Open Bible Data Home About News OET Key
OET OET-RV OET-LV ULT UST BSB MSB BLB AICNT OEB WEBBE WMBB NET LSV FBV TCNT T4T LEB BBE Moff JPS Wymth ASV DRA YLT Drby RV SLT Wbstr KJB-1769 KJB-1611 Bshps Gnva Cvdl TNT Wycl SR-GNT UHB BrLXX BrTr Related Topics Parallel Interlinear Reference Dictionary Search
InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Mat C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28
Mat 9 V1 V2 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V18 V19 V20 V21 V22 V23 V24 V25 V26 V27 V28 V29 V30 V31 V32 V33 V34 V35 V36 V37 V38
OET (OET-RV) Immediately some of the law teachers said among themselves, “This man presumes to be God.”
In this section, Matthew continued to write about the power that Jesus has to heal people. But more importantly, he showed that Jesus also has the authority and power to forgive sins (9:6a). In addition, he again showed that faith is important.
When Jesus first told the paralyzed man that his sins were forgiven (9:2d), it began a conflict with the Jewish leaders. (This is the first time that Matthew showed a conflict between Jesus and the Jewish leaders.) This conflict continues in the next sections.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
Jesus healed a paralyzed man
Jesus has the power to forgive sins
Healing and Forgiving a Paralytic (NET)
There are parallel passages for this section in Mark 2:1–12 and Luke 5:17–26.
On seeing this, some of the scribes said to themselves,
Surprisingly, some of the teachers of the Law said in their hearts/minds,
Some of the teachers of religious law were there. They thought,
The Greek of 9:3a begins with a word that is often translated as “behold.” It indicates that something extraordinary will happen. The BSB does not translate this word. Here, what is unexpected is that, instead of being happy for the paralyzed man, some people there were upset with Jesus.
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
At this (NIV)
Surprisingly
Unexpectedly
scribes: This is the first time in this section that the text refers to scribes. In some languages, it may be helpful to introduce them here. For example:
And some scribes were there. They said to themselves
The word scribes also occurs in 5:20a and 8:19a. You should translate this word here as you did there.
See also scribe in the Glossary for more information.
said to themselves: The phrase said to themselves is an idiom. It means “thought.” The scribes said the following words in their minds/hearts. They did not say them out loud.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
thought (GW)
said in their hearts/minds
“This man is blaspheming!”
“This guy greatly slanders/insults God!”
“This fellow dishonors God. He claims to do what only God can do.”
“This person is making himself equal with God. That’s evil talk!”
This man: The Greek word that the BSB translates as This man is more literally “this one.” It was a way for the scribes to dishonor Jesus. They did not say something respectful like “The teacher” or “The master.”
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
This fellow (NIV)
This guy
is blaspheming!: The verb is blaspheming means “intentionally say something that greatly harms a person’s reputation.” The scribes thought that Jesus was blaspheming/dishonoring God by claiming to do something that only God had the authority and ability to do. They believed that such talk harmed God’s reputation.
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
He’s dishonoring God (GW)
greatly slanders/insults God
speaks against God
This man is evil. He speaks as if he were God.
He makes himself equal with God. That is evil talk!
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
ἰδού
behold
The word behold draws the attention of the audience and asks them to listen carefully. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express behold with a word or phrase that asks the audience to listen, or you could draw the audience’s attention in another way. Alternate translation: [it happened] or [immediately]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ἐν ἑαυτοῖς
among themselves
Here, the phrase among themselves could mean that: (1) the scribes said these words to themselves, not out loud. Alternate translation: [in themselves] or [to themselves] (2) the scribes said these words quietly to other scribes. Alternate translation: [to each other]
Note 3 topic: writing-pronouns
οὗτος
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ἰδού τινές τῶν γραμματέων εἶπον ἐν ἑαυτοῖς Οὗτος βλασφημεῖ)
Here the scribes refer to Jesus by using the phrase This one. If it would be helpful in your language, you could make the reference more explicit. Alternate translation: [This man] or [This Jesus]
9:3 Does he think he’s God? God alone could forgive sins (Ps 103:3; Isa 43:25; Jer 50:20). The teachers of religious law failed to comprehend Jesus’ mission as God’s incarnate Son (Matt 3:17; 11:25-27). As God’s Messiah (1:1; 11:2-6), he was saving mankind (8:17; 26:26-28).
OET (OET-RV) Immediately some of the law teachers said among themselves, “This man presumes to be God.”
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.