habitually termed (spoken of as; called; said to be) "uncircumcision" by the one (or: that) habitually being termed "circumcision," in flesh (= in body and culture/religion): made by hand, ¹² that (or: because) you were, and continued on being for that season (or: in that appointed situation), apart from Christ ([the] Anointed One; = [the] Messiah): people having been alienated from the state of being a citizen (or: estranged from citizenship in the commonwealth) of Israel and [being] strangers pertaining to the arrangements of (or: foreigners from covenants and testamentary dispositions whose origin is) The Promise (or the assurance), continually having no expectation (or: hope), and [were] folks without God (or: godless; atheists) within the ordered System (world of culture, religion and governments). ¹³ But now, within, in union with and centered in Christ Jesus, you the folks once being (continuously existing) far off (or: at a distance) came to be (were birthed; are generated; are suddenly become) near, immersed within and in union with the blood of the Christ (the Anointed One).

¹⁷ This, then, I am continually saying and giving evidence of (or: attesting) within the Lord: no longer are you to be continuously walking [your path] (i.e., conducting yourself; adjusting your behavior) according to the way that the nations (the multitudes; the non-Israelites; the Gentiles; the ethnic or special or pagan groups) are continuously walking around (ordering their behavior) within the emptiness (vanity; frivolity; futility) of their mind (or: intellect), ¹⁸ being folks having been, any still yet being, darkened in (or: by) the divided thought and the thing passing through the mind, having been and continuing being alienated (estranged) away from the Life of God (or: God's life; or the life which is God) through the ignorance continuously existing (or: being) within them [and] through the petrifying (becoming stone; callousness; = insensitivity) of their heart, ¹⁹ which certain people, being folks having ceased to feel pain (being insensible or callous), gave themselves over (abandoned themselves) to outrageous behavior (excessive indulgence; wantonness; licentiousness), into every unclean performance (work, trade, business or labor of impurity) in greed (always wanting more; covetousness; schemes of extortion; = wanting more than ones due, in disregard for others).

³ "Therefore, you people be constantly doing and keeping (observing; maintaining) everything – as many things as they should tell you. But do not continue doing or performing according to their works or actions, for you see, they are habitually 'saying,' and yet they are not doing or performing (= they are 'all talk and no action').

¹⁷ So since (or: But if; [other MSS: Consider this,]) you yourself are habitually calling (naming; classifying) yourself a Jew and are continuing to rest (lean back) upon [the] Law (= Torah), and are even from time to time boasting (expressing pride) in God, ¹⁸ and you are progressively knowing the Will by personal experience and insight, and are constantly testing in order to prove (or: approve) the things that habitually carry through (i.e., the essential things which matter and are different in that they are of greater value), while being a person regularly undergoing oral instruction from out of the Law (= Torah), ¹⁹ [and] likewise (or: besides) you have confidence in yourself (or: you have persuaded yourself) to be a guide or an escort of blind folks on the way or in the path; a light within [the] darkness (obscurity of the shadow areas; dimness of the gloom), 20. a trainer (instructor; corrector; discipliner; educator) of senseless ones (folks without will, heart or guts; imprudent ones; foolish ones); a teacher of infants (ones not yet able to speak), while habitually having (or: holding) the outward form (rough sketch; outline; framework; semblance) of the experiential knowledge and of the truth (or: reality) within, or in union with, the Law (= Torah)...

²¹ You then, the one habitually teaching another (a different one), are not habitually teaching yourself! You, the one constantly preaching (proclaiming; heralding), “Do not steal,” are habitually stealing! ²² The person continually saying not to be committing adultery, you are habitually committing adultery! You, the one repeatedly detesting idols (responding to forms, shapes or concepts as an abomination, as something that is foul and stinks), are in the habit of robbing temples (despoiling or profaning the sanctuary)! [note: vss. 21-22 can also be rendered as questions] ²³ You who are boasting in law (or: [the] Law [= Torah]; or: a law), through the transgression of (stepping across the line of; stepping to the side of; deviating from) the Law, you are constantly dishonoring (devaluing) God, ²⁴ for according as it has been, and stands, written [in the Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures)], "Because of you, God’s NAME [Yahweh?] is continuously being blasphemed (vilified; misrepresented; slandered; given a false image which hinders the Light) among the ethnic multitudes (nations; non-Jews; Gentiles)." [Isa. 52:5; Ezk. 36:20] ²⁵ Now you see, circumcision, indeed, continues being beneficial (continues to profit, to help), if you should continue practicing (or: observing) [the] Law (= Torah). But if you should be a transgressor (side-stepper; violator) of [the] Law, your circumcision (cutting around) has become uncircumcision (literally: the foreskin).

¹⁸ "for assuredly (or: amen; it is so), I am here saying to you people, until the heaven and the earth (or: the sky and the land) could ever go by and pass away, one iota (the smallest Greek letter) or one horn-like projection (diacritical mark, such as an accent or breathing mark, or part of a Heb. letter; a serif; = the smallest detail) can by any means pass away from the Law [= Torah] – UNTIL all things can birth themselves (or: should occur; may happen)!

⁵ "And further, whenever you folks may by habit be praying, you will not be as the overly judging and critical folks (hupokrites: see vs. 2, above), because they are constantly liking to be habitually praying while standing in the midst of the synagogues and on the corners of the broad streets and city squares – so that they can be visible to people (or: be manifested and caused to shine for mankind). I am saying to you truly: They are presently holding their full payment!

²¹ "Not everyone constantly saying to Me, 'O Lord! Lord!' will proceed to be entering into the reign (or: sovereign rule; kingdom; realm of action and rule) of the heavens (or: which has the character of, and emanates from, the atmospheres) but rather, the one habitually performing the result or progressively producing the effect of the will, intent and purpose of My Father – the One within and in union with the heavens, and in the midst of the atmospheres – [will proceed entering].

⁹ Then Jesus, continuing in leading [the group] along from there, saw a man called Matthew, who was presently sitting upon [the revenue receipts station at] the tax (customs; collections; tribute) office (or: at the toll booth), and He then says to him, "Be continuously following Me." And so, standing up, he at once followed Him.

⁵⁰ "You see, whoever may be doing the will, intent, purpose and desire of My Father – the One within and in union with [the] heavens (or: in the midst of [the] atmospheres) – that very person is My brother and sister and mother!"

³ and said, "Truly (or: Depend on it; Amen) I am now saying to you men, If you folks are not turned around [from going in this direction, or reverse your present trend of thinking] and may birth yourselves (or: become) like little children, you can (or: may; would) by no means enter into the heavens' reign (or: the kingdom of the atmospheres; or: heaven’s sovereignty).

¹⁶ "It is in this way that the last folks will be first and the first folks [will be] last." [comment: this parable shows the equity of kingdom life: all receive the same; first and last have no significance – it is an illustration of additional folks being added into the sovereign activities of the heavens, and being equal to regular workers; it further shows the care of the Householder for the needs of the "unemployed," i.e., those not at that time being a part of His sovereign reign, and how He repeatedly goes, even in the heat of the day, to search for those in need, pointing to outreach beyond the House]

²⁹ "And so all the people hearing [him] – as well as (or: even) the tax collectors (or: customs and toll agents; tax farmers/contractors) – [by] being immersed (or: baptized) showed (or: declared) that God is fair, equitable and just [through] John's immersion (baptism).

³⁷ Then – now look and consider this! – a woman who was certainly an outcast (a sinner; not in compliance with the cultural and religious rules) in the town, upon personally learning accurately that He is presently lying down [at a meal] within the Pharisee's house, is at once bringing an alabaster [container] of perfumed oil (aromatic juices distilled from trees) [which she had been] taking care of and attending to, so as to preserve [it], having acquired it as payment. ³⁸ And so, taking a stand behind [Him] – beside the feet of Jesus – [and] continuously weeping, she started to be progressively making His feet wet with the tears! So then she began wiping [them] off with [the] hair of her head, and continued tenderly kissing His feet while continuing to anoint [them] with the perfumed oil. ³⁹ Now the Pharisee – the one inviting Him – upon seeing [this], continued laying the matter out, saying within himself, "If this man were The Prophet, he would have been realizing (or: recognizing) and coming to a personal knowledge of who, and of what sort, [is] the woman who is certainly continuing to touch Him – that she is (or: by habit continues being) an outcast (sinner; societal failure)!" ⁴⁰ And so Jesus, giving a discerning and decided reply, said to him, "Simon, I am progressively having (or: I continue holding) something to say to you." So the man is then affirming, "Teacher, say [it]!" ⁴¹ "Two men continued being debtors to a certain creditor (moneylender). The one continued indebted, still owing five hundred denarii (silver coins; = 500 days' wages), yet the one in the different situation [owed] fifty (i.e., one owed ten times the amount of the other). ⁴² "At their continuing to not having [anything with which] to pay [him] back, he gave grace to both (or: he deals graciously and favorably with both; or: = he freely cancelled the debts for both). Therefore, which of them will proceed to be loving him more?" ⁴³ So giving a considered answer, Simon said, "As I take it under consideration, I am supposing that [it would be] the one to whom he gives the more grace (or: = to whom he freely cancelled the greater debt)." Now He says to him, "You decide and judge correctly (or: uprightly; in a straight manner)." ⁴⁴ With that, being turned toward the woman, He affirms to Simon, "Were you observing and are you now seeing this woman? I entered into your house – you did not give to Me water upon [My] feet! Yet this woman! She wets My feet with [her] tears, and then wipes [them] off with her hair! ⁴⁵ "You do not give to Me a kiss of friendship. Yet this woman! From [the hour] in which I entered, she does not leave off (cease; stop) repeatedly kissing My feet tenderly! ⁴⁶ "You did not anoint My head with olive oil (= common oil). Yet this woman! She anoints My feet with perfumed oil (or: massages My feet with fragrant ointment)! ⁴⁷ "Pertaining to this free gift, and having grace as its source, I am now saying to you, Her many failures (mistakes; miss-shots; deviations; sins) have been caused to flow away, and now exist sent-off, divorced, forgiven – because she loves much! Now for whom little continues being caused to flow away (or: to whom little is habitually forgiven), he continues habitually loving little." ⁴⁸ With this He says to her, "Your failures (deviations; mistakes; times of missing the target; sins) have been caused to flow away, and now exist sent-off, divorced and forgiven." ⁴⁹ At this, those folks reclining back together [at the meal] started to be saying among themselves, "Who is this man who also is now dismissing mistakes (forgiving failures and deviations; sending away sins)?" ⁵⁰ So Jesus said to the woman, "Your trust has restored you to health and now effects a condition of wholeness (or: Your faith has rescued you and now leaves you in a safe place). Continue going on your journey into peace [= shalom]."

