HOLY BIBLE: Matthew 11 (original) (raw)

1 Καὶ ἐγένετο ὅτε ἐτέλεσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς διατάσσων τοῖς δώδεκα μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ, μετέβη ἐκεῖθεν τοῦ διδάσκειν καὶ κηρύσσειν ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν αὐτῶν. 2 Ὁ δὲ Ἰωάννης ἀκούσας ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ τὰ ἔργα τοῦ Χριστοῦ πέμψας διὰ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ 3 εἶπεν αὐτῷ, σὺ εἶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἢ ἕτερον προσδοκῶμεν; 4 καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, πορευθέντες ἀπαγγείλατε Ἰωάννῃ ἃ ἀκούετε καὶ βλέπετε: 5 τυφλοὶ ἀναβλέπουσιν καὶ χωλοὶ περιπατοῦσιν, λεπροὶ καθαρίζονται καὶ κωφοὶ ἀκούουσιν, καὶ νεκροὶ ἐγείρονται καὶ πτωχοὶ εὐαγγελίζονται: 6 καὶ μακάριός ἐστιν ὃς ἐὰν μὴ σκανδαλισθῇ ἐν ἐμοί.

1 When Jesus had done giving instructions to his twelve disciples, he left the place where he was, to teach and preach in their cities. 2 Now John had heard in his prison of Christ’s doings, and he sent two of his disciples to him; 3 Is it thy coming that was foretold, he asked, or are we yet waiting for some other? 4 Jesus answered them, Go and tell John what your own ears and eyes have witnessed; 5 how the blind see, and the lame walk, how the lepers are made clean, and the deaf hear, how the dead are raised to life, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.[1] 6 Blessed is the man who does not lose confidence in me.

1 Et factum est, cum consummasset Jesus, præcipiens duodecim discipulis suis, transiit inde ut doceret, et prædicaret in civitatibus eorum. 2 Joannes autem cum audisset in vinculis opera Christi, mittens duos de discipulis suis, 3 ait illi: Tu es, qui venturus es, an alium exspectamus? 4 Et respondens Jesus ait illis: Euntes renuntiate Joanni quæ audistis, et vidistis. 5 Cæci vident, claudi ambulant, leprosi mundantur, surdi audiunt, mortui resurgunt, pauperes evangelizantur: 6 et beatus est, qui non fuerit scandalizatus in me.

7 Τούτων δὲ πορευομένων ἤρξατο ὁ Ἰησοῦς λέγειν τοῖς ὄχλοις περὶ Ἰωάννου: τί ἐξήλθατε εἰς τὴν ἔρημον θεάσασθαι; κάλαμον ὑπὸ ἀνέμου σαλευόμενον; 8 ἀλλὰ τί ἐξήλθατε ἰδεῖν; ἄνθρωπον ἐν μαλακοῖς ἠμφιεσμένον; ἰδοὺ οἱ τὰ μαλακὰ φοροῦντες ἐν τοῖς οἴκοις τῶν βασιλέων. εἰσίν 9 ἀλλὰ τί ἐξήλθατε; ἰδεῖν προφήτην ναί λέγω ὑμῖν, καὶ περισσότερον προφήτου. 10 οὗτός ἐστιν περὶ οὗ γέγραπται: ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀποστέλλω τὸν ἄγγελόν μου πρὸ προσώπου σου, ὃς κατασκευάσει τὴν ὁδόν σου ἔμπροσθέν σου. 11 ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, οὐκ ἐγήγερται ἐν γεννητοῖς γυναικῶν μείζων Ἰωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ: ὁ δὲ μικρότερος ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν μείζων αὐτοῦ ἐστιν. 12 ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν ἡμερῶν Ἰωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ ἕως ἄρτι ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν βιάζεται, καὶ βιασταὶ ἁρπάζουσιν αὐτήν. 13 πάντες γὰρ οἱ προφῆται καὶ ὁ νόμος ἕως Ἰωάννου ἐπροφήτευσαν, 14 καὶ εἰ θέλετε δέξασθαι, αὐτός ἐστιν Ἠλίας ὁ μέλλων ἔρχεσθαι. 15 ὁ ἔχων ὦτα ἀκουέτω. 16 Τίνι δὲ ὁμοιώσω τὴν γενεὰν ταύτην; ὁμοία ἐστὶν παιδίοις καθημένοις ἐν ταῖς ἀγοραῖς ἃ προσφωνοῦντα τοῖς ἑτέροις 17 λέγουσιν: ηὐλήσαμεν ὑμῖν καὶ οὐκ ὠρχήσασθε: ἐθρηνήσαμεν καὶ οὐκ ἐκόψασθε. 18 ἦλθεν γὰρ Ἰωάννης μήτε ἐσθίων μήτε πίνων, καὶ λέγουσιν, δαιμόνιον ἔχει: 19 ἦλθεν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐσθίων καὶ πίνων, καὶ λέγουσιν: ἰδοὺ ἄνθρωπος φάγος καὶ οἰνοπότης, τελωνῶν φίλος καὶ ἁμαρτωλῶν. καὶ ἐδικαιώθη ἡ σοφία ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων αὐτῆς.

