The Fallible Study Bible

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Matthew5:3–12

The Beatitudes

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Matthew 5:3–12 — The Beatitudes. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

3

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Makarioi hoi ptōchoi tō pneumati Hoti autōn estin hē basileia tōn ouranōn

Word by word12 · parsed
ΜακάριοιMakarioiBlessed [are]G3107
√ μακάριος — supremely blestAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
makarios: supremely blest An adjective, not a verb, and not a wish. JFB notes that of the two words the translators render “blessed,” this one “points more to what is inward, and so might be rendered ‘happy,’ in a lofty sense.” Benson presses the same point and would translate it happy throughout, because our Lord means “not only that the dispositions here recommended are the way to future blessedness, but that they immediately confer the truest and most noble felicity.”
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
πτωχοὶptōchoipoorG4434
√ πτωχός — akin to G4422 (πτοέω) and the alternate of G4098 (πίπτω))AdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
ptōchos: beggar-poor, crouching The word for destitution that lives by asking. Pulpit's lexical note (via Trench) is decisive: the penēs has nothing superfluous, the ptōchos nothing at all. JFB anchors the term in the Old Testament vocabulary where “God's true people are styled ‘the poor’ ... or ‘the needy,’” so that the qualifying dative here fixes the sense to “those who in their deepest consciousness realize their entire need.”
τῷtōinG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Singular
πνεύματιpneumatispiritG4151
√ πνεῦμα — a current of air, iNounDative Neuter Singular
pneuma: breath, spirit Dative singular with the article. The phrase names the sphere, not the cause: poverty located in the spirit. Ellicott sets the contrary beside it, the church of Laodicea, “thinking itself ‘rich’ in the spiritual life, when it is really as ‘the pauper,’ destitute of the true riches, blind and naked.”
ὍτιHotiforG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
hoti: because, for The causal conjunction that carries every one of the eight promises. It gives a ground, not a reward-in-exchange.
αὐτῶνautōntheirsG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἐστινestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
eimi: to be (present indicative) ⚙ The grammatical hinge of the whole unit. Of the eight promises in vv. 3 to 10, six stand in the future indicative; this one and its twin in v. 10 stand in the present. JFB observes that the kingdom “has two stages, a present and a future,” and the tense here is where that claim is anchored in the text itself.
ἡhētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
βασιλείαbasileiakingdomG932
√ βασιλεία — properly, royalty, iNounNominative Feminine Singular
basileia: royalty, rule, realm Nominative feminine singular with the article: the subject of estin. Not a place they will be admitted to, but a reign that already belongs to them, expressed by the fronted genitive autōn.
τῶνtōnofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
οὐρανῶνouranōnheavenG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounGenitive Masculine Plural
ouranos: sky, heavens Genitive plural, “of the heavens.” Ellicott, on v. 12, reads the plural “as implying, in its grand vagueness (like the ‘many mansions’ of John 14:2), the absence of any space limits.”
4

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Makarioi hoi penthountes Hoti autoi paraklēthēsontai

Word by word6 · parsed
ΜακάριοιMakarioiBlessed [are]G3107
√ μακάριος — supremely blestAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
οἱhoithose whoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
πενθοῦντεςpenthountesmournG3996
√ πενθέω — to grieve (the feeling or the act)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
pentheō: to grieve, the feeling and the act Ellicott notes the verb “is commonly coupled with weeping,” and that the mourning meant is “not the sorrow of the world that worketh death ... but the mourning over sin itself and the stain which it has left upon the soul.” Pulpit resists narrowing it even that far: the primary thought is mourning “over the realized poverty in spirit just spoken of.” The participle keeps both readings open.
ὍτιHotiforG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
hoti: because The same causal link as v. 3; the ground of the blessing, not its price.
αὐτοὶautoitheyG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
παρακληθήσονταιparaklēthēsontaiwill be comfortedG3870
√ παρακαλέω — to call near, iVerbFuture Indicative Passive3rd Person Plural
parakaleō: to call near, to comfort (future passive) ⚙ The first of four divine passives in the unit (comforted, filled, shown mercy, called): the agent is unnamed because the agent is God. JFB holds the promise open at both ends: “Even now they get beauty for ashes ... Still, all present comfort, even the best, is partial, interrupted, short-lived.”
5

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Makarioi hoi praeis Hoti autoi klēronomēsousin tēn gēn