¹ Now all the tax collection contractors (or: governmental customs and tribute agents) and outcasts (cultural, religious and legal failures; those who by habit and lifestyle miss the mark; sinners) were progressively drawing near to Him to continue listening and hearing Him, ² Consequently both the Pharisees and the scribes (scholars; theologians of the Law) kept on privately grumbling, muttering complaint and discontent among themselves, one after another saying "This man is constantly receiving and giving welcoming-hospitality to outcasts (sinners; etc.) and is habitually eating with them."

¹⁰ "In this way, I am now saying to you folks, joy is habitually birthed (or: constantly happens) in the sight and presence of God's agents (or: messengers) upon (or: on the occasion of) a progressive changing of the mind (or: a continued change in thinking and perspective, [accompanied by a return to the Lord]) by one outcast (habitual failure; person who constantly makes mistakes; sinner)."

⁹ So Jesus said to him, "Today salvation (deliverance; health and wholeness; healing and restoration to an original state of being) is birthed in this house (or: happened to this house; came to be for this house), in accord with the fact that he himself is also Abraham's son (= a son having the qualities and character of Abraham; or: = he is a true Israelite; or: = he is as much a son of Abraham as I am). ¹⁰ "You see, the Son of the Man (= the eschatological messianic figure; = Adam's son) came to seek after, and then to save, deliver and restore what is existing being lost and destroyed."

²² "He is then saying to him, 'From out of your own mouth I am now deciding about you, you worthless (good-for-nothing; malignant) slave! You had seen so as to know, did you, that I, myself, am a harsh person – constantly withdrawing what I did not deposit and repeatedly reaping what I did not sow (or: plant)?

³⁰ "Indeed then, upon looking over, seeing above and perceiving on behalf of [D reads: taking no notice of] the times of this ignorance, in regard to the present conditions and situations, God is presently and progressively passing along [other MSS: bringing back] this announcement to mankind (or: for humanity): all people (or: every human) everywhere are (or: is) to be progressively changing [their] thinking and continue with a changed mindset!

¹⁹ But we know from having seen that whatever the Law ([Torah]; or: custom) continues saying, it continues speaking to and for those within the Law (or: custom) – to the end that every mouth may be shut (fenced in; hedged around; stopped; barred; silenced)! And so all the world (ordered System of religion, culture, economy, and government; or: secular society; or: = all humanity) can come to be "under fair and equitable dealings," in God (or: would become subject to a just decision and a pointing out of the Way, by God; or: should come to be liable to God, "under what is right"; or: may be brought to a just trial with God).

²⁰ Now Law and custom at one point entered in alongside (or: intruded into the situation by the side) to the end that the effect of the fall to the side (or: so that the result of the offense and the stumbling aside) would increase to be more than enough (should greatly abound and become more intense). But where the Sin (the failure; the divergence and missing of the target) increases (or: abounded to be more than enough; becomes more intense) THE GRACE ("the act producing happiness, which is granted as a favor" – Jim Coram) at once super-exceeds (or: hyper-exceeded) over and above, surrounding to excessive abundance and overflow,

³⁰ What, then, shall we continue declaring? That [the] nations (ethnic multitudes; Gentiles; non-Israelites) – the ones not constantly pursuing (pressing forward rapidly after) rightwisedness (covenant inclusion which is right and fair relationship with equitable dealings in accord to the Way pointed out; a turning in the right direction on the Path) – overtook, seized and took-down this rightwisedness as a possession: yet [it is] a rightwisedness (a turning to equity and justice in the Way; = covenant membership and participation) that [is] forth from out of the midst of faith, trust and conviction (or: [Christ's] faithfulness)! ³¹ However Israel, habitually pursuing a Law which was rightwisedness (right and fair relationship with equitable dealings in accord to the way pointed out [to them]; right living on the path) did not precede [the others] into [that] principle or custom (or: did not outstrip or sooner arrive unto [such] a law or custom [other MSS add: which was justice and rightwised living]; = did not reach, ahead of other folks, what the Torah promised). ³² Through what cause (or: Why)? Because [it was] not forth from out of a source of faith, trust and conviction, but rather as from out of works (actions) as its source. They dash against, trip and stumble on (or: by) the Stone that caused the Stumbling-effect, ³³ Just as it has been written, "Look and consider! I am repeatedly placing in Zion a 'Stone of Stumbling,' and a 'Rock of a trap-snare.' And the one habitually believing upon Him (or: It) will not continue being brought to shame, disgrace, or disappointment." [Isa. 28:16]

¹³ – one being formerly a blasphemer (a vilifier and slanderer; one using abusive speech and hindering the Light while bringing injury) and a persecutor and a violent, insolent aggressor (an overbearing, insolent, riotous and outrageous person), but to the contrary, I was mercied (or: given mercy), because, being continuously ignorant (without intimate, experiential knowledge or personal insight), I acted (or: did it) within unbelief (or: in distrust). ¹⁴ Yet our Lord's grace and favor overwhelms (is above more than enough; is overabounding) with faith and trust, as well as love, which are resident within Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ The Word [is] full of faith, and [is] deserving of every welcome reception of equal value, because (or: Faithful and trustworthy, even worthy of all and complete acceptance, [is] the message and saying that) Christ Jesus came into the ordered System (the world of secular culture, religion, government and economy; or: the cosmos) to rescue failures (to deliver those missing the target; to save and make sinners healthy and whole; to restore outcasts to their rightful position), of whom I myself exist being first (or: am foremost). ¹⁶ But nonetheless, through this I was mercied (or: I am given mercy), to the end that within me first (= as the foremost case) Jesus Christ may point out so as to publicly display every emotion which is long in arriving (all long-suffering patience) with a view to being an underline (toward [being] a subtype; as facing a sketch or outline; for a pattern) of those about to be habitually believing (or: progressively trusting; one-after-another placing faith) upon Him, [that is, ] into the midst of eonian life (into Life which pertains to and has the qualities and characteristics of the Age [of Messiah]; into life of, and which lasts through, the ages).

⁹ The Lord [= Yahweh] is not continually delaying the promise, as certain folks consider delay, but rather is constantly patient (long of emotion and slow in passion; long before rushing heatedly) unto you, constantly not intending any folks to be lost (or: to destroy themselves), but to the contrary, [for] all people to make room, allow space, give way and progress into a change of mind (or: = repentance and a return to God).

¹⁸ "You see, John came neither habitually eating nor constantly drinking, and people are continually saying, 'He continues having and holding a demon (Hellenistic concept and term: = an animistic influence).'

²⁵ "The immersion (baptism; = ceremonial washing) which pertained to and was done by John – from what source or origin was it being; from out of heaven (or: from [the] Atmosphere), or from out of the midst of humans (mankind; people)?" Now they began reasoning and discussing among themselves, one after another saying, "If we should say, 'From out of heaven,' he will say to us, 'Why (Through what cause or situation) did you not trust or put faith in him?'

⁸ "Be at once, then, producing fruit of corresponding value to (or: of equal worth of; worthy of) the aforementioned change of mind and way of thinking! And so, you should not start (or: begin) to be repeatedly saying among yourselves, 'We continue having Abraham [as; for] a father,' for I am now saying to you folks that God continues able (constantly has power) to raise up children to (or: for) Abraham from out of the midst of these stones! ⁹ "Now the ax already continues lying [positioned with its aim] toward the root of the trees. So then, every tree not seasonally producing beautiful (fine; ideal; choice) fruit is customarily cut out [of the orchard] and is regularly being tossed into a fire [to heat or to cook]." ¹⁰ And so the crowds began putting questions to him, one after another saying, "What, then, should we be doing?" ¹¹ So, giving a decided reply, he began saying to them, "The person habitually having two tunics (undergarments), let him at once share with the one not normally having [one]; and the person habitually having things to eat (food), let him regularly do likewise." ¹² Now tax collectors (or: government revenue contractors; customs agents) also came to be immersed (baptized), and they said to him, "Teacher, what should we be doing?" ¹³ So he said to them, "Be habitually practicing (thus: collecting, demanding or exacting) nothing more besides the thing having been precisely arranged and prescribed for you (= charge nothing beyond the standard rates)."

²⁹ "And so all the people hearing [him] – as well as (or: even) the tax collectors (or: customs and toll agents; tax farmers/contractors) – [by] being immersed (or: baptized) showed (or: declared) that God is fair, equitable and just [through] John's immersion (baptism). ³⁰ "Yet the Pharisees and the scholars of the Law, [by] not being immersed (or: baptized) under and by him, set aside (displaced; = disregarded or rejected) God's intent (design; purpose) [which He was offering] into (thus: for) themselves.

³³ "You folks have dispatched [men] to John, and he has borne witness to the Truth (or: testified by the Truth; made confirmation in the Truth; attested with reality), ³⁴ "yet, for Myself, I am not by habit taking the witness (or: receiving testimony or claim) from a person (from [the] side of a human), but rather, I presently say these things to the end that you folks yourselves may be delivered (or: could and would be rescued, saved, made healthy and whole, and restored to your original condition). ³⁵ "That one was continuing being the continuously burning (ignited; lighted) and constantly shining lamp, and you folks yourselves, for a short time (= for an hour), want (or: purposed) to exult and rejoice in its light (or: within his light). ³⁶ "Yet I Myself constantly hold (or: am continuously having) the Witness (or: the evidence) [that is] greater and more important than [that] from John (or: the greater testimony compared to the one that John gives), for the works (or: actions; deeds) which the Father has given in Me (to Me; for Me; by Me) – to the end that I may bring them to the goal (finish, mature and perfect them to their destined purpose) – the works themselves (or: these same actions) which I am continuously doing (performing; producing) continuously bear witness (testify; make claim; give evidence) about Me, that the Father has sent Me forth with a commission (as a Representative, or Emissary). ³⁷ "Also, the One sending Me, that Father, has borne witness (has testified) about Me. You folks have neither heard His voice at any time, nor have you seen (or: perceived) His external appearance (shape; figure of what is seen; = what He looks like), ³⁸ "and further, you people are not holding His Word (His Message; His communication of His Thought and Idea; His Logos) remaining (or: dwelling) continuously within you (or: and you are not having His Word and Idea abiding continually among you folks), because Whom He sends (or: sent) forth with a commission (or: as a Representative) you people are not trusting or believing.” ³⁹ "You folks continuously search (or, as an imperative: Be constantly searching) the Scriptures, because within them you yourselves are habitually presuming to be presently and continuously holding eonian life (or: because you folks are normally supposing for yourselves to be habitually having – in union with them – life pertaining to, and having the qualities and characteristics of, the Age [perhaps: = the life of the coming age]), and those [Scriptures] are (exist being) the ones continuously testifying about Me (constantly giving evidence concerning and bearing witness around Me). ⁴⁰ "And yet you people continue not willing (or: presently refuse and habitually do not intend) to come toward (or: to; face to face with) Me, so that you may presently be having Life (or: would continuously hold and possess [this] life).