7 As they went out, Jesus took occasion to speak of John to the multitudes; What was it, he asked, that you expected to see when you went out into the wilderness? Was it a reed trembling in the wind? 8 No, not that; what was it you went out to see? Was it a man clad in silk? You must look in kings’ palaces for men that go clad in silk. 9 What was it, then, that you went out to see? A prophet? Yes, and something more, I tell you, than a prophet. 10 This is the man of whom it was written, Behold, I am sending before thee that angel of mine, who is to prepare the way for thy coming.[2] 11 Believe me, God has raised up no greater son of woman than John the Baptist; and yet to be least in the kingdom of heaven is to be greater than he.[3] 12 Ever since John the Baptist’s time, the kingdom of heaven has opened to force; and the forceful are even now making it their prize; 13 whereas all the prophets and the law, before John’s time, could only speak of things that were to come. 14 And this I tell you, if you will make room for it in your minds, that he is that Elias whose coming was prophesied.[4] 15 Listen, you that have ears to hear with. 16 As for this generation, to what shall I compare it? It reminds me of those children who call out to their companions as they sit in the market-place, 17 and say, You would not dance when we piped to you, or beat the breast when we wept to you. 18 When John came, he would neither eat nor drink, and they say of him that he is possessed. 19 When the Son of Man came, he ate and drank with them, and of him they say, Here is a glutton; he loves wine; he is a friend of publicans and sinners. It is by her own children that wisdom is vindicated.[5]

7 Illis autem abeuntibus, cœpit Jesus dicere ad turbas de Joanne: Quid existis in desertum videre? arundinem vento agitatam? 8 Sed quid existis videre? hominem mollibus vestitum? Ecce qui mollibus vestiuntur, in domibus regum sunt. 9 Sed quid existis videre? prophetam? Etiam dico vobis, et plus quam prophetam. 10 Hic est enim de quo scriptum est: Ecce ego mitto angelum meum ante faciem tuam, qui præparabit viam tuam ante te. 11 Amen dico vobis, non surrexit inter natos mulierum major Joanne Baptista: qui autem minor est in regno cælorum, major est illo. 12 A diebus autem Joannis Baptistæ usque nunc, regnum cælorum vim patitur, et violenti rapiunt illud. 13 Omnes enim prophetæ et lex usque ad Joannem prophetaverunt: 14 et si vultis recipere, ipse est Elias, qui venturus est. 15 Qui habet aures audiendi, audiat. 16 Cui autem similem æstimabo generationem istam? Similis est pueris sedentibus in foro: qui clamantes coæqualibus 17 dicunt: Cecinimus vobis, et non saltastis: lamentavimus, et non planxistis. 18 Venit enim Joannes neque manducans, neque bibens, et dicunt: Dæmonium habet. 19 Venit Filius hominis manducans, et bibens, et dicunt: Ecce homo vorax, et potator vini, publicanorum et peccatorum amicus. Et justificata est sapientia a filiis suis.