Word by word8 · parsed
ΜακάριοιMakarioiBlessed [are]G3107
√ μακάριος — supremely blestAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
πραεῖςpraeismeekG4239
√ πραΰς — mild, iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
praus: mild, gentle A rare adjective (the Verifier finds G4239 in only four verses), and the same word Jesus applies to himself at Matthew 11:29 and that Matthew applies to him riding into Jerusalem at 21:5. Cambridge marks the gulf between this and pagan ethics: Aristotle “calls it ‘a mean inclining to a defect.’” Pulpit adds that the Hebrew behind the Psalm quotation is used of man's relation to God more often than of man's relation to man.
ὍτιHotiforG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
αὐτοὶautoitheyG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
κληρονομήσουσινklēronomēsousinwill inheritG2816
√ κληρονομέω — to be an heir to (literally or figuratively)VerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
klēronomeō: to be an heir to Future active. ⚙ Meekness is precisely the refusal to seize, and the verb given to it is the verb of inheriting rather than taking. Gill, refusing to settle for the present order, reads it of “the ‘new earth’, which will be after this is burnt up,” inherited “by virtue of their being heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.”
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
γῆνgēnearthG1093
√ γῆ — soilNounAccusative Feminine Singular
gē: soil, land, earth Accusative object of the inheriting. The word carries the whole Old Testament land-promise in it, which is why Barnes, JFB, Poole, Gill and Cambridge all reach for Psalm 37 at this line.
6

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Makarioi hoi peinōntes kai dipsōntes tēn dikaiosynēn Hoti autoi chortasthēsontai

Word by word10 · parsed
ΜακάριοιMakarioiBlessed [are]G3107
√ μακάριος — supremely blestAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
οἱhoithoseG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
πεινῶντεςpeinōnteswho hungerG3983
√ πεινάω — "pine")VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
peinaō: to hunger, to pine Present participle; the craving is the state, not an episode. Pulpit marks the turn in the argument here: “This is the positive stage,” after poverty, mourning and submission have been named.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
διψῶντεςdipsōntesthirstG1372
√ διψάω — to thirst for (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
dipsaō: to thirst Paired participle under one article with the hungering, so that the two verbs describe one appetite. Ellicott hears the wilderness behind it: “the craving of bodily hunger has become a parable of that higher yearning after righteousness.”
τὴνtēnforG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
δικαιοσύνηνdikaiosynēnrighteousnessG1343
√ δικαιοσύνη — equity (of character or act)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
dikaiosynē: equity of character or act The unit's pivotal noun, and it returns anarthrous at v. 10 as the ground of persecution. JFB argues against narrowing it: “in so comprehensive a saying as this, it is clearly to be taken ... in a much wider sense, as denoting that spiritual and entire conformity to the law of God.” Gill argues the opposite, for “the justifying righteousness of Christ, which is imputed by God the Father, and received by faith.” The brief gives us both, and the accusative with the article settles neither.
ὍτιHotiforG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
αὐτοὶautoitheyG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
χορτασθήσονταιchortasthēsontaiwill be filledG5526
√ χορτάζω — to fodder, iVerbFuture Indicative Passive3rd Person Plural
chortazō: to fodder, to fill full Future passive: another unnamed agent. ⚙ The verb is coarse on purpose. The promise to people starving for righteousness is not refinement but saturation.
7

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Makarioi hoi eleēmones Hoti autoi eleēthēsontai

Word by word6 · parsed
ΜακάριοιMakarioiBlessed [are]G3107
√ μακάριος — supremely blestAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ἐλεήμονεςeleēmonesmercifulG1655
√ ἐλεήμων — compassionate (actively)AdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
eleēmōn: compassionate, actively A rare word, found in only two verses (the Verifier's list gives Hebrews 2:17 as the other). Pulpit sharpens what it does and does not mean: not “the almost negative quality which the word usually suggests to us ... as active kindness to the destitute,” and, against oiktirmones at Luke 6:36, it “lay[s] more stress on the feeling of pity showing itself in action.”
ὍτιHotiforG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
αὐτοὶautoitheyG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἐλεηθήσονταιeleēthēsontaiwill be shown mercyG1653
√ ἐλεέω — to compassionate (by word or deed, specially, by divine grace)VerbFuture Indicative Passive3rd Person Plural
eleeō: to compassionate, by word or deed (future passive) ⚙ The root repeats, so the verse is a closed circuit in Greek. JFB warns against reading the circuit backwards: “Not that our mercifulness comes absolutely first. On the contrary, our Lord Himself expressly teaches us that God's method is to awaken in us compassion towards our fellow men by His own exercise of it.” The parable of the unmerciful servant is his evidence.
8