²⁵ "Yet as John continued fulfilling [his own] race course (= completed [his] career), he kept on repeatedly saying, 'What or who are you people continuing to secretly think (or: repeatedly conjecturing; presently supposing) me to be? I myself am not [what you think] (or: not [the One])! To the contrary, look and consider! One is progressively coming – after me – the sandals of Whose feet, I am not worthy to loosen or untie.' ²⁶ "Men! Brothers! Sons of the race (or: family) of Abraham as well as those among you continuously fearing God (or: [who] are God-fearers)! The Logos (Word; message) of this deliverance (salvation; return to health, wholeness and our original state of being) was sent forth out to us [other MSS: you]! ²⁷ "You see, those presently residing (dwelling; having a permanent home) in Jerusalem, along with their rulers, not knowing this or even the voices of the prophets – those being regularly and repeatedly read in accord with every sabbath – they fulfilled [them] in judging [Him] (or: not recognizing or knowing, and being ignorant about, this One, by judging [Him] they fulfilled the voices of the prophets which are continuously being read, down on every sabbath). ²⁸ "And even though not finding in Him even one cause for (or: grounds deserving) death [D* adds: after judging Him they turned {Him} over to Pilate {and}], they asked Pilate to take Him up to be executed. ²⁹ "So as they ended (brought to fruition; brought to its goal and destiny; finished; completed the final act and purpose of) all the things having been written concerning Him, after taking [Him] down from the wooden pole (stake; cross), they put [Him] into a memorial tomb.

²⁵ in accommodating meekness and with consideration constantly educating (training; disciplining; instructing; correcting) those habitually setting themselves in complete opposition or who offer resistance. May not God at some time give a change of thinking to them (or: Would not God grant in them and supply for them a change of mind), [directing and leading them] into a full and accurate experiential knowledge of Truth and reality?

¹² Exercise sight (Be continuously observing), brothers, [so] there shall not once be (or: exist) in any of you folks a bad, useless or misery-gushed heart (a heart causing labor, sorrow or pain) of unfaithfulness (or: from disloyalty, disbelief or distrust; or: the source and character of which is an absence of faith and trust), in withdrawing (or: standing away and aloof; separating or revolting) from the living God.

⁶ and yet then falling by the side (or: falling aside along the way), [are] powerless and unable to be repeatedly renewing again into a change of mind: [they are] continuously crucifying again in themselves (or: to, for or by themselves) the Son of God, and [are] constantly exposing [Him] to public disgrace.

²¹ For it were better for them (or: it was existing better to and in them) to have not known (not to have come to an experiential full knowledge of) the Way (road; path) of the fair and equitable dealing (justice; righteousness; or: = covenant participation) than, fully knowing, to turn below (or: back) from out of [other MSS: to bend back, into the things which are behind, from] the set-apart implanted goal (holy impartation of the finished product and destiny within; sacred inward directive) – the one being given over (committed; delivered alongside) to them.

²¹ And I give time to her, to the intent that she may change her mind (way of thinking), and habitually she is not intending (or: willing) to change her thinking out of her prostitution (= idolatry, or, association with idol temples).

¹⁸ "Therefore, you folks listen to, and be hearing, the parable (illustration cast by your side) of the sower (or: the scattering of seed).

²⁸ "But how is it normally seeming to you men (= What are you now thinking of this situation; What is your opinion)? A man had two children. Upon coming to the first one, he said, 'Child, be going (or: lead the way) under [my directive] today, and continue working in the vineyard.

² "The scribes (scholars; theologians; experts in the Law [Torah]) sit upon Moses' seat.

¹⁴ "You know, [it is] just as a person [who is] periodically (or: presently about to be) traveling abroad calls (or: summoned) his own slaves and turns over to them his possessions (or: and then gave over to them [control of] the goods and property normally being his subsistence). ¹⁵ "He also, on the one hand, gave to one five talents [= thirty thousand silver coins (denarii); = one hundred years' wages], yet to another, two [talents], and then to another, one [talent; = six thousand denarii] – to each one according to his own ability. And then he traveled abroad.

¹ And so He started (or: begins) to be speaking to them in parables (illustrations from things cast or placed alongside for comparison): "A person (or: man; human) planted a vineyard, then put (or: places) a fence around [it], dug a pit (or: excavates a trough for a vat; [a place under the winepress where the extracted juice could be collected, or a hole to place a large press-vessel in, to steady it]) and erected (or: constructs; builds) a tower. Next he leased it to tenant-farmers (or: let it out to cultivators and vineyard keepers) and traveled abroad. ² "Now in the appropriate season he commissioned a slave and sent him off, as an emissary, to the tenant-farmers (cultivators and vineyard keepers), to the end that he could take (or: receive) some of the fruits of the vineyard from the tenant-cultivators. ³ "But taking hold of (or: grabbing and seizing) him, they scourged (severely whipped and beat) [him] and sent [him] off empty (= empty-handed). ⁴ "Now again he commissioned and sent off another slave to them, and they battered that one's head [other MSS: they pelted with stones] and they dishonored [him] [other MSS: they sent {him} off in dishonor]. ⁵ "Then he commissioned and sent off another one, and that one they killed. And [there were] many other – some of whom [they] were, one after another, scourging (whipping and beating), on the one hand, yet others of whom, on the other hand, [they] kept on killing, one after another. ⁶ "He still had one person, and had kept on holding him: his beloved son. He then also commissioned and sent him off last, to them, collecting his thoughts and saying, 'They will proceed turning back on themselves and will continue respecting my son.' ⁷ "Yet those tenant-farmers said to themselves and toward each other, 'This one is the heir (the one receiving the allotment of the inheritance). Come! Let us (or: We should) kill him, and the inheritance will proceed to be ours!' [note: there was a law that the estate of a proselyte who dies and has no heir may be regarded as ownerless property which can be claimed by anyone, those presently occupying it having first choice – J. Jeremias] ⁸ "So seizing [him], they at once killed him, then threw him out of [their] midst – outside the vineyard. ⁹ "What will the owner of the vineyard proceed in doing? He will in succession be coming and then destroying the tenant-farmers! Next he will proceed to give the vineyard to other folks. ¹⁰ "Have you folks not yet read this Scripture? – 'A rock (or: stone) which the builders rejected and threw away after examining it, this one comes into being [the] head of [the] corner [note: could = the keystone, or, the cornerstone]. ¹¹ 'This [head] came into existence from beside [the] Lord [= Yahweh], and He (or: it) is Wonderful (or: marvelous; remarkable; or: Amazing) in our eyes'?" [Ps. 118:22-23] ¹² So they further continued seeking [a way] to take a strong grasp of Him (= to arrest Him), for in this experience they knew that He said the parable directing it toward them – and yet they were afraid of the crowd. Then, abandoning Him, they went off.

¹² Therefore He said, "A certain man of noble birth traveled into a far off country (a distant land) to take possession for himself (or: to receive to himself) a kingdom and its reign, and then to at once return.

⁹ Now after that, He began to tell this illustration (parable) to the people: "A person planted a vineyard and then let it out to tenant-farmers (or: leased it to vine-dressers). Next he left home on a journey (or: travels abroad) for an extended period (a considerable time that is sufficient [for the vineyard to produce fruit]). ¹⁰ "And then, in the appropriate season, he sent off a slave to the tenant-farmers (vine-dressers) with the purpose that they will proceed giving to him [his portion] from the fruit (or: crop) of the vineyard. But the tenants (vineyard workers; cultivators), after whipping (lashing) and beating [him] to the point or removing skin, sent him forth (or: out) and away empty-handed. ¹¹ "So next, he put forth a different slave to send. Yet that one also, after lashing and beating [him] – as well as dishonoring [him] – they sent forth and away empty-handed. ¹² "Then he put forth a third one to send – but, after wounding, injuring and traumatizing this one, they threw [him] out. ¹³ "So the owner (lord) of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do?... I will proceed sending my son, the beloved one (may signify: the only one). All things being equal, chances are they will proceed being turned within so as to be showing respect to this one.' ¹⁴ "Now upon seeing him, the tenant-farmers (vineyard cultivators) began reasoning and deliberating with one another, one after another saying, 'This one is the heir! We should (or: Let us) at once kill him off, so that the inheritance can (or: may) come to be ours!' ¹⁵ "And so, after throwing him outside the vineyard, they killed [him]. What, therefore, will the owner (lord) of the vineyard proceed doing to them?... ¹⁶ "He will proceed in coming and will be progressively destroying these tenant-farmers, and then he will be progressively giving the vineyard to other folks." Now upon hearing [this], they said, "May it not happen (or: come to that)!" ¹⁷ But He, looking intently at them (or: staring in their [faces]), said, "What, then, is the [meaning of] this having been written, 'A stone which the builders rejected – after examining it – has come to be [placed] into [the] head (= source) of [the] corner (or: ended up as the keystone)'? [Ps. 118:22] ¹⁸ "Every person falling upon that stone will be progressively crushed together and shattered, yet upon whom it may (or: should) fall, it will continue winnowing him [like grain]." ¹⁹ At this, the scribes (scholars and theologians) and the chief priests sought (tried to find [some way]) to throw [their] hands on Him in that very hour, and yet they feared the people. You see, they realized that He spoke this illustration (parable) [with an aim] toward them.

¹ "I Myself am (exist being) the true (genuine; real) Grapevine, and My Father is (continues being) the One who tends the soil (the Farmer; the One who tills and works the Land; the Cultivator; the Gardener).

³ "And then he sent off his slaves with the mission to call the folks having been invited unto the marriage festivities – and yet, they continued unwilling to go (or: kept on, one after another, not intending or desiring to come; = not wanting to attend).

² "Now in the appropriate season he commissioned a slave and sent him off, as an emissary, to the tenant-farmers (cultivators and vineyard keepers), to the end that he could take (or: receive) some of the fruits of the vineyard from the tenant-cultivators. ³ "But taking hold of (or: grabbing and seizing) him, they scourged (severely whipped and beat) [him] and sent [him] off empty (= empty-handed). ⁴ "Now again he commissioned and sent off another slave to them, and they battered that one's head [other MSS: they pelted with stones] and they dishonored [him] [other MSS: they sent {him} off in dishonor]. ⁵ "Then he commissioned and sent off another one, and that one they killed. And [there were] many other – some of whom [they] were, one after another, scourging (whipping and beating), on the one hand, yet others of whom, on the other hand, [they] kept on killing, one after another.

¹² be continuously rejoicing and repeatedly express extreme exultation, because your wage (compensation; reward) [is] much (large; great), within the heavens (or: atmospheres [that surround you])! You see, they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way.

