Matthew 25

Translator Notes

1. The Greek parthenois ('virgins, unmarried young women') refers to the bridal attendants, not the bride herself. The lampadas ('torches, lamps') were likely torchlike lamps — oil-soaked cloths wrapped around sticks — used in wedding processions. The scene depicts a nighttime bridal procession, a common feature of Jewish weddings where the bridegroom came to collect the bride and bring her to his home.

Translator Notes

1. Matthew reverses the typical order and names the foolish (mōrai) first, emphasizing their failure. The adjectives mōrai ('foolish') and phronimoi ('wise, prudent') are the same terms used for the builders on sand and rock in 7:24-26 — folly and wisdom are defined by preparedness for what is coming.

Translator Notes

1. The Greek elaion ('olive oil') was the standard lamp fuel. Taking lamps without extra oil reveals short-term thinking — they prepared for the event but not for a delay. The folly is not malice but negligence.

Translator Notes

1. The aggeiois ('vessels, containers, flasks') represent reserve supply. The wise virgins' preparation was not extraordinary — they simply anticipated that the bridegroom might be delayed. Wisdom, in this parable, is realistic expectation combined with adequate preparation.

Translator Notes

1. The participle chronizontos ('delaying, being late') uses the same root as 24:48 where the wicked servant said 'my master is delayed.' Crucially, all ten — wise and foolish — fell asleep. Sleep is not the failing; lack of oil is. The distinction between the two groups is not greater vigilance but better preparation.

Translator Notes

1. The timing — mesēs nyktos ('middle of the night') — fulfills the theme of unexpected arrival (24:44, 50). The kraugē ('shout, cry') pierces the sleeping darkness. The imperative exerchesthe ('come out!') demands immediate action. The verb apantēsin ('meeting, encounter') was used technically for the welcoming delegation that went out to meet a visiting dignitary.

Translator Notes

1. The verb ekosmēsan ('trimmed, arranged, put in order') involves adjusting the wicks and refueling — standard lamp maintenance. All ten perform the same action, but only now does the difference in preparation become apparent.

Translator Notes

1. The present tense sbennyntai ('are being extinguished, are going out') describes the lamps flickering and dying — there is still a brief window, but it is closing. The request dote hēmin ('give us') reveals the crisis: preparation cannot be borrowed at the last moment.

Translator Notes

1. The refusal is not selfishness but realism — mēpote ou mē arkesē ('perhaps there will certainly not be enough') acknowledges that sharing would leave all ten without adequate oil. The parable's point is that some things cannot be shared or transferred at the last moment: personal spiritual preparedness is not a communal resource.

Translator Notes

1. The timing is cruel in its precision: the bridegroom arrives during the foolish virgins' absence. The word hetoimoi ('ready, prepared') is the same term from 24:44 ('you also must be ready'). The passive ekleisthē ('was shut') has the finality of divine decision — the door, once closed, will not reopen. The shut door is the parable's climactic image.

Translator Notes

1. The doubled vocative kyrie kyrie ('Lord, lord!') echoes 7:21-23, where Jesus warned that saying 'Lord, Lord' would not be enough without corresponding obedience. The frantic repetition conveys desperation. The request anoixon hēmin ('open for us!') meets the closed door of verse 10.

Translator Notes

1. The bridegroom's response ouk oida hymas ('I do not know you') is not a factual claim of unfamiliarity but a legal-relational declaration of non-recognition — equivalent to disowning. This parallels 7:23 ('I never knew you'). In Semitic idiom, 'to know' implies relationship; 'not to know' means the relationship does not exist.

Translator Notes

1. The SBLGNT does not include 'wherein the Son of man comes' (en hē ho huios tou anthrōpou erchetai), which appears in later manuscripts and the KJV. The imperative grēgoreite ('stay alert, keep watch') provides the moral of the parable, linking back to 24:42. The emphasis is on the double ignorance: neither the day (hēmeran) nor the hour (hōran) is knowable.