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Makarioi hoi katharoi tē kardia Hoti autoi opsontai ton Theon

Word by word10 · parsed
ΜακάριοιMakarioiBlessed [are]G3107
√ μακάριος — supremely blestAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
καθαροὶkatharoipureG2513
√ καθαρός — clean (literally or figuratively)AdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
katharos: clean, literally or figuratively Cambridge sets the word against its whole pagan background: “Purity is a distinguishing virtue of Christianity. It finds no place even in the teaching of Socrates, or in the system of Aristotle,” and quotes Bengel: non sufficit puritas ceremonialis.
τῇtēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
καρδίᾳkardiain heartG2588
√ καρδία — the heart, iNounDative Feminine Singular
kardia: the heart Dative of respect. Pulpit finds the phrasing's source in Psalm 24:3-4, where the LXX reads katharos tē kardia of the one who may ascend the hill of the Lord. If he is right, the beatitude answers the psalm's question, and answers it with a promise rather than a rule.
ὍτιHotiforG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
αὐτοὶautoitheyG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ὄψονταιopsontaiwill seeG3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Plural
horaō: to see, to attend to (future middle) ⚙ The middle voice matters. Of the eight promises, this is the only one in which the blessed are the acting subject of a verb of perception. Geneva presses the logic of the pairing: as an image is seen plainly in a clear glass, so God appears in a pure heart. Barnes takes the idiom socially, “to see the face” of a king meaning to be his favourite and friend.
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΘεὸνTheonGodG2316
√ θεός — figuratively, a magistrateNounAccusative Masculine Singular
theos: God Accusative, the object seen. Both Poole and Cambridge hold the promise in two stages, here darkly and hereafter face to face, on the ground of 1 Corinthians 13:12 and 1 John 3:2.
9

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Makarioi hoi eirēnopoioi Hoti autoi klēthēsontai huioi Theou

Word by word8 · parsed
ΜακάριοιMakarioiBlessed [are]G3107
√ μακάριος — supremely blestAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
εἰρηνοποιοίeirēnopoioipeacemakersG1518
√ εἰρηνοποιός — pacificatory, iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
eirēnopoios: peace-making A single occurrence, and a compound built to describe an action rather than a temperament. Gill limits it strictly: not peace between God and man, for “Christ, in this sense, is the only peace maker,” but peace “between men and men.” Pulpit notes how badly the saying would have landed on its first hearers: it “must have been specially distasteful to the warlike Galilaeans.”
ὍτιHotiforG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
αὐτοὶautoitheyG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
κληθήσονταιklēthēsontaiwill be calledG2564
√ καλέω — to "call" (properly, aloud, but used in a variety of applications, directly or otherwise)VerbFuture Indicative Passive3rd Person Plural
kaleō: to call aloud Future passive, the fourth and last of the unnamed-agent promises: called by God, and, Pulpit adds, “by God and angels and men.” ⚙ The passive carries the beatitude: peacemakers do not claim the title, they are given it, and the naming is an act done to them from outside. Poole blocks the reading that would reduce this to reputation, since “To be called and to be is much the same,” proving the idiom from Genesis 21:12 as Paul reads it at Romans 9:7-8, and from John 1:12 as 1 John 3:1 reads it.
υἱοὶhuioisonsG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounNominative Masculine Plural
huios: son ⚙ JFB alone among the voices here says plainly that this beatitude “is the only one which could hardly be expected to find its definite ground in the Old Testament,” because the character it mirrors, God as peacemaker, waited on the cross to be revealed. Whether that is too strong is worth testing against Isaiah 9:6 and Psalm 34:14, neither of which the brief supplies.
ΘεοῦTheouof GodG2316
√ θεός — figuratively, a magistrateNounGenitive Masculine Singular
theos: God Genitive of relation, without the article: the family named, not merely a title conferred.
10

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Makarioi hoi dediōgmenoi heneken dikaiosynēs Hoti autōn estin hē basileia tōn ouranōn