³¹ "As a result, you are continually giving evidence in yourselves (testifying to and for yourselves) that you exist being sons of those that were murdering the prophets, ³² "And so, you, yourselves... Fill full the measure of your fathers! ³³ "[You] snakes! [You] offspring (brood) of vipers (poisonous serpents)! How can you flee and escape from the judging which has the qualities, character and significance of the valley of Hinnom (= the sentence to the city dump [Greek: Gehenna]; the deciding which pertains to the waste depository of the city)? ³⁴ "Because of this – look and consider! – I, Myself, am continuing in commissioning and sending off to you people prophets, wise people and scholars (scribes; theologians of the Law). Of them, [some] you folks will proceed to be killing, and [some] you will proceed to crucify (put to death on stakes). Further, of them [some] you people will continue severely whipping (scourge; lash) within your synagogues, and then you, yourselves, will continue pursuing and persecuting [them] from city to city (or: town to town), ³⁵ "so that upon you, yourselves, can (or: should) come all [the] just (equitable; rightwised) blood being continuously poured out (or: spilled) upon the Land – from the blood of rightwised (just; fair; in-right-relationship) Abel, until the blood of Zechariah, the son of Barachiah (or: Baruch), whom you people murdered between the Temple and the altar. ³⁶ "Assuredly, I am now saying to you people, it will progressively move toward this point, and then arrive – all these things! – upon this generation! ³⁷ "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The one repeatedly killing the prophets, and habitually stoning the people sent off with a mission to her. How many times (or: How often) I wanted (intended; purposed; longed) to progressively gather your children together upon [Myself] in the manner in which a hen normally gathers her chicks together under [her] wings – and you did not want [it] (or: you do not intend [it]).

³³ "Moreover, it continues being binding and necessary for Me to continue journeying today, tomorrow and on the following one [other MSS: in the one still coming], because it continues being inadmissible (not acceptable; = unthinkable) for a prophet to be destroyed outside of Jerusalem! ³⁴ "Jerusalem, O Jerusalem! – the one constantly killing off the prophets, and repeatedly stoning the people having been sent off as emissaries (missionaries; representatives) to her – how often (how many times) I wanted and intended to at once completely gather together and assemble your children, in the manner in which a hen [gathers] her own brood (or: chicks) under [her] wings, and yet you people did not want [it]!

⁵² "Which one of the prophets (those who had light ahead of time and spoke before the people) did your fathers [D* reads: those men] not persecute and pursue? And they killed off those predicting concerning (or: bringing down the announcement in advance about) the coming of the Just One (the Fair, Equitable, Right One that is in rightwised relationships that accord with the Way pointed out) – of Whom you yourselves became betrayers (or: traitors) and murderers:

¹⁵ even from those killing-off the Lord Jesus, as well as the prophets; even from those driving us out and continuously displeasing God, and from folks contrary to (or: in opposition against) all humans (or: people), ¹⁶ while continuously forbidding us (cutting us off; preventing us) to speak to the nations (the ethnic groups; the non-Israelite multitudes; the Gentiles) – to the end that they may be delivered (saved; rescued; healed and made whole) – always [proceeding] unto that which fills up their own failures (errors; deviations; sins)! But inherent fervor (or: swelling passion; teeming desire; or: anger; wrath; agitation of soul) advances upon them unto a purpose (or: on into [the] final act; or: in the end; on into the midst of a destined goal).

³⁶ But different ones took a trial (or: received a test) of mockings (scoffings), and of scourgings, and further, of bonds and imprisonment (= put in chains and thrown in jail). ³⁷ They were stoned, they were cut in two with a saw, they were put to the proof (tried; tested), they passed away in a slaughter (or: by murder) with sword, they went around (wandered) in sheepskins, in goat skins, continuously being behind (being in want; being in the rear), being constantly pressed (squeezed; afflicted), habitually being held in the bad (being maltreated; having it bad) –

⁹ Then when He opened the fifth seal, I saw, down under the altar of burnt-offering, the souls of the folks having been slaughtered [as in sacrifice] because of the Word of God (or: God’s message), and because of the witness (testimony; evidence) which they were holding (or: continued to have).

⁴ "So again he sent off other slaves, now saying, 'Tell the folks having been invited, "Consider, please! I have made my meal ready (or: finished the preparations for my dinner) – my bulls and grain-fattened animals having been slaughtered, and everything [is] set and ready! Come unto the wedding festivities."'

¹⁷ And then – look and consider! – a Voice (or: sound) from out of the midst of the atmosphere (or: the sky and the heavens), repeatedly saying, "This is My Son, the Beloved One in Whom I take pleasure and imagine thoughts of well-being (or: This One exists being My dearly loved and esteemed Son, in Whom I approve)!"

⁶ "He still had one person, and had kept on holding him: his beloved son. He then also commissioned and sent him off last, to them, collecting his thoughts and saying, 'They will proceed turning back on themselves and will continue respecting my son.'

¹³ "So the owner (lord) of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do?... I will proceed sending my son, the beloved one (may signify: the only one). All things being equal, chances are they will proceed being turned within so as to be showing respect to this one.'

¹⁸ No one at any time has seen God. The only-begotten (uniquely-born) God [other MSS: Son], the One continuously existing, [moving, directed and leading] into the Father’s place of safety and intimacy (bosom; breast; chest; folds of a garment; inlet or bay), that One interprets and explains by unfolding and bringing [Him] out.

³⁴ "And so I myself have seen and given witness, and thus now bear testimony, that this One is God’s Son (or: continuously exists being the Son which is God; or: the Son having the character and qualities of God; or: the Son from God)."

¹⁶ "For thus God loves the world (the universe; the ordered arrangement; the organized system [of life and society]; or: = all mankind), so that He gives His uniquely-born [with other MSS: the only-begotten] Son, (or, reading wste as an adverb: You see, in this manner God loves the sum total of created beings as being the Son: He gives the Only-begotten One; or: reading wV te: For you see, [it is] in this way [that] God loves the aggregate of humanity – even as it were His Son: He gives the uniquely-born One), to the end that all (or: everyone) – the one habitually believing, putting confidence and trusting into Him – would not lose or destroy himself, or cause himself to fall into ruin, but rather can continuously have (or: would habitually possess and hold) eonian life (age-durative life with qualities derived from the Age [of the Messiah]; living existence of and for the ages). [note 1): I have here given the “fact” sense of the aorist tense of the verbs “love” and “give” rather than the simple past tense. The statement by Jesus is a “timeless” fact of God; it signifies that the object of His love and His gift (that object being the cosmos, the universe, the world of men and created beings) is in view as a whole, and both the love and the gift are presented as fact, as one complete whole (punctiliar) which exists apart from any sense of time (i.e., coming from the realm or sphere of the “eternal,” or, “the Being of God;” note 2): Paul Tillich defines "love" (agape): the whole being's drive and movement toward reunion with another, to overcome existential separation; an ecstatic manifestation of the Spiritual Presence; acceptance of the object of love without restriction, in spite of the estranged, profanized and demonized state of the object; – Systematic Theology III, pp 134-138]

¹ Long ago (or: In the old days), in many parts (or: fragments; divided portions; = bit by bit) and in much-traveled ways consisting of many turns and directions, God, having spoken to (or: by; in; with) the fathers – in (= through; in [the words of]) the prophets – ² upon [the] last of these days spoke to us in a Son whom He placed (or: sets) [as; to be] Heir of all (or: One who receives all humanity as an allotment; or: heir of all things; or: One who received everything as his allotted inheritance) through Whom He also made the ages (or: formed and constructed the various designated periods of time [which compose existence, as well as God's influence and activities]);

¹³ Now, upon their withdrawing from the region [of Bethlehem?] and returning into their country, – note and consider this! – an agent from [the] Lord [= Yahweh's messenger] progressively makes himself visible (or: as was the custom, is again made to appear) down from (or: in association with) a dream to (or: in) Joseph, proceeding in saying, "Upon being roused, and getting up, take along the young Boy – as well as His mother – and progressively flee into Egypt. Then continue being (or: existing) there until I can (or: should) speak to you, for Herod proceeds about to be continuously seeking the young Boy, his purpose being to destroy Him!" ¹⁴ So, upon being aroused and getting up, he took along the young Boy and His mother – by night – and withdrew from the area, into Egypt. ¹⁵ And He continued being there until the termination (or: the finishing act) of Herod, to the end that the [oracle; prophecy] being spoken by [the] Lord [= Yahweh] could be fulfilled, [which] continues saying, "I call (or: summon; called) My Son from out of the midst of Egypt." [Hos. 11:1] ¹⁶ Then Herod, seeing (= realizing) that he was played as a fool (duped; tricked; treated with scorn) by the great ones (scholars; wise men; astrologers), was extremely furious (was caused to breathe violently in a heat of passion; was enraged), so, dispatching [soldiers] (or: sending off agents), he took up (= put to death) all the boys within Bethlehem and in all its boundaries (= districts; surrounding areas) – those from two years and under (or: younger), corresponding to the time which he had accurately ascertained from those great ones (scholars).

³ About that time the chief (or: ranking) priests and the elders (or: the older [Jewish] men [at least some being council members of the Sanhedrin, in Jerusalem]) of the people [of Israel, the Jews] had been gathered together into the courtyard of the high (chief; ranking) priest – the one being usually called Caiaphas. ⁴ And so they consulted together (jointly deliberated with a view to a consensus) to the end that with bait (or: by a contrivance for entrapping) they could at once forcibly lay hold of and arrest Jesus, and then kill Him off.

¹ Now with the coming of morning (or: at morning birthing itself), the chief (or: ranking) priests and the elders of the people took counsel together, deliberating plans against Jesus to bring Him down, even so as to put Him to death. ² And thus, upon binding Him, they led [Him] off and then handed [Him] over to Pilate, the governor.

⁷ "Yet those tenant-farmers said to themselves and toward each other, 'This one is the heir (the one receiving the allotment of the inheritance). Come! Let us (or: We should) kill him, and the inheritance will proceed to be ours!' [note: there was a law that the estate of a proselyte who dies and has no heir may be regarded as ownerless property which can be claimed by anyone, those presently occupying it having first choice – J. Jeremias] ⁸ "So seizing [him], they at once killed him, then threw him out of [their] midst – outside the vineyard.

¹⁴ "Now upon seeing him, the tenant-farmers (vineyard cultivators) began reasoning and deliberating with one another, one after another saying, 'This one is the heir! We should (or: Let us) at once kill him off, so that the inheritance can (or: may) come to be ours!'