Translator Notes

1. The Greek apodēmōn ('going abroad, traveling away') indicates an extended absence — the master's return is indefinite. The verb paredōken ('handed over, entrusted') implies both trust and accountability. The master's property (ta hyparchonta autou) represents whatever God entrusts to his people. The SBLGNT does not include 'the kingdom of heaven is as' explicitly, but the meaning is implied by the connecting gar ('for').

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. A talanton ('talent') was a unit of weight (about 75 pounds / 34 kg), and when applied to money, represented approximately 6,000 denarii — about 20 years' wages for a laborer. Even one talent was an enormous sum. The phrase kata tēn idian dynamin ('according to his own ability') indicates that the distribution was personalized, not arbitrary — the master knew each servant's capacity.

Translator Notes

1. The adverb eutheōs ('immediately, at once') indicates prompt action. The verb ērgasato ('worked, traded, did business') implies active investment. The verb ekerdēsen ('gained, profited') is from kerdos ('gain, profit'). The 100% return represents exceptional stewardship, not a specific investment strategy.

Translator Notes

1. The word hōsautōs ('in the same way, likewise') establishes that the proportional return, not the absolute amount, is what matters. Both the five-talent and two-talent servants achieved 100% return — identical faithfulness despite different scales.

Translator Notes

1. Burying money (ōryxen gēn, 'dug the earth') was a common method of safeguarding valuables in the ancient world and was considered a reasonable precaution in rabbinic law (b. Baba Metzia 42a). The servant did not lose the money or steal it — he preserved it. His failure was in doing nothing more than preserving it.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase meta polyn chronon ('after much time') reinforces the theme of delayed return from 24:48 and 25:5. The expression synairei logon ('settles accounts,' literally 'takes up a reckoning together') is a commercial term for auditing — the time of accountability has come.

Translator Notes

1. The servant's report is straightforward and factual: he acknowledges what was given (paredōkas, 'you entrusted') and presents the result (ekerdēsa, 'I gained'). There is no boasting — the credit structure of the sentence places the master's entrustment before the servant's achievement.

Translator Notes

1. The exclamation eu ('well done!') is a single Greek word conveying approval. The adjectives agathe ('good') and piste ('faithful, trustworthy') describe character, not just performance. The phrase epi oliga ('over a few things') is remarkable — five talents was an enormous sum, yet the master calls it 'a few things' compared to what is coming. The invitation eiselthe eis tēn charan ('enter into the joy') transcends mere reward — it is admission to participation in the master's own celebration.

Translator Notes

1. The two-talent servant's report mirrors the five-talent servant's almost verbatim. The parallel structure emphasizes that the proportion of faithfulness, not the absolute amount, is what the master evaluates.

Translator Notes

1. The master's response is word-for-word identical to verse 21. The two-talent servant receives exactly the same commendation, the same reward, and the same invitation to joy as the five-talent servant. This is the parable's most important structural feature: God's approval is based on faithfulness relative to what was given, not on absolute output.

Translator Notes

1. The one-talent servant does not report results but offers an accusation: egnōn se ('I knew you') becomes a character indictment. The adjective sklēros ('hard, harsh, demanding') frames the master as exploitative. The agricultural metaphor — reaping where you did not sow (therizōn hopou ouk espeiras), gathering where you did not scatter (synagōn hothen ou dieskorpisas) — accuses the master of profiting from others' labor. Whether this is an accurate description of the master or the servant's self-justifying distortion is the interpretive question.

Translator Notes

1. The participle phobētheis ('being afraid, having feared') reveals the servant's motivation: fear, not laziness. The phrase ide echeis to son ('look, you have what is yours') is simultaneously a return of property and a rejection of relationship. The servant treats the talent as a liability to be preserved, not a gift to be invested.

Translator Notes

1. The master's reply uses the servant's own words against him. The adjectives ponēre ('wicked') and oknēre ('lazy, slothful, hesitant') provide the master's counter-assessment. The word oknēros implies not just idleness but timid shrinking back. The master's question ēdeis hoti ('you knew that...?') can be read as accepting the servant's premise for argument's sake: 'Even if that were true, it should have motivated you to act, not to freeze.'