Word by word12 · parsed
ΜακάριοιMakarioiBlessed [are]G3107
√ μακάριος — supremely blestAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
οἱhoithose whoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
δεδιωγμένοιdediōgmenoiare persecutedG1377
√ διώκω — compare the base of G1169 (δειλός) and G1249 (διάκονος))VerbPerfect Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Masculine Plural
diōkō: to pursue, to hunt down (perfect participle) ⚙ The only perfect in the unit, and it does exactly what a perfect does: it makes a past assault into a present identity. These people are not being hunted at this moment; they are people who have been hunted and who are still standing where the hunt left them.
ἕνεκενhenekenbecause ofG1752
√ ἕνεκα — on account ofPreposition
δικαιοσύνηςdikaiosynēsrighteousnessG1343
√ δικαιοσύνη — equity (of character or act)NounGenitive Feminine Singular
dikaiosynē: equity of character or act Anarthrous, and governed by heneken, “on account of.” Gill reads the cause concretely and even polemically: persecution comes upon saints “for preaching, maintaining, or embracing, the doctrine of justification by the righteousness of Christ.” Cambridge sets the necessary limit: “The cause in which a man suffers is everything.”
ὍτιHotiforG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
αὐτῶνautōntheirsG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἐστινestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
eimi: to be (present indicative) The promise closes where it opened. Ellicott: “There is something suggestive in the fact that the last promise is the same as the first. We end, as we began, with ‘the kingdom of heaven.’”
ἡhētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
βασιλείαbasileiakingdomG932
√ βασιλεία — properly, royalty, iNounNominative Feminine Singular
basileia: royalty, rule, realm The same subject as v. 3, forming the inclusio that closes the eight.
τῶνtōnofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
οὐρανῶνouranōnheavenG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounGenitive Masculine Plural
11

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Makarioi este hotan oneidisōsin hymas kai diōxōsin kai pseudomenoi eipōsin pan ponēron kath’ hymōn heneken emou

Word by word16 · parsed
ΜακάριοίMakarioiBlessedG3107
√ μακάριος — supremely blestAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἐστεesteare youG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
eimi: to be (present, 2nd person plural) ⚙ The copula that was withheld through all eight beatitudes is finally written, and written to “you.” The unit's grammar turns here from description to address.
ὅτανhotanwhenG3752
√ ὅταν — whenever (implying hypothesis or more or less uncertainty)Conjunction
ὀνειδίσωσινoneidisōsin[people] insultG3679
√ ὀνειδίζω — to defame, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Plural
oneidizō: to defame, to reproach Aorist subjunctive under hotan: whenever it happens, however often. Pulpit insists the verb is broader than abuse.
ὑμᾶςhymasyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative 2nd Person Plural
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
διώξωσινdiōxōsinpersecute [you]G1377
√ διώκω — compare the base of G1169 (δειλός) and G1249 (διάκονος))VerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Plural
diōkō: to pursue, to hunt down Aorist subjunctive; the same root that stood as a perfect participle in v. 10 and will stand as an aorist indicative in v. 12. One verb binds the three verses into a single argument.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ψευδόμενοιpseudomenoifalselyG5574
√ ψεύδομαι — to utter an untruth or attempt to deceive by falsehoodVerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Masculine Plural
pseudomai: to utter an untruth A present participle in the nominative, so the lying is a description of the accusers while they speak. Ellicott says the word is missing from the best manuscripts and was “probably added as a safeguard against the thought that a man might claim the reward of the persecuted, even if really guilty.”
εἴπωσινeipōsinsayG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Plural
πᾶνpanall kinds ofG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Singular
πονηρὸνponēronevilG4190
√ πονηρός — hurtful, iAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Singular
ponēros: hurtful, evil Neuter singular with pan: “every evil thing.” Gill catalogues what the first Christians were actually charged with: sedition, sacrilege, incest, murder.
καθ’kath’againstG2596
√ κατά — (prepositionally) down (in place or time), in varied relations (according to the case (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined)Preposition
ὑμῶνhymōnyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Plural
ἕνεκενhenekenbecause ofG1752
√ ἕνεκα — on account ofPreposition
ἐμοῦemouMeG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
egō: I, me ⚙ The unit's centre of gravity. The eighth beatitude gave righteousness as the cause of suffering; this line gives me, in the same grammatical slot, under the same preposition. Nothing else in the Sermon so far has made that exchange.
12

Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

chairete kai agalliasthe hoti polys ho hymōn misthos en tois ouranois gar houtōs ediōxan tous prophētas tous pro hymōn