⁴⁷ Consequently, the chief (or: ranking) priests and the Pharisees gathered [the] Sanhedrin (= convoked a council of the leaders of the Jewish religious and political culture), and they began to say, "What are we presently doing, seeing that this man is repeatedly doing many signs? ⁴⁸ "If we let him go on in this way (or: If we disregard him in this manner; or: Suppose we thus abandon, neglect or leave him alone), they will all progressively put trust (will continue believing) into him, the Romans will proceed to come, and they will progressively take away both our place and our nation (= political station, culture and corporate ethnic identity)." ⁴⁹ Yet one of them, Caiaphas, being chief priest of that year, said to them, "You people have not seen, nor perceived, nor know anything, ⁵⁰ "neither are you logically reasoning or taking into account the fact that he is progressively bringing it together for you (or: it is advantageously bringing things together for you), so that one man can die over (or: to the end that one person should and would die away for the sake of [in the sense of "instead of"]) the People, and not [that] the whole nation should destroy itself!" ⁵¹ Now, he did not say this from himself, but to the contrary, being chief priest of that year, he prophesied that Jesus was being about to be dying away over [the situation of] (or: for the sake of) the Nation (or: ethnic group), ⁵² and not over [the condition of] the Nation (or: on behalf of the ethnic group) only, but further, to the end that He could gather God's children together – those having been thoroughly scattered – into one (or: so that He would lead together into unity God’s divided, dissipated and disintegrated born-ones that have been dispersed throughout). ⁵³ Therefore, from that day they deliberated and consulted together to the end that they should kill Him.

²⁷ "For in truth (actuality; reality) both Herod and Pontius Pilate, together with ethnic multitudes and [the] People of Israel – [coming] upon (= against) Your set-apart Servant (or: holy Boy) Jesus, Whom You anointed – were gathered together (thus: were made to join forces) in this city ²⁸ "to do whatever (or: as many things as) Your hand and Your counsel (purpose; plan; intent; design) previously marked out the bounds for and limited beforehand to be happening (to come to be; to occur).

²⁴ Now as they heard these words, both the captain of the Temple complex and the head (chief; ranking) priests became utterly perplexed about them and continued bewildered as to whatever this might come to be (or: what would come of this). ²⁵ But then someone just arriving reported to them, "Look, and consider (or: Hey)! The men whom you folks put in the prison are presently within the Temple courts (or: grounds), standing and continuing in teaching the people!" ²⁶ At that point the captain, after going off with the subordinate officers, proceeded in leading them, [bringing them] without force or violence – for they were fearing the people, lest they could (or: should; would) be stoned. ²⁷ So after leading them, they had [them] stand in the Sanhedrin [hall], and then the chief (head; ranking) priests questioned them, saying, ²⁸ "We commanded to you men, with a direct order, not to keep on teaching upon the [authority and basis of] this Name – and look! – you folks have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and now you continue purposed and determined to bring upon us (= hold us responsible for) the blood of this man!"

² upon [the] last of these days spoke to us in a Son whom He placed (or: sets) [as; to be] Heir of all (or: One who receives all humanity as an allotment; or: heir of all things; or: One who received everything as his allotted inheritance) through Whom He also made the ages (or: formed and constructed the various designated periods of time [which compose existence, as well as God's influence and activities]);

⁵⁰ So Jesus said to him, "My good fellow (or: O comrade!; Dear friend), upon what [purpose; errand] are you now being present here beside [Me] (= why do you cause this parousia)?" At that point, upon approaching, they laid [their] hands upon Jesus and seized Him.

⁵⁷ Now those having a strong grip on Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas, the high (chief) priest, where the scribes (theologians and scholars of the Law) and the elders had been gathered together in assembly.

⁴⁶ Now those men thrust their hands upon Him and strongly seized Him. ⁴⁷ However, a certain one of those that had been standing by (i.e., beside [Him]), upon drawing [his] sword, struck the slave of the chief priest and cuts away a little [portion of] his ear [other MSS read: took off his ear]. ⁴⁸ And yet Jesus, giving a decided response, said to them, "Do you men come out with swords and wooden weapons as upon a bandit (highwayman; robber; or: a rebel; an insurrectionist) to arrest and apprehend Me? ⁴⁹ "Day after day I was there facing you folks within the temple courts and grounds, repeatedly teaching – and you did not seize Me. Nevertheless, so that the Scriptures can (or: may; would) be fulfilled..." ⁵⁰ And then, abandoning (deserting) Him, they (= His disciples) all fled. ⁵¹ Now a certain young man, having thrown (or: loosely wrapped) a fine linen sheet around [his] naked body, had been following-on together with Him and they kept on trying to grab a strong hold of him, so as to seize him. ⁵² But he, leaving the fine linen sheet behind to drop down (or, perhaps: in their hands), fled naked. ⁵³ And they [i.e., the armed crowd] led Jesus off toward the chief priest. Then all the chief (or: ranking) priests – as well as the elders and the scribes (scholars) – one by one proceeded in assembling together.

⁵² So then Jesus said to the folks arriving upon Him and at His side – chief (or: ranking) priests and officers of the Temple, as well as elders, "Do you come out with swords and clubs and staffs, as upon a robber? ⁵³ "During My being with you folks daily, within the Temple courts (or: grounds), you did not stretch out [your] hands upon Me. But now, this is your hour, and the privilege of the darkness (or: even the authority of the gloomy realm of shadow and dim obscurity)." [comment: this second rendering equates the darkness to this adverse group] ⁵⁴ So, after taking Him into custody (or: apprehending and arresting Him), they led [Him off] and brought [Him] into the chief priest's house. Now Peter kept on following, at a distance.

¹² Then the detachment (or: squad [of Roman soldiers]) and the military commander (tribune; commander of a thousand soldiers) and the subordinates (deputies) of the Jews (= religious authorities) together seized (apprehended; arrested) Jesus and bound Him (tied Him up),

²⁴ Then Annas (or: Hannas) sent Him off (or: away) on their mission – having been bound (tied up) – to Caiaphas, the chief priest.

²³ "This Man, given up out of the midst in and by the specific, determined, bounded (limited) plan (intended purpose, design and counsel) and foreknowledge (intimate knowledge which was experienced beforehand) of God (or: whose source and character was God; or: which pertained to and was God), you folks, through the hand (= agency) of people not bound by the Law (= folks without knowledge of and not living in accordance to the Torah), took up and assassinated by fastening [Him] to [an execution stake (or: a cross)],

¹⁴ "But then you yourselves renounced (disowned; denied) the set-apart and fair Person (the holy and just One Who personified the Way pointed out; the consecrated and rightwised One), and instead you demanded for yourselves an adult man [who is] a murderer – to be at once graciously surrendered to you, as a favor. ¹⁵ "So you folks killed-off the Inaugurator of the Life (or: Life's Originator; the Author, Founder, Leader, Prince and Initiator of the Life) – Whom God raised up out from among the midst of dead folks, of which and of Whom we ourselves are witnesses, and continue being both evidence and testimony.

¹⁰ "let it be now progressively known to all you men and to all the people of Israel, that in (within and in union with) the Name of Jesus Christ (or: of [the] anointed Jesus), the Nazarene, Whom you yourselves executed on a stake (crucified), Whom God raised up from out of the midst of dead folks – within and in union with this Man (or: [Name]), this man has stood near and now stands sound and healthy at the side, in your sight and presence!

²⁵ "the One saying – through means of [the] Holy Spirit (or: a set-apart breath-effect and a separated attitude) – from our father (= ancestor) David's mouth, 'To what end or purpose did (or: do) the ethnic multitudes (or: nations) snort, neigh and stomp around [as a high-spirited horse] (or: behave arrogantly or with insolent and haughty airs) and peoples show care for and take interest in empty things (or: concern themselves over meaningless [activities]; or: mumble empty [phrases]; or: practice useless [rituals]; or: meditate on, give careful thought and attention to and then devise futile [schemes] or hollow [projects])? ²⁶ 'The kings of the land (or: earth) took a stand (or: stood by; i.e.: placed themselves alongside to be at folks disposal), and the rulers (or: the leaders; the officials) were gathered together at the same [place] (or: = joined forces upon the same [purpose and intent]; or, perhaps: = as one) – down against the Lord [= Yahweh] and down against His Anointed One (or: the Christ which originated in Him).' [Ps. 2:1-2] ²⁷ "For in truth (actuality; reality) both Herod and Pontius Pilate, together with ethnic multitudes and [the] People of Israel – [coming] upon (= against) Your set-apart Servant (or: holy Boy) Jesus, Whom You anointed – were gathered together (thus: were made to join forces) in this city

³⁰ "The God of our fathers (= ancestors) raised up Jesus – Whom you men yourselves intensely manhandled with intent to kill, hanging [Him] on a wooden pole (or: suspending [Him] upon a tree).

¹¹ For you see, the bodies of those animals, whose blood is still repeatedly being brought [some MSS add: concerning sin] into the set-apart (or: holy) places by means of the chief priest, are habitually being burned down outside of the Camp. ¹² Wherefore Jesus also suffered (and/or: had experiences of His bodily senses and emotions) outside of the gate [p46 and others: the Camp], so that He may set-apart (or: would make holy and sacred) the People through His own blood. [comment: this was a fulfillment of the Day of Atonement] ¹³ Now then, we can keep on coming out (or: should be progressively going out) toward Him – outside of the Camp – habitually bearing His reproach (= the censure and disgrace which He bore; or: the insult which pertains to Him). [comment: this was a call to participate in His sacrifice, and also to leave Judaism (or: religion), and thus to bear the same reproach and insults that He bore; it is also a call to bear away from them the mistakes and failures of others – John 20:23]

⁶ You oppose fairness, equity and justice, while you degrade the way pointed out; you murder the fair and equitable person (the just one; the one in accord with the way pointed out; the righteous; or: the innocent); he is not normally setting himself opposed to you (or: is He not now aligning Himself against you, and resisting you folks?).

⁹ "What will the owner of the vineyard proceed in doing? He will in succession be coming and then destroying the tenant-farmers! Next he will proceed to give the vineyard to other folks.

¹⁵ "And so, after throwing him outside the vineyard, they killed [him]. What, therefore, will the owner (lord) of the vineyard proceed doing to them?... ¹⁶ "He will proceed in coming and will be progressively destroying these tenant-farmers, and then he will be progressively giving the vineyard to other folks." Now upon hearing [this], they said, "May it not happen (or: come to that)!"

²⁹ By how much worse punishment (= heavier the sentence) do you suppose he will be thought worthy and counted deserving: the one trampling down the Son of God, and considering the blood of the arrangement (or: covenant) common (= profane) – within which he was set-apart (made sacred and holy) – even insulting the Breath-effect of joyous favor (or: Spirit of Grace)?

¹² "Whose winnowing fork (or: shovel) [is] within His hand, and He will proceed thoroughly cleaning up (clearing, scouring and cleansing) His threshing floor and then will progressively gather (bring together) His grain into the storehouse (granary; barn), yet the chaff (straw and husks) He will continue completely burning, in an inextinguishable Fire."

