Matthew 11

When Jesus had finished giving instructions to his twelve disciples, he left that place to teach and preach in the towns of the area.

1And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.

2John the Baptist was in prison. When he heard there about the things Christ was doing, he sent two of his own followers to Jesus.

2Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,

Note"Christ" is a title, not a second name: the Greek word christos means "anointed one," the same thing the Hebrew word behind "Messiah" means. So the question John sends in the next verse is about whether Jesus is the figure people were waiting for. John was being held by Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, whose marriage John had publicly condemned.

3They asked him, "Are you the one who was supposed to come, or should we watch for someone else?"

3And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?

Note"He that should come," literally "the coming one," was a recognized way of referring to the expected deliverer without naming him outright.

4Jesus answered them, "Go back to John and tell him what you are hearing and seeing:

4Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:

5Blind people can see, people who could not walk are walking, people with skin disease are made clean, deaf people hear, dead people are raised to life, and poor people are told the good news.

5The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

NoteThe biblical term the King James renders "lepers" covered a range of persistent skin conditions, not only the disease doctors now call leprosy. A person with one counted as ritually unclean and had to live apart from everyone else, which is why the word for a cure is "cleansed" rather than "healed": the person was restored to ordinary life in the community, not just to health. The whole list of signs is worded in the language of the prophet Isaiah, so the messengers would hear it as a claim and not only as a report.

6And it goes well for anyone who does not stumble because of me."

6And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.

NoteIn 1611 "offended" meant tripped up or made to stumble; the Greek word is the root of our word "scandal." It has nothing to do with being insulted or annoyed.

7As John's followers were leaving, Jesus began to talk to the crowds about John. "What did you go out into the empty country to look at? A tall reed of grass swaying in the wind?

7And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?

NoteThe "wilderness" is not forest but dry, thinly settled open country with few people in it, the kind of place John preached in. Reeds grew thick along the nearby Jordan River, and a reed bending with every passing breeze was a stock image for a man with no firmness of his own.

8Well then, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine, soft clothes? Look, people who wear soft clothing live in the palaces of kings.

8But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses.

Note"Raiment" simply means clothing. Fine soft fabric was expensive and marked a man of the royal court, which is the point of the remark: the ruler holding John in prison lived in exactly such a palace.

9So what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and someone even greater than a prophet.

9But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.

10John is the one the Scripture is talking about when it says, 'Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will get your road ready before you come.'

10For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

NoteThe quoted words come from the prophet Malachi, with an echo of a line in Exodus. A "messenger" here is a herald sent on ahead of a traveling king to announce him and get the road into passable condition, which is what "prepare thy way" pictures.

11I tell you the truth: of everyone ever born, no one has been greater than John the Baptist. Yet the least important person in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is.

11Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

NoteMatthew writes "kingdom of heaven" where the other Gospels usually write "kingdom of God"; "heaven" was a respectful substitute for the divine name among Jewish writers. The phrase means God's rule or reign taking effect, more an event than a location. "Verily" translates the Hebrew word amen, used here to open a statement rather than close a prayer.

12From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been under attack, and violent people take it by force.

12And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

NoteThis is one of the hardest sentences in the Gospels, and the difficulty is in the Greek itself. The verb can be read as passive, "the kingdom is being attacked," or as middle, "the kingdom has been forcing its way forward." The people in the second half can be hostile men seizing it by force or eager people laying hold of it. Both readings were current in the ancient world. Note also that "suffereth violence" in 1611 means undergoes violence, not tolerates it.

13For all the prophets and the law of Moses spoke ahead of time about what was coming, up until John.

13For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

Note"The prophets and the law" names the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures by its two main divisions.

14And if you are willing to accept it, John is the Elijah who was supposed to come.

14And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.

Note"Elias" is just the Greek spelling of the name Elijah. The book of Malachi closes with a promise that Elijah would be sent before the great day of the LORD, and many people expected that literally.

15Anyone who has ears should listen.

15He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

NoteA proverbial call for close attention, roughly "if you can take this in, take it in." It marks the saying just made as one that needs working out.

16"What can I compare the people of this time to? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and shouting at the other children,

16But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows,

17'We played happy music on the flute for you, and you would not dance. We sang a sad funeral song, and you would not cry.'

17And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.

NoteBoth halves describe children imitating the two great public occasions of village life. Weddings were led by pipers; funerals were loud and public, with hired mourners wailing, beating their breasts and singing set dirges, and everyone present was expected to join in.

18John came and did not eat or drink like other people, and they say, 'He has a demon in him.'

18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.