Word by word19 · parsed
χαίρετεchaireteRejoiceG5463
√ χαίρω — to be "cheer"ful, iVerbPresent Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
chairō: to be cheerful, to rejoice Present imperative. ⚙ The grammar of the unit moves from adjective (Blessed) to future indicative (they shall be) to present indicative (theirs is) and finally to imperative (rejoice). The blessing is stated before it is ever commanded.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀγαλλιᾶσθεagalliasthebe gladG21
√ ἀγαλλιάω — properly, to jump for joy, iVerbPresent Imperative Middle or Passive2nd Person Plural
agalliaō: to jump for joy Present imperative middle. Pulpit distinguishes the pair: the first word “expresses joy as such, the second its effect in stirring the emotions.” Barnes notes what it produced historically: “They literally rejoiced, and leaped for joy, at the prospect of death for the sake of Jesus.”
ὅτιhotibecauseG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
πολὺςpolysgreat [is]G4183
√ πολύς — (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) manyAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ὑμῶνhymōnyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Plural
μισθὸςmisthosrewardG3408
√ μισθός — pay for service (literally or figuratively), good or badNounNominative Masculine Singular
misthos: pay for service A wage, placed in the heavens. Pulpit gives the most careful account of it in the brief, arguing that the difficulties “centre round the thought of obligation from God to man,” and that the metaphor points to a real moral correspondence rather than to a contract: “In God's kingdom every action has a corresponding effect.”
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τοῖςtoisG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Plural
οὐρανοῖςouranoisheavenG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounDative Masculine Plural
ouranos: sky, heavens Dative plural with the article, the same plural as v. 3 and v. 10. Ellicott: “not to be thrown forward into the far-off future, but points to the unseen eternal world which is even now present to us.”
γὰρgarforG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
οὕτωςhoutōsin the same wayG3779
√ οὕτω — in this way (referring to what precedes or follows)Adverb
ἐδίωξανediōxanthey persecutedG1377
√ διώκω — compare the base of G1169 (δειλός) and G1249 (διάκονος))VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
diōkō: to pursue, to hunt down (aorist) The verb that has run through vv. 10, 11 and 12 lands on the prophets. Poole names them: Elijah, Micaiah, Jeremiah, Amos. Ellicott adds Zechariah son of Jehoiada and the sufferers under Ahab, and says the words “were, we can hardly doubt, true of the prophetic order as a whole.”
τοὺςtoustheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
προφήταςprophētasprophetsG4396
√ προφήτης — a foreteller ("prophet")NounAccusative Masculine Plural
prophētēs: a foreteller ⚙ The last word of the unit puts the persecuted disciples into a succession. Ellicott draws the conclusion the grammar invites: in “the prophets which were before you” there is “a tacit assumption that the disciples also to whom He spake were called to a prophetic work.”
τοὺςtousG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
πρὸprobeforeG4253
√ πρό — "fore", iPreposition
ὑμῶνhymōnyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Plural

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The sentences with no verb in them — 5:3-5:10

⚙ Before any doctrine is argued, look at what the Greek does not say. Eight times the line opens Μακάριοι with no copula under it: the interlinear has to bracket “[are]” every time. Pulpit names what the adjective is doing: it describes the poor in spirit “as possessors of ‘happiness’ ... in reference to their inherent state, not to the gifts or the rewards that they receive,” and marks that it is makarioi and not eulogēmenoi, the word for those upon whom a blessing is pronounced. Benson draws the pastoral consequence: our Lord “seems, as it were, to lay aside his supreme authority as our legislator ... he, in a more gentle and engaging way, insinuates his will and our duty by pronouncing those happy who comply with it.” The first ten verses of the Sermon on the Mount contain no imperative at all. The first command in the unit is chairete, and it does not arrive until v. 12.

ii. One present tense, six futures, and four unnamed agents — 5:3-5:10

⚙ The parse data carries an argument the English cannot. Of the eight promises, six stand in the future indicative: paraklēthēsontai, klēronomēsousin, chortasthēsontai, eleēthēsontai, opsontai, klēthēsontai. Two stand in the present: autōn estin hē basileia, at v. 3 and again at v. 10. JFB, working without the parse table, reached the same shape from the sense: the kingdom “has two stages, a present and a future, an initial and a consummate stage, so the fulfilment of each of these promises has two stages.” Note further that four of the six futures are passive with no agent stated (comforted, filled, shown mercy, called), one is middle (they shall see), and only one is active (they shall inherit). ⚙ Our reading: the grammar itself refuses to let these people be the doers of their own blessedness, except in the two places where the text hands them heirship and sight.