¹¹ "Now I further say to you that many people from eastern lands, as well as western regions, will continue arriving. And they will one-after-another be made to recline [and dine] with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, within the reign and sovereign rule of the heavens (or: the kingdom of the atmospheres). ¹² "Yet the 'sons of the kingdom (or: reign; = those who were in line to inherit the kingdom; or: = those who were supposed to manifest its reign)' will be progressively thrown out into the external darkness (external obscurity of the shadows). There [= outside the banqueting building] it will continue be 'weeping and grinding of teeth' (or: The crying and the gnashing of teeth will be in that [outdoor] place, or situation)." [note: grinding/gnashing of teeth = either regret, or anger]

⁴³ "Because of this, I am now saying to you men that God's reign (or: the kingdom of God; the influence and activity of God's sovereignty) will be progressively lifted up away from you folks, and it (or: she) will proceed being given to an ethnic multitude (or: nation; people group) consistently producing its (or: her) fruit!

⁶ "and the rest [of them], forcibly taking hold of his slaves, insolently violated their human rights and then killed [them]. ⁷ "So the king inwardly swelled with fury and was made to teem with anger. And then, sending his soldiers (troops), he destroyed those murderers and set their city in flames.

³⁵ "so that upon you, yourselves, can (or: should) come all [the] just (equitable; rightwised) blood being continuously poured out (or: spilled) upon the Land – from the blood of rightwised (just; fair; in-right-relationship) Abel, until the blood of Zechariah, the son of Barachiah (or: Baruch), whom you people murdered between the Temple and the altar. ³⁶ "Assuredly, I am now saying to you people, it will progressively move toward this point, and then arrive – all these things! – upon this generation! ³⁷ "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The one repeatedly killing the prophets, and habitually stoning the people sent off with a mission to her. How many times (or: How often) I wanted (intended; purposed; longed) to progressively gather your children together upon [Myself] in the manner in which a hen normally gathers her chicks together under [her] wings – and you did not want [it] (or: you do not intend [it]). ³⁸ "Look, and think about this! ‘Your House is progressively left [to be] a wilderness (desert; desolate place) for you people (or: is now abandoned to you).’ [Jer. 22:5]

²¹ "You see, ‘at that time there will be great pressure (squeezing; compression; affliction; tribulation) of the sort that has not happened (occurred; been birthed; come to be) from [the] beginning of [this] ordered arrangement (system; adorned order; systematic disposition; world) until now – neither under any circumstances could it have occurred (happened; come to be).’ [Joel 2:2; Dan. 12:1] ²² "Furthermore, if those days were not curtailed (or: except those days be cut short), no flesh (= people) [at] all would likely be rescued (delivered; kept safe). Yet, because of the picked out and chosen folks, those days will proceed being curtailed (cut short).

²⁸ "Whenever you may [other MSS: will] see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – as well as all the prophets – within the midst of God's reign (or: sovereign activities and influence; kingdom), yet you yourselves, one after another, being thrown outside, the weeping and the grinding (or: gnashing) of the teeth (= the sorrow and regret) will be [out] there, in that place. ²⁹ "Not only that, people will continue arriving from eastern regions and western territories, as well as from [the] north and [the] south, and they will proceed in being made to recline back at a meal, within God's reign (kingdom; sovereign projects and programs).

²³ "So the owner (lord; master) said to the slave, "At once go out into the roads and fenced areas (or: hedgerows; boundary walls), and at once compel (force) [them] to come in, so that my house may be filled to capacity! ²⁴ "'For I am now saying to you that not even one of the adult men of those having been invited will proceed in having a taste of my dinner.'"

³² "Continue remembering Lot's wife! [comment: a reference to God's judgment] ³³ "Whoever may endeavor to build an encompassing protection (a perimeter of defense; or: make a form or a structure to encircle; or: set boundaries or lines of demarcation) around his soul-life (his inner being with its will, desires, emotions, appetites, affections, passions; or: himself) will be progressively loosing it away and destroying it. Yet whoever may be loosing it away (or: destroying it) will continue bringing it forth as a living creature (will engender it to be a living being; will produce it alive as a child or offspring). (or: = “Folks who try to make their lives secure will lose them, but in contrast, a person who can free it will give it life.) ³⁴ "I am now saying to you folks, in (or: on; by) this Night-Season (or: this particular night; or: by figure: = this darkness), there will continue being two people upon one bed (or: couch): the one will proceed being taken in hand and seized at the side (= caught and taken prisoner; or: will be taken along) and yet the different (or: other) one will be let go (pardoned and left behind; = allowed to flow away in peace; or: will proceed being abandoned, sent away, divorced or set aside). ³⁵ "There will continue being two women continuing in grinding grain into meal and flour, upon the same [mill] (or: at the same [place]): the one will proceed being taken in hand and seized at the side (= caught and taken prisoner; or: will be taken along) but the different (or: other) one will proceed being let go (pardoned and left behind; = allowed to flow away in peace; or: will proceed being abandoned, sent away, divorced or set aside)." ³⁶ [note: this verse is missing in most texts and MSS] ³⁷ Then, making separated and uncertain responses, one after another kept on asking, "Where, Lord?" So He said to them, "Where the body [is], there in that place the eagles will also proceed being gathered together on [it] (or: there, too, the vultures will continue assembling)." [comment: a picture of judgment having come]

⁴¹ And then, as He came near, upon seeing (or: viewing and perceiving) the City, He wept (or: wailed; or: lamented; or: cried, shedding tears as an expression of grief) upon it (= over its condition and situation),

²² "because these are days of executing justice – of bringing about what is fair and right and of establishing what accords with the Way pointed out – with a view to have fulfilled all the things having been written (or: for all that is written to be fulfilled)! ²³ "Tragic will be the situation for the women then being pregnant, and for the ones still nursing [babies] in those days. You see there will progressively be a great compressive force upon the Land, and inherent fervor bringing internal swelling emotion on this People. ²⁴ "And so, folks will keep on falling by [the] mouth of a sword, and [others] will proceed being led captive into all the nations (or: into the midst to unite with every ethnic group) – and Jerusalem will continue being progressively trampled by and under pagans (non-Jews; those of the nations) until where they can (or: should) be fulfilled. And then there will progress being seasons of the ethnic multitudes (or: fitting situations pertaining to the nations; or: occasions which have the qualities and characteristics of the pagans; or: fertile moments with regard to non-Jews). [cf Rev. 11]

⁴⁶ Continuing bold, expressing the inherent right to speak the whole truth publicly with freedom from reprisal, both Paul and Barnabas said, "It was a matter of constraint, compulsion, and pressed indispensability [for] God's Logos (Word; message; idea) to be spoken to you folks first! Yet since you folks continue to push it away from yourselves, and are repeatedly judging (or: deciding) yourselves [to be] not worthy of the eonian life (the life pertaining to the Age [of Messiah]; the life whose source and character is from the Age), look! We are now being turned (or, as a middle: progressively turning ourselves) unto the nations (the ethnic multitudes; the Gentiles; the non-Jews). ⁴⁷ "You see, thus has the Lord [= Christ or Yahweh] directed to us: 'I have placed (or: set) you unto [being] a light of nations (ethnic multitudes; non-Jews), [in order for] you to be [placed] into the midst of a deliverance (a rescue and a return to health and wholeness; a restoring to the original state of being and condition) as far as [the] last [point] of the earth!'" [Isa. 49:6] ⁴⁸ Now upon hearing [this], the non-Jews (the [folks of the] nations and ethnic groups) began rejoicing and continued glorifying (enhancing the reputation of) the message from God (God's Logos: God's Word and idea). And so they trusted and believed – whoever were folks having been set and arranged into an eonian life (or: into life which has is source and quality from the Age).

⁷ Now after there coming to be much seeking [of a solution], questioning and disputing, Peter – after standing up – said to them, "Men! Brothers! You yourselves continue well versed (standing upon so as to comprehend) that from the days of the beginning God chose among you folks [for] the ethnic multitudes (or: nations; non-Jews) to hear the Logos (Word; idea; message) of the good news (the message of goodness, ease and well-being) through my mouth – and then, to at once trust and believe!

⁶ But with their constantly setting themselves in face to face battle array for opposition against [him] and then repeatedly speaking abusively [to him], while suddenly shaking out [his] garments [note: a symbolic act denoting disassociation], he said to them, "Your blood [is] upon your head! I myself [am] clean (= I have no blame in this situation, and am not responsible for your lives). From now on I will be going unto (or: into the midst of) the ethnic multitudes (the nations which are non-Jews)."

⁸ But it had happened (or: occurred) [for] the father of Publius to be constantly bed-ridden (continuously lying down) while being continuously gripped by intermittent fevers and dysentery (an intestinal infection), to whom Paul was entering and then speaking toward having goodness and well-being (or: praying). After placing [his] hands on him, he healed him.

²⁸ "Therefore, continue letting it be known by you folks that this restoration to health and wholeness – this rescue, deliverance and salvation – was (or: has been) sent off to, for, and among the ethnic people groups (the multitudes of the nations)! And they themselves will keep on listening, then in and for themselves will continue (or: be progressively) hearing!"

¹ Truth I presently speak within Christ (or: I am constantly speaking reality in union with [the] Anointed One; centered in [the] Anointing), I am not now lying (or: I do not habitually lie), my conscience (my joint-knowing from having seen together) habitually giving joint-witness (testifying together; giving corroborating evidence) to me (in me; for me; with me) within [the] Holy Spirit (or: in a set-apart spirit and attitude; in union with a Sacred Breath), ² that to me (or: for me; in me) a great distressing sorrow (or: an annoying grief), as well as unintermittent (unceasing) consuming pain, continues being in my heart. ³ For you see, I kept on claiming, while having goodness, holding well-being and possessing ease, that I myself am to be (or: to continuously exist [as]) a result or an effect of something set up as an offering devoted to God (= a sacrifice; [comment: this would correspond to Jesus telling His disciples to follow Him, bearing their crosses]), forth from the Anointing (or: = [thus being separated] from [the body] of Christ; or: arising from the Christ) over [the situation of] (or: for the sake of) my brothers, my relatives (kinsmen; joint or commonly born ones; fellow countrymen) according to flesh (= in the sphere of natural human birth), ⁴ the very ones who are Israelites, whose [is] the placing in the condition of a son (or: the deposit of the Son; the setting in place which is the Son; the constituting as a son) and the glory (the things which call forth praise and bring a splendid reputation) and the arrangements(or: covenants; [other MSS: the Covenant) and the placing of the Law (or: even the setting of custom and legislation by/as [Torah]) and the sacred service and the promises, ⁵ whose [are] the fathers (= ancestors) and forth from out of the midst of whom [is] the Christ, the [descendant] down the line of flesh (or: on the level of the human realm) – the One continuously being upon all mankind: God, worthy of praise and blessing on into the ages! It is so (or: – corresponding to natural descent – [is] the Anointed One [= the Messiah] who exists being God: One with a message of goodness, ease and well-being – superimposed on all things – on into the indefinite time periods! Amen – count on it)! ⁶ Yet [it is] not such as that God's Word has fallen out (thus: = failed in its purpose), for in consideration of all the folks [springing] forth from out of Israel – not [all] these folks [are] Israel! ⁷ Neither because they exist being seed of Abraham [are] all children! But rather (or: To the contrary), "In Isaac shall a seed (= a descendant) continue being called in you (or: For you, a seed will continue being named in Isaac; To you, offspring will continue being invited in union with Isaac)." [Gen. 21:12] ⁸ That is, [some MSS: That is because] the children of the flesh (= those born physically by humans; or: = the self that is produced by influence from the alienated System) – these [are] not the children of God! But rather, “the children of The Promise” is He continually considering into [being] seed (or: He is constantly counting into [the] Seed; [that] is habitually reckoned and reasonably concluded for a seed). ⁹ For the Word (or: message) of Promise [is] this: "Corresponding to (or: At; In line with) this season (or: In accord with this fitting situation and fertile moment) I will be coming, and then a son will be existing for Sarah (or: shall progressively be by Sarah and will be existing in Sarah)." [Gen. 18:14] ¹⁰ Yet not only so, but further, Rebecca, also, continued having a marriage-bed (= was habitually having sexual intercourse and conceiving children) from the midst of one man, Isaac, our father (= ancestor). ¹¹ For you see, not as yet being born ones, nor ones practicing (performing; accomplishing) anything good or vile (mean; sorry; careless; bad [p46 reads: worthless; of bad quality; corrupt; evil]) – to the end that God's purpose and aim, which He designed and set beforehand, may continually remain (abide; dwell) down from (corresponding to and in accord with) election (a selection; a choosing-out; a choice), not forth from out of works (or: actions), but instead from out of the One repeatedly calling (or: from the continual summoning) –