Translator Notes

1. The trapezitais ('bankers, money-changers,' literally 'table-men' from trapeza, 'table') operated exchange tables in the marketplace. The word tokō ('interest,' literally 'offspring' — money begetting money) refers to the return on a deposit. The master's argument is devastating: even the minimum effort — simply depositing the money — would have been acceptable. The servant did not even do that. The prohibition against charging interest to fellow Israelites (Deuteronomy 23:19-20) did not apply to banking deposits.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Draws on Deuteronomy 23:19-20. Consult the TCR rendering of that passage for the underlying Hebrew and the rationale for key translation choices.

Translator Notes

1. The command to redistribute the talent to the most productive servant (not divided equally) follows the principle stated in verse 29. The one talent is not returned to the master's treasury but given to another servant — unfaithfulness results in the loss of what was entrusted.

Translator Notes

1. This paradoxical principle appears four times in the Gospels (Matthew 13:12, 25:29; Mark 4:25; Luke 19:26). In context, 'having' means having produced results through faithful stewardship. The one who uses what is given receives more; the one who does not use it loses even the original gift. This is a spiritual principle about faithfulness, not an economic observation about wealth concentration.

Translator Notes

1. The adjective achreion ('useless, worthless, unprofitable') describes the servant's net contribution: nothing. The phrase to skotos to exōteron ('the outer darkness') and the formula 'weeping and gnashing of teeth' appear for the final time in Matthew (cf. 8:12, 22:13, 24:51). The severity of the punishment — identical to the hypocrites' fate — indicates that inactive preservation of what God gives is as culpable as active rebellion.

Translator Notes

1. The scene shifts from parable to apocalyptic vision. The Son of Man arrives en tē doxē autou ('in his glory') — the same glory foretold in 24:30. The phrase thronos doxēs ('throne of glory') echoes the divine throne room of Daniel 7:9-10 and 1 Enoch 62:5. Jesus claims the judicial authority that in the Old Testament belongs exclusively to God.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Quotes Daniel 7:9-10. The TCR rendering of that OT passage preserves the Hebrew source text and documents the translation decisions behind it.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase panta ta ethnē ('all the nations/peoples') is universal in scope. The verb aphorisei ('will separate, will set apart') uses the same root as 'Pharisee' (pharisaios, 'separated one'). The pastoral imagery of a shepherd (poimēn) dividing sheep from goats echoes Ezekiel 34:17-22, where God himself judges between sheep. In Palestine, sheep and goats often grazed together but were separated at night.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Draws on Ezekiel 34:17-22. Consult the TCR rendering of that passage for the underlying Hebrew and the rationale for key translation choices.

Translator Notes

1. The right side (dexiōn) is the position of honor and favor throughout Scripture and the ancient world (cf. Psalm 110:1). The left (euōnymōn, literally 'well-named' — a euphemism, since the left was considered unlucky) is the position of disfavor. The spatial arrangement visualizes the coming verdict.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] References Psalm 110:1 — the TCR OT rendering of that text provides the Hebrew source and explains the translation decisions involved.

Translator Notes

1. The title basileus ('King') replaces 'Son of Man' — the judge is also the king. The passive eulogēmenoi ('blessed ones') is a divine passive: blessed by God. The verb klēronomēsate ('inherit') frames the kingdom as an inheritance, not an earned wage — it was prepared (hētoimasmenēn, 'made ready') before the beneficiaries existed, from the foundation of the world (apo katabolēs kosmou). The kingdom is God's gift, even though the criterion of entry involves human action.

Translator Notes

1. The six acts of mercy begin. The first-person statements are extraordinary — the King identifies himself with the recipients of care. The word xenos ('stranger, foreigner') denotes someone outside the community, without local connections or legal protections. The verb synēgagete ('you gathered together, you took in') implies hospitality — bringing the outsider into community.