Note"Neither eating nor drinking" means John stayed away from ordinary shared meals and from wine, living on desert food; it does not mean he never ate. The King James "devil" here renders a word meaning a demon or unclean spirit. Saying a person had one was a common way of dismissing strange behavior as madness.

19The Son of Man came eating and drinking like everyone else, and they say, 'Look at him, a man who eats too much and drinks too much wine, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.' But wisdom is shown to be right by what it produces."

19The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.

Note"Son of man" is the phrase Jesus regularly uses of himself. In everyday Aramaic it could mean simply "a human being," or serve as an indirect way of saying "I," and it is also the title of the figure who receives everlasting rule in the book of Daniel. The ambiguity is in the original. "Winebibber" means drunkard. "Publicans" were tax and toll collectors, local men who bought from Rome the right to collect, and they were despised both as collaborators with an occupying power and as men who overcharged. In "wisdom is justified of her children," "justified" carries its old sense of proved right or vindicated; some early manuscripts read "her works" or "her deeds" in place of "her children," which is why modern translations differ at the end of this verse.

20Then Jesus began to speak against the towns where he had done most of his miracles, because the people there had not turned from their sins.

20Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:

Note"Upbraid" means to reproach or rebuke sharply. "Mighty works" are deeds of power, what we would call miracles. To "repent" is to change your mind and turn around, a reversal of direction rather than a feeling of regret.

21"How terrible for you, Chorazin! How terrible for you, Bethsaida! If the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, those people would have turned from their sins long ago, in rough cloth and ashes.

21Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

NoteChorazin and Bethsaida were small towns within a few miles of Capernaum at the north end of the Sea of Galilee. Tyre and Sidon were wealthy Phoenician port cities up the coast, foreign and not Jewish, and earlier prophets had denounced them by name, so they served as a byword for outsiders under judgment. Sackcloth was coarse dark cloth woven from goat hair and worn next to the skin; scattering ashes on the head or sitting in them went with it. Together these were the recognized public signs of grief or of repentance, meant to be seen.

22But I tell you, on the day when God judges everyone, it will be easier for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

22But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.

Note"More tolerable" means more bearable. The "day of judgment" is the expected day when God settles accounts with everyone.

23And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the sky? No, you will be brought down to the place of the dead. If the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom, that city would still be standing today.

23And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

NoteThe image of being lifted to heaven and then thrown down echoes Isaiah's taunt over the king of Babylon. The King James "hell" here translates "Hades," the underworld where all the dead were thought to go, not the place of punishment that the same translation also calls hell elsewhere; the picture is of being brought as low as anything can be brought. Capernaum was the lakeside town Jesus used as his base. Sodom was the city destroyed by fire in the book of Genesis, ever after a byword for wickedness and sudden ruin.

24But I tell you, on the day when God judges everyone, it will be easier for the land of Sodom than for you."

24But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

25At that time Jesus said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from people who are wise and clever, and have shown them to little children.

25At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

Note"Answered and said" is a Hebrew and Aramaic way of opening speech; nobody has asked a question. "I thank thee" translates a verb closer to "I acknowledge you openly" or "I praise you." "Prudent" in 1611 meant shrewd, clever, expensively educated, and "babes" means infants or small children, standing here for people with no such training.

26Yes, Father, because that is what pleased you.

26Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.

Note"For so it seemed good in thy sight" is a set idiom meaning "this was what pleased you" or "such was your choice." It is not a comment on how things merely appeared.

27My Father has handed everything over to me. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone the Son chooses to show him to.

27All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

Note"Delivered unto me" means handed over or entrusted, the way full authority is handed to a deputy. "Know" here is not knowing facts about someone but knowing the person, as one family member knows another.

28Come to me, all of you who are worn out from hard work and are carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.

28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Note"Labour" here means working to the point of exhaustion, and "heavy laden" pictures a porter or a pack animal loaded past what it can comfortably carry.

29Take my yoke on your shoulders and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves.

29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

NoteA yoke is the shaped wooden beam laid across the necks of a pair of oxen so they pull together under one driver. Jewish teachers used it as a standing image for what a body of teaching asks of a student, speaking of taking on "the yoke of the law" or "the yoke of the kingdom," so inviting someone to take your yoke was inviting them to become your pupil. "Meek and lowly in heart" means gentle and low in one's own estimation, not weak or timid.

30For the yoke I give you fits well, and the load I give you is light."

30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

NoteThe Greek word behind "easy" means kindly, serviceable, or well fitting, the way a yoke shaped to the particular animal wearing it does not rub or chafe. It does not mean requiring little effort.