⁹ and on the other hand [to place on good footing and confirm the standing of] the ethnic multitudes (the nations; the non-Israelites; the pagans), [for them] to glorify God (to enhance the reputation of and the opinion about God) over [the situation of] mercy (for the sake of [His] mercy), just as it has been written, "Because of this I will continue openly professing and acclaiming You (speaking out of the same word for and to You; agreeing and promising) within ethnic multitudes (among nations that are pagans and Gentiles), and I will continue playing music (striking the string; making melody; singing with musical accompaniment) to, for and in Your Name." [2 Sam. 22:50; Ps. 18:50] ¹⁰ And again he is saying, "Be of a good frame of mind (Be merry and glad; Have thoughts of wellness), you ethnic multitudes (non-Jews), together with His people." [Deut. 32:43] ¹¹ And again, "You folks – all the multitudes (all nations; all of the Gentiles) – be continually praising the Lord [= Yahweh]." [Ps. 117:1] ¹² And again, Isaiah is saying, "There (or: He) will continue being The Root (or: the Sprout from the root) of Jesse, even the One habitually standing up (placing Himself back; raising Himself up) to continue being Ruler (being The Chief; to repeatedly be the Beginner) of multitudes (of nations; of Gentiles). Upon Him ethnic multitudes (non-Jews; nations) will continue placing their expectation (will rely; will hope)." [Isa. 11:10] ¹³ Now may the God of Expectation (or: the God Who is the Expectant Hope) make you full of all joy and peace within the midst of constant trust and in union with continual operation of faith and believing, [leading] into the midst of continually surrounding you with abundance within The Expectation (or: in union with expectant hope) – within [the] power of a set-apart spirit (or: within [the] Holy Spirit's ability; or: in union with a power which is, and whose source is, set-apart Breath-effect and sacred attitude). ¹⁴ Now, my brothers (Family members; fellow believers), I myself also have been persuaded and remain convinced about you that you yourselves are (or: exist being) folks stuffed full of goodness (bulging with excellence and quality), being those having been filled and remaining full of all The Knowledge (intimate, experiential knowledge and insight; [with other MSS: all gnosis]), being folks continuously able and empowered, also, to habitually put one another in mind (or: to place [thoughts] in each other's mind; to advise or admonish). ¹⁵ Yet I more daringly write to you (or: Yet with assumed resolution I outspokenly write to you; [other MSS add: brothers; = fellow believers]) partly as habitually calling you back to full recollection (causing you to be completely remembering) because of the grace and favor being given to me from [other MSS: by; under] God, ¹⁶ into the [arranged ability for] me to be Christ Jesus' public servant into the nations (a public worker of Jesus Christ unto the ethnic multitudes and pagans), constantly doing the work of a priest for God's good news (or: habitually functioning as the Temple for the message of the goodness, which is God), to the end that the offering composed of the ethnic multitudes (or: the act of bearing forward gifts from the pagans; the approaching of the nations as an offering) can become well-received and pleasingly acceptable, it being [an offering; a carrying toward] having been set-apart and remaining sacred within the midst of holy spirit and a sacred attitude (or: in union with a set-apart Breath-effect; within [the] Holy Spirit). ¹⁷ I have and continuously hold, then, the boast (the glorying; the exulting) within Christ Jesus (or: in union with Anointed Jesus) about the things facing toward (or: with a view to; face-to-face with) God. ¹⁸ You see, I will not venture to speak (or: tell) anything of which (or: what) Christ does not (or: did not) work down, produce and bring into effect through me [leading] into a submissive giving of the ear (or: humble, obedient hearing and paying attention) from [the] ethnic multitudes (or: of non-Jews, nations and pagans) by an arranged speech and message as well as by a work (or: in word and in action or deed) – in a power of signs and of miracles, [that is], in [the] power of God's Spirit (or: in union with an ability from God's Breath; in an ability from an Attitude which is God [other MSS: in the midst of set-apart Breath-effect]) –

¹⁶ while continuously forbidding us (cutting us off; preventing us) to speak to the nations (the ethnic groups; the non-Israelite multitudes; the Gentiles) – to the end that they may be delivered (saved; rescued; healed and made whole) – always [proceeding] unto that which fills up their own failures (errors; deviations; sins)! But inherent fervor (or: swelling passion; teeming desire; or: anger; wrath; agitation of soul) advances upon them unto a purpose (or: on into [the] final act; or: in the end; on into the midst of a destined goal).

³ how shall we proceed fleeing out (or: escaping), in not caring for (or: neglecting) so great a deliverance (rescue; healing and restoration to health and wholeness), which – after receiving a beginning (or: a headship and place of ruling; a high estate; a principality [see Jude 6]) to be repeatedly and progressively spoken [of] through the Lord (or: by means of [Christ or Yahweh]) – was made firm into us and was guaranteed as valid by those who heard,

²⁵ Continue looking, and see! You folks should not at any point ask to the side for yourselves (or: beg for release; decline; refuse; or: = turn your back on) the One continuously speaking (or: the Speaker)! For since (or: if) those asking aside for themselves (begging off; refusing; or: = turning their backs) did not by flight escape (or: flee out from) the one constantly managing (conducting business and instructing) upon earth (or: [the] land), much more we [will not escape], that is those habitually turning ourselves away from the One from [the] atmospheres and heavens,

¹⁰ "Have you folks not yet read this Scripture? – 'A rock (or: stone) which the builders rejected and threw away after examining it, this one comes into being [the] head of [the] corner [note: could = the keystone, or, the cornerstone]. ¹¹ 'This [head] came into existence from beside [the] Lord [= Yahweh], and He (or: it) is Wonderful (or: marvelous; remarkable; or: Amazing) in our eyes'?" [Ps. 118:22-23]

¹⁷ But He, looking intently at them (or: staring in their [faces]), said, "What, then, is the [meaning of] this having been written, 'A stone which the builders rejected – after examining it – has come to be [placed] into [the] head (= source) of [the] corner (or: ended up as the keystone)'? [Ps. 118:22] ¹⁸ "Every person falling upon that stone will be progressively crushed together and shattered, yet upon whom it may (or: should) fall, it will continue winnowing him [like grain]."

¹¹ "This One is the Stone – the One being treated as nothing (or: with scorn and contempt) and being disregarded by and under you folks, the builders (or: the 'architects'); the One coming into [the position of] being 'Head of [the] corner (or: Source of [the] angle; = the Corner Foundation Stone from which the walls are built; or: = Headstone, or, Keystone; = the Summit of the building)!' [Ps. 118:22]

⁴⁰ "Therefore see to it [that] the thing having been declared within the Prophets (= the writings of those who had light ahead of time) may not be coming upon you folks, ⁴¹ 'Continue looking and keep on directing your eyes, you scorners and despisers who maintain a down frame of mind, and be at once wondering and marveling in amazement – and then be caused to disappear (be made invisible), because I Myself am progressively accomplishing a work in your days – a work which you folks can not trust or put your faith in (or: would not believe) even if someone would relate [it] in detail to you.'" [Hab. 1:5] [D adds: And they {i.e., those hearing him} were silent.]

³³ Just as it has been written, "Look and consider! I am repeatedly placing in Zion a 'Stone of Stumbling,' and a 'Rock of a trap-snare.' And the one habitually believing upon Him (or: It) will not continue being brought to shame, disgrace, or disappointment." [Isa. 28:16]

²⁰ being fully built as a house upon the foundation of the sent-forth representatives (or: emissaries) and prophets (folks who had light ahead of time), Jesus Christ continuously being a corner-foundation [stone] of it (or: there being an extreme point of the corner, or, capstone: Jesus Christ Himself),

³ that, in accord with an unveiling (or: down from a revelation; in keeping with a disclosure), the secret (or: mystery) was made known to me even as I before wrote (or: wrote aforetime), in brief ⁴ toward which [end] you, the folks continually reading (or: habitually reviewing and recognizing; progressively gathering up knowledge), are constantly able and continue with power to comprehend (conceive; understand; apprehend) my understanding (insight; confluence; my sending insights together) in the secret (or: mystery) of the Christ (or: which is the Anointed One [= the Messiah]), ⁵ which to other generations (or: for births of a different kind; in different generations of another nature) was not made known to the sons of mankind (humanity; the humans) as it is now (at the present time) uncovered (unveiled; revealed) in spirit (or: within a Breath-effect; or: in union with [the] Spirit) by (or: to; among) His set-apart emissaries (or: consecrated folks that are sent forth from Him as spokesmen) and prophets (folks having light ahead of time), ⁶ (or, reading the phrase "in spirit" with the next phrase rather than the previous one: in spirit) the nations (the Gentiles; the ethnic multitudes; non-Jews) are to continuously be joint-heirs (fellow-participants by allotment) and a Joint Body (a body together) and joint sharers (partakers) of The Promise [along with the rest], resident within (or: of the assurance in union with) Christ Jesus through the good news (or: [spreading] throughout the midst by means of the message of goodness, ease and well-being) ⁷ of which I came to be (was birthed; became) an attendant (a server; one who renders service and dispenses) in accord with, down from, in the sphere of and commensurate with the gift of God's grace and favor that being given to me (or: by me) in accord with (or: down from; corresponding to; to the level of; in line with) the operative, effective, internal working energy of His power and ability! ⁸ To me, the one far inferior to (or: less than the least among) all of those set apart (or: the saints; the holy people), was given this grace and joyous favor: to myself address the nations (non-Jews; Gentiles; ethnic multitudes) with the good news of (or: whose source is) the untrackable (untraceable; or: not-searched-out and unexplored) riches of the Christ (or: to for myself declare and bring to the ethnic groups the message of goodness, ease and well-being of the unexploreable wealth which is the Anointed One), ⁹ and to illuminate all people (give light to everyone) [as to] what [are] the house-rules (or: [is] the administration and management of the household) of the secret (or: mystery) pertaining to that having been hidden (concealed) away, apart from the ages (or: disassociated from the [past] periods of time), within the midst of God in the One forming and founding (framing, building and settling from a state of disorder and wildness) all things (the Whole; everything)

⁴ Continuously approaching toward Whom – a living Stone, on the one hand being One having been and still being thrown away (rejected; disapproved) by mankind (humans; people), as the result of a test; yet, on the other hand a Chosen One, a Precious (Inwardly-valuable; [held]-in-honor) One, beside God (= side-by-side with God; = in the presence of God; = in God's view) – ⁵ you yourselves are, as living stones, continuously being erected (or: progressively constructed and built up), [being] a spiritual house (a building with its source being the Spirit, with the characteristics of a Breath-effect), into a set-apart (or: holy; sacred; different-from-the-ordinary) priesthood to bear up spiritual sacrifices (or: offerings) well (or: most) acceptable in God (or: by God; to God; with God), through Jesus Christ, ⁶ so that it continues being contained (encompassed; included) in Scripture: "Consider (Behold; Look)! I am progressively setting (placing; laying) within Zion a chosen (picked-out), precious (held in honor and value) cornerstone lying at the extreme angle, and the one habitually trusting (relying; believing; investing loyalty) upon It may by no means be disgraced or brought to shame or be disappointed." [Isa. 28:16] ⁷ Therefore, in (or: for; with) you folks – those habitually trusting (constantly believing and remaining convinced) – [is] the Precious and Honorable One (or: To you then, who continue loyal, [He is] valuable). Yet for (or: to; in; with) those continuing being without faith (or: being habitually distrustful; being constantly unbelieving or disloyal), [He is] "A Stone which those in process of building the house reject (or: threw away after inspecting and trying) – this One is brought to be (or: was birthed) into [position of] Head and Source of [the] corner, " [Ps. 118:22] ⁸ also [He is] "A Stone that [people] strike against and that causes a stumbling-effect, even a Rock-mass which functions as a trap-spring (designed to be a snare), " [Isa. 8:14] who, continuing being unpersuaded (unconvinced and thus, uncompliant or stubborn), are repeatedly stumbling by (or: in) the Word (or: who are constantly stumbling, habitually being disobedient to the message), into which [situation] they were placed (= as it was planned).

²⁸ "Yet if I, Myself, in union with God's Spirit ([being] within the midst of the effect of God's breath; in an attitude which is God) am constantly driving (or: casting) out the demons, God's reign (the kingdom from God, the sovereign rule which is God, and the government of God) has consequently preceded and come beforehand upon you people (or: has really overtaken you folks and is now arrived and settled upon you).

⁴¹ They, as a group, say to Him, "Worthless men (Evil, bad, ugly and malicious fellows)! He will proceed to destroy them in an ugly and vicious way! And then, he will proceed to lease out the vineyard to other vinedressers (farmers; cultivators), who will be habitually giving away (rendering) to him his due share of the fruits, in their proper seasons."

²⁰ Now later, upon being asked by the Pharisees [as to] when the reign and kingdom of God is proceeding to come, He gave a decided reply to them, and said, "The reign (or: kingdom; royal rule; sovereign activities and influences) of God is not proceeding in coming with a careful keeping watch from the side (or: by means of or accompanied by attentive or intensive observing; [note: this word was used of watching the symptoms of an illness, as well as about making observations of the sky]; = with visible signs). ²¹ "Neither will folks continue saying, 'Look here!' or, 'There!' You see – now consider this, and understand – God's reign (kingdom; royal rule; sovereign influence and activity) continually exists inside you folks (or: is on the inside of you people; or: = within your community)."

³ Jesus considered, and replies to him, saying, "Certainly it is so, I am saying (= I now point out) to you, unless anyone (or: someone) may be born back up again to a higher place (or: can be brought to birth again; or: would be given birth from above), he continues having no power (or: he is continuously unable) to see or perceive God’s reign, sovereign influence/activity, or kingdom."

⁵ Jesus decisively replies, "Certainly that is so. I am now saying (laying it out; = pointing out) to you, unless anyone (or: someone) may be born forth from out of water and spirit (or: – as well as Breath-effect and attitude –) he continues being unable (he remains having no power) to enter into God’s realm (or: reign; kingdom; sovereign activity and influence).

⁹ Yet you folks [are] "a picked-out (selected; chosen) offspring (family; kin; lineage; race; species; breed) [Isa. 43:20; Deut. 7:6], a royal (kingly; palace) priesthood [Ex. 19:6; Isa. 61:6], a set-apart (holy; different) multitude (company; nation; body of people living together; swarm; association; ethnic group; caste; [Ex. 19:6; note: implies a sacred life]), a people constructed into an encirclement (made into a surrounding structure; set as a perimeter; made into a performance about [Him]; formed around as an acquisition; gathered into a surrounding [flock])" [Isa. 43:21; Ex. 19:5] – so that you may tell forth the message of (or: out-message; publish; declare abroad) the excellencies and qualities of nobleness (virtues of braveness, courage, good character, quality, self-restraint, magnificence, benevolence, reliability) of and from the One calling you out of darkness (gloomy dimness; the realm of shadows and obscurity) into the midst of His wonderful (marvelous; amazing) light [p72 reads: into the wonderful Light],

²⁴ "On the one hand, the Son of the Man (= Adam's son; = the representative human; = the eschatological messianic figure) is progressively leading the way under (or: is now going away) – just as (correspondingly as) it has been written about and concerning Him. Yet tragic will be the fate for THAT MAN through whom the Son of the Man is in the process of being turned over. It was continuing being beautiful for Him [i.e., for the Son of the Man] (or: It was being ideal to Him; It was existing fine for Him) – if THAT MAN was not brought to birth (or: had [just] not been born)!"

²⁵ Then, giving a decided reply, all the people said, "His blood [is] upon us (or: [be splattered] on us; = the responsibility for his death falls on us), and upon our children!"

¹⁸ "Every person falling upon that stone will be progressively crushed together and shattered, yet upon whom it may (or: should) fall, it will continue winnowing him [like grain]."

¹¹ Jesus decidedly replied to him, "You were [other MSS: continue] holding no authority at all (or: in even one thing) down on (or: against; with regard to) Me, except that it is existing having been given to you from above (or: from [One; someone] above [you]). Because of this, the man giving me over to you continues holding a greater mistake (or: having a greater failure, error, sin or miss of the target)."

³ Now if the good news coming from us (or: our message of goodness, ease and wellness) continues being covered from having been veiled with a head-covering, it continues being thus covered within the midst of and among those on their way to ruin (being progressively lost; repeatedly loosing-away so as to be undone; or: destroying themselves), ⁴ within and among which folks the God of this age (or: the God who owns this indefinite time-period; the God Who is in relationship with this eon) blinds (or: deprived of the ability to see) the effects of the intellects and mental powers (or: the results of directing the mind to something) of those without faith (of the un-trusting ones; of the unbelieving and disloyal), [leading them] into the [situation that] the shining forth of light and the illumination of (or: the beaming forth of enlightenment from) the good news of the glory of the Christ (or: of the message of goodness, ease and wellness whose source is the glory of the Anointed One; of the glad tidings pertaining to the manifestation which calls forth praise to the [Messiah]) – Who continuously exists being God's image (a resemblance and likeness of [Concordant Text adds: the unseen; the invisible] God) – would not shine forth as the dawn to irradiate them.

² For you see, if the Word (or: message) spoken through agents (or: messengers; folks with a message) became firm, and every deviation (or: side-stepping) and imperfect hearing (or: hearing amiss; or: disobedience) received a fair discharge of wages, ³ how shall we proceed fleeing out (or: escaping), in not caring for (or: neglecting) so great a deliverance (rescue; healing and restoration to health and wholeness), which – after receiving a beginning (or: a headship and place of ruling; a high estate; a principality [see Jude 6]) to be repeatedly and progressively spoken [of] through the Lord (or: by means of [Christ or Yahweh]) – was made firm into us and was guaranteed as valid by those who heard,

⁸ also [He is] "A Stone that [people] strike against and that causes a stumbling-effect, even a Rock-mass which functions as a trap-spring (designed to be a snare), " [Isa. 8:14] who, continuing being unpersuaded (unconvinced and thus, uncompliant or stubborn), are repeatedly stumbling by (or: in) the Word (or: who are constantly stumbling, habitually being disobedient to the message), into which [situation] they were placed (= as it was planned).

¹² "Of how much more does a human habitually carry through to be of greater consequence or worth – than a sheep? It is always allowed by Law and custom to habitually do ideally (finely; beautifully) on the sabbaths."

⁴⁵ Now a certain man of those versed in the Law (a legal expert; a Torah lawyer and interpreter), in giving a considered reply, is then saying to Him, "Teacher, in (or: by) constantly saying these things you continue invading our territory and outraging us by violating our rights – thus, insulting us, too!"

¹¹ So the crowds kept on saying, "This is the prophet Jesus, the one from Nazareth of the Galilee [district]."

²⁶ "Yet if we should say, 'From out of humans,' we continue fearing about the crowd (= are afraid of how the crowd might react), for they all are in the habit of holding John as a prophet."

⁷ "The world (The System; The organization; = the controlling religious, cultural and political society) is not presently able to be habitually hating you (to continuously regard you with ill-will), yet it is constantly hating Me, because I Myself am habitually giving testimony about it (or: continuously bearing witness and showing evidence concerning it) that its works are continuously unwholesome (laborious and such that put others to trouble; apt to shrewd turns; mischievous; wicked; unsound; malignant; gushed with misery).

⁴⁰ Then from out of the midst of the crowd, [p66 and others read: many] after hearing these words, they began saying, "This one is certainly (really; truly) The Prophet!" ⁴¹ Others began saying, "This one is the Christ [= Messiah]!" Yet they [other MSS: But others] continued saying, "Surely the Christ (the Anointed One) does not normally come (or: is not presently coming) from out of the Galilee [area]!

²² "Men! Israelites! (or: Men of Israel!) Continue listening and hear these words! Jesus the Nazarene, a mature Man having been fully pointed out unto you and continuing publicly exhibited and demonstrated [to be] from God [D* reads: proved unto us, after testing and examination, and thus approved, from God] – in powers and by abilities, together with miracles (wonders; omens; portents) and signs which God did and performs through Him within your midst – just as you yourselves have seen, and thus are aware and know.