Translator Notes

1. The final three acts: clothing the naked (gymnos, which can mean 'poorly clothed' as well as completely unclothed), visiting the sick (epeskepsasthe, from episkopeō, 'to look upon, to visit, to care for' — the root of 'bishop/overseer'), and visiting prisoners (en phylakē, 'in custody/prison'). Ancient prisons provided no food or care — prisoners depended entirely on outside visitors for survival. These six acts (feeding, giving drink, hospitality, clothing, caring for the sick, visiting prisoners) became the traditional 'corporal works of mercy' in Christian ethics.

Translator Notes

1. The righteous (dikaioi) are genuinely surprised — their compassion was not calculated to earn a reward. The question pote se eidomen ('when did we see you?') reveals that they were unaware they were serving Christ. This unconscious righteousness is precisely the point: authentic compassion does not perform for an audience.

Translator Notes

1. The questions continue through the same six categories, emphasizing the righteous ones' complete lack of awareness that their acts of mercy had any connection to Christ. The repetition creates a liturgical rhythm.

Translator Notes

1. The final pair — sick and imprisoned — represents the most marginalized members of society. Visiting the sick and imprisoned carried social stigma and personal risk. The righteous ones' question implies they would have done more had they known.

Translator Notes

1. This is the theological center of the passage. The phrase eph' hoson ('inasmuch as, to the extent that, whatever') creates a comprehensive equivalence. The superlative elachistōn ('least, smallest, most insignificant') identifies Christ with society's most overlooked members. The phrase tōn adelphōn mou ('my brothers') has been interpreted as referring to all suffering people, to fellow Christians, or to Christian missionaries. The Greek adelphōn is rendered 'brothers and sisters' as the context addresses all nations. The identification emoi epoiēsate ('you did it to me') makes compassion for the vulnerable a direct encounter with Christ.

Translator Notes

1. The contrast with verse 34 is sharp: 'Come' versus 'Depart' (poreuesthe ap' emou); 'blessed by my Father' versus 'cursed' (katēramenoi); 'inherit the kingdom prepared for you' versus 'into the eternal fire prepared for the devil.' Note that the kingdom was prepared 'for you' while the fire was prepared 'for the devil and his angels' (tō diabolō kai tois angelois autou) — the fire's intended occupants are demonic, not human. Humans who end up there are in a place not designed for them. The adjective aiōnion ('eternal, age-long') is from aiōn ('age'); its precise meaning — unending or age-long — is debated.

Translator Notes

1. The accusation mirrors verses 35-36 point by point, with the devastating addition of ouk ('not') before each verb. The judgment is not for active harm but for passive neglect — sins of omission rather than commission.

Translator Notes

1. The six categories are compressed slightly here — 'sick and in prison' are combined into one clause — but the same acts of neglect are catalogued. The passive construction makes the failing clear: they saw need and did nothing.

Translator Notes

1. The goats' question mirrors the sheep's (vv. 37-39) — they too are surprised. They did not realize that neglecting the vulnerable was neglecting Christ. The verb diēkonēsamen ('we served, we ministered to') is from diakoneō, the root of 'deacon/servant.' Their defense is ignorance, but ignorance of Christ's identification with the suffering is not accepted as an excuse.

Translator Notes

1. The negative counterpart to verse 40. The word adelphōn ('brothers') is absent from the SBLGNT here (present in v. 40 but not v. 45), which may broaden the identification beyond 'my brothers' to 'the least' in general. The principle works in both directions: service to the least is service to Christ; neglect of the least is neglect of Christ.

Translator Notes

1. The parallel structure places kolasin aiōnion ('eternal punishment') and zōēn aiōnion ('eternal life') in direct opposition, both modified by the same adjective aiōnion. The word kolasin ('punishment, correction') comes from kolazō ('to prune, to cut short, to punish'). Whether aiōnion means 'everlasting' (without end) or 'of the age to come' (pertaining to the coming age) is debated; the same adjective modifies both destinies, so consistency requires reading them the same way. This verse concludes the Olivet Discourse and Jesus's public teaching in Matthew.