iii. Seven characters, then the world's answer to them — 5:3-5:10

JFB's structural observation is the sharpest in the brief and belongs to him: “though eight in number, there are here but seven distinct features of character. The eighth one, the ‘persecuted for righteousness' sake,’ denotes merely the possessors of the seven preceding features, on account of which it is that they are persecuted.” This is why v. 10 has no new promise and simply repeats v. 3. Cambridge reads the same eight as a ladder instead: “Mark the Christian growth step by step. First, spiritual poverty ... Secondly, sadness for sin. Thirdly, meekness ... Fourthly, the soul-hunger for righteousness. Then three virtues of the Christian life ... mercy, purity, peacemaking.” JFB then answers the obvious objection, how such features could provoke violence, feature by feature: “Poverty of spirit runs counter to the pride of men's heart ... purity of heart contrasts painfully with painted hypocrisy; and the peacemaker cannot easily be endured by the contentious, quarrelsome world.”

iv. When the third person becomes the second, and righteousness becomes me — 5:11-5:12

⚙ Two things change at once in v. 11, and they change in the same grammatical slots. The copula appears (Makarioi este, present indicative, 2nd person plural), and the cause of suffering, which was heneken dikaiosynēs in v. 10, becomes heneken emou in v. 11. Ellicott sees the first: “Here, for the first time, the beatitude is uttered, not as a general law, but as the portion of the listening disciples to whom the Teacher spoke.” JFB sees the second and will not soften it: “He identifies Himself and His cause with that of righteousness ... Would Moses, or David, or Isaiah, or Paul have so expressed themselves? Never.” Pulpit, reading the same line, concludes that the “Messianic consciousness” is already fully developed at this early stage of the ministry. Then the hunting verb diōkō, which stood as a perfect participle in v. 10 and an aorist subjunctive in v. 11, lands in v. 12 as a plain aorist indictment of history: houtōs ediōxan tous prophētas. Poole names the hunted: “Elijah, Micaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, and the rest of the prophets, whom you succeed, not in time only, but in the same office of revealing the mind of God to the people.”

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Fallible, offered to be tested. Read from the Greek up rather than from the doctrine down, these ten verses are not eight entrance requirements but one portrait drawn in verb tenses. Every entry describes a lack (beggary, grief, refusal to seize, starvation) or a costly outward act (mercy, purity, peacemaking) that the world reliably punishes, which is why JFB can collapse the eighth into the other seven. To every lack the text answers with a passive future and an unnamed agent: they will be comforted, filled, shown mercy, called. To the two furthest ends of the list, the beggars and the hunted, it answers instead with a present indicative: the kingdom is theirs, now, in the same tense in which they are poor. ⚙ We take that to be the point of the grammar: the one possession the Beatitudes hand over in the present is given to the people who have nothing and to the people who have lost what they had, and the promise is not payment for the losing. That the verbs are hedged all through with what the voices say, some are saints already found, JFB says, some are still conscious only of their need, is a fair caution against reading this as a ladder anyone climbs. Where we would gently press past the brief's voices: Benson, Poole and Ellicott all rush to insist that misthos in v. 12 is “not of debt, but of grace,” which is sound theology and is not in the word. The Greek says wage. We think the text leaves the wage-word standing on purpose, and that Pulpit is nearer the truth in reading it as real moral correspondence rather than as a contract quietly denied. The line set beside this reading below is our own sentence, not a verse of Scripture.

The only present tense in all eight is the one attached to people who have nothing left.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The merciful, and the one word the Greek uses only twice verbal / quotation: confirmed

The adjective at Matthew 5:7, ἐλεήμονες (eleēmōn, G1655), is not a common word. The Verifier finds it standing in only two verses of the New Testament: this one, and Hebrews 2:17, where the incarnate Son is made like his brothers “that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest.” ⚙ The beatitude therefore pronounces blessed exactly the quality that one other New Testament verse predicates of Christ himself, using the identical rare lexeme. JFB, without the concordance data, argues the same direction theologically: “our Lord Himself expressly teaches us that God's method is to awaken in us compassion towards our fellow men by His own exercise of it.” The Greek supplies the link JFB is reasoning toward.

Hebrews 2:17

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G1655 ἐλεήμων, found in only 2 verses of the New Testament (score 0.50). Greek to Greek, New Testament only. A rare shared lexeme, not a quotation: Hebrews does not cite Matthew here.

The meek one: the rare word Jesus later uses of himself verbal / quotation: confirmed

πραεῖς (praus, G4239) at Matthew 5:5 stands in only four verses of the New Testament, and the Verifier returns three of them as candidates. At Matthew 11:29 Jesus says “I am meek and lowly in heart,” sharing both praus and καρδία (G2588) with this unit; at Matthew 21:5 Matthew applies the same adjective to the king entering Jerusalem; at 1 Peter 3:4 it names “a meek and quiet spirit,” sharing praus, kardia and pneuma with Matthew 5:3-8. Cambridge notices the first link at this verse: meekness is “a characteristic of Jesus Himself, who says ‘I am meek and lowly in heart.’” JFB gathers the same three passages. ⚙ The lexical evidence is unusually clean here: a four-verse word, used of the blessed, of the Lord's own temper, and of the king on the colt.

Matthew 11:29 · Matthew 21:5 · 1 Peter 3:4

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G4239 πραΰς, found in only 4 verses (Matthew 11:29 score 0.26 with G2588 καρδία; Matthew 21:5 score 0.25; 1 Peter 3:4 score 0.26 with G4151 πνεῦμα and G2588 καρδία). Greek to Greek, New Testament only. Rare shared vocabulary, not quotation.

“The meek shall inherit the land”: the psalm underneath v. 5 structural / thematic: confirmed

Pulpit traces the phrase directly: “since in the eleventh verse of the psalm it is directly said of the meek: ‘But the meek shall inherit the land (LXX., οἱ δὲ πραεῖς κληρονομήσουσιν γῆν),’ it is, doubtless, from this latter passage that our Lord borrows the phrase.” JFB says flatly that the promise “is but a repetition of Ps 37:11.” Cambridge, Gill, Barnes and Poole all cite the same psalm at this verse. ⚙ The allusion is as close as an allusion gets, and the LXX line Pulpit quotes differs from Matthew only in the article. But the badge cannot be scored “verbal”: Matthew's lexeme is Greek G4239 and the psalm's is Hebrew, and shared Strong's numbers do not cross between the two lexicons. We tier it structural and say why, rather than claim a verbal identity our own method cannot verify.

Psalm 37:11

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so no shared Strong's lexeme can be computed and no verbal tier can be scored. Basis is the named testimony of Pulpit (who quotes the LXX of Psalm 37:11 as οἱ δὲ πραεῖς κληρονομήσουσιν γῆν), JFB, Cambridge, Barnes, Poole and Gill, all citing Psalm 37 at this verse. The allusion is real; the tier is held down by the method, not by doubt.

The herald of Isaiah 61 behind the first two beatitudes typological

Pulpit: “Observe that vers. 3, 4 (οἱ πτωχοί οἱ πενθοῦντες, possibly also ver. 5, vide infra) recall Isaiah 61:1, 2. As recently in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:18, 19), so also here, he bases the explanation of his work on the prophecy of that work in the Book of Isaiah.” Gill, at v. 4, says the same more briefly: “Isaiah 61:1 seems to be referred to, both in this, and in the preceding verse.” JFB calls this class “mourners in Zion” after the same oracle, and Barnes cites Isaiah 61:1-3 for the comfort. ⚙ The reading is figural as well as verbal: the good news to the poor and the comfort of mourners are not merely echoed but claimed, by a speaker who had already read that scroll aloud and sat down. We mark it typological rather than verbal because the tiers cannot be scored across the Greek and Hebrew lexicons.

Isaiah 61:1-2 · Luke 4:18

basis: Cross-Testament allusion, so no shared Strong's lexeme is computable and no verbal tier is possible. Basis is the named testimony of Pulpit, Gill, JFB and Barnes, each citing Isaiah 61:1-3 at Matthew 5:3-4, together with Luke 4:18-19. Attestation: ancient and widely held.

Luke's plain on the mountain's other side structural / thematic: confirmed

The Verifier returns Luke 6:20, 6:21 and 6:22 as the three strongest same-language candidates, sharing makarios (G3107), and at 6:20 also basileia (G932) and ptōchos (G4434). Pulpit, quoting Ellicott's Historical Lectures, judges that “there is little doubt that the two accounts (here and Luke 6) represent one and the same discourse.” The commentators use the parallel to settle the very question v. 3 raises: Barnes notes “Luke says simply, Blessed are the poor”; Cambridge concludes that “St Luke omits ‘in spirit,’ showing that the literal poor are primarily meant, St Matthew shows that they are not exclusively meant.” ⚙ The shared lexemes here are common ones, so the link is recorded as structural rather than verbal even though both texts are Greek.

Luke 6:20 · Luke 6:21 · Luke 6:22

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G3107 μακάριος (in 49 vv), with G932 βασιλεία (in 154 vv) and G4434 πτωχός (in 34 vv) at Luke 6:20 (scores 0.23, 0.29, 0.41). All three lexemes are common, so no rare-word verbal tier is earned; the link is the parallel discourse itself, as Pulpit argues from Ellicott.

Peter's letter, written to people this beatitude had already found structural / thematic: confirmed

The Verifier returns 1 Peter 3:14 (“if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, blessed are ye”) and 1 Peter 4:14 among the candidates, sharing makarios, and at 4:14 also pneuma. Pulpit thinks the dependence runs one way: on v. 10, “St Peter also says, perhaps with a reference to our Lord's words, that they who suffer διὰ δικαιοσύνην are μακάριοι,” and on v. 11, “it is possible that Hebrews 11:26 and 1 Peter 4:14 refer to this expression.” Poole and Cambridge cite 1 Peter 4:13-14 at v. 12 for the same reason. ⚙ The vocabulary shared is ordinary, and “perhaps” is Pulpit's own word; we tier accordingly.

1 Peter 3:14 · 1 Peter 4:14

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G3107 μακάριος (in 49 vv) at 1 Peter 3:14 (0.21) and 1 Peter 4:14 (0.30, with G4151 πνεῦμα, in 344 vv). Both lexemes are common, so the verbal tier is not earned. The claim of literary dependence is Pulpit's, and he states it as a possibility, not a fact.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The meek king on the colt ancient/widely-held

The word Matthew chooses for the third beatitude, praus, he uses again only of Jesus: at 11:29, from Jesus' own mouth, “I am meek and lowly in heart,” and at 21:5, of the king coming to Zion. Cambridge makes the connection at this verse; JFB expands it, setting beside the beatitude both “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart” and the apostle's appeal “by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.” ⚙ The consequence is that the promise of v. 5 is not an abstract reward for a temperament. The one who inherits the earth by not seizing it is first the speaker, and the disciples' inheritance is held in the same hands.

Matthew 11:29 · Matthew 21:5

The peacemaker who made peace by the blood of his cross ancient/widely-held

eirēnopoios (G1518) is found here only in the New Testament; Pulpit notes that its cognate verb stands in exactly one other place, Colossians 1:20, “having made peace through the blood of his cross.” Ellicott draws the line the vocabulary invites: sonship was witnessed “in the work of ‘making peace’ between God and man, between Jew and Gentile, even at the price of shedding His own blood,” and those sharers in that work “should ... be recognised as sharers in that sonship.” JFB presses it further, and says this is the one beatitude whose ground could hardly have been found in the Old Testament, because “it was not till Christ ‘made peace by the blood of the cross’ that God could manifest Himself as ‘the God of peace.’” Gill, from the other side, restricts the human peacemaking to peace “between men and men,” because “Christ, in this sense, is the only peace maker.” ⚙ The two restrictions meet: the sons are called by the family likeness of a Father whose peacemaking they could not perform.

Colossians 1:20 · Matthew 5:9

The merciful high priest, named by the same two-verse word ancient/widely-held

Of all the Greek in this unit, the adjective at v. 7 is the most confined: eleēmōn stands in two verses only, Matthew 5:7 and Hebrews 2:17, where it describes the Son made like his brothers in every way “that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest.” ⚙ Our reading, offered as synthesis: the beatitude does not merely commend mercy, it names a quality which the New Testament elsewhere reserves for the priesthood of Christ, and promises that those who bear it will receive it. JFB has the theological order right, that God's exercise of mercy awakens ours and not the reverse, and quotes Trench's fine summary: the Christian “stands in a middle point, between a mercy received and a mercy yet needed.” The lexical narrowness is our contribution; the doctrine is the commentators'.

Hebrews 2:17

Righteousness in the first person ancient/widely-held

v. 10 gives the cause of persecution as heneken dikaiosynēs; v. 11 gives it, in the identical construction, as heneken emou. JFB alone in the brief presses on the substitution: “