20 Τότε ἤρξατο ὀνειδίζειν τὰς πόλεις ἐν αἷς ἐγένοντο αἱ πλεῖσται δυνάμεις αὐτοῦ, ὅτι οὐ μετενόησαν: 21 οὐαί σοι, Χοραζίν, οὐαί σοι, Βηθσαϊδά, ὅτι εἰ ἐν Τύρῳ καὶ Σιδῶνι ἐγένοντο αἱ δυνάμεις αἱ γενόμεναι ἐν ὑμῖν, πάλαι ἂν ἐν σάκκῳ καὶ σποδῷ μετενόησαν. 22 πλὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, Τύρῳ καὶ Σιδῶνι ἀνεκτότερον ἔσται ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως ἢ ὑμῖν. 23 καὶ σύ, Καφαρναούμ, μὴ ἕως οὐρανοῦ ὑψωθήσῃ; ἕως ᾅδου καταβήσῃ ὅτι εἰ ἐν Σοδόμοις ἐγενήθησαν αἱ δυνάμεις αἱ γενόμεναι ἐν σοί, ἔμεινεν ἂν μέχρι τῆς σήμερον. 24 πλὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι γῇ Σοδόμων ἀνεκτότερον ἔσται ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως ἢ σοί.

20 Thereupon he took occasion to reproach for their impenitence the cities in which he had done most of his miracles: 21 Woe to thee, Corozain, woe to thee, Bethsaida: Tyre and Sidon would have repented in sackcloth and ashes long ago, if the miracles done in you had been done there instead. 22 And I say this, that it shall go less hard with Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgement than with you. 23 And thou, Capharnaum, dost thou hope to be lifted up high as heaven? Thou shalt fall low as hell. Sodom itself, if the miracles done in thee had been done there, might have stood to this day. 24 And I say this, that it shall go less hard with the country of Sodom at the day of judgement than with thee.

20 Tunc cœpit exprobrare civitatibus, in quibus factæ sunt plurimæ virtutes ejus, quia non egissent pœnitentiam: 21 Væ tibi Corozain, væ tibi Bethsaida: quia, si in Tyro et Sidone factæ essent virtutes quæ factæ sunt in vobis, olim in cilicio et cinere pœnitentiam egissent. 22 Verumtamen dico vobis: Tyro et Sidoni remissius erit in die judicii, quam vobis. 23 Et tu Capharnaum, numquid usque in cælum exaltaberis? usque in infernum descendes, quia si in Sodomis factæ fuissent virtutes quæ factæ sunt in te, forte mansissent usque in hanc diem. 24 Verumtamen dico vobis, quia terræ Sodomorum remissius erit in die judicii, quam tibi.

[1] Is. 35.5.

[2] Mal. 3.1; where, however, our text reads, ‘I am sending my messenger (or angel), who is to prepare the way before me’.

[3] St John the Baptist, as the final product of the old Dispensation, is less than the least of those who enjoy the blessings of the new. Like the Patriarchs, he only looked forward to the world’s redemption as something that lay in the future (verse 13) by the light of hope (Heb. 11.13), and died before its accomplishment (Mt. 13.17), instead of being able to press into the Kingdom of heaven like the common sort of Christians (verse 12).

[4] In Jn. 1.21; St John the Baptist says that he is not the prophet Elias; but evidently he is speaking of his personal identity, whereas our Lord here is speaking of the office which he fulfilled.

[5] vv. 2-19: Lk. 7.18. v. 19: ‘Her children’; that is, those who are enlightened by the Divine wisdom. The meaning may be, that both our Lord and St John proved themselves, in different ways, ‘children of wisdom’, that the common people were wiser, in this matter, than the scribes and Pharisees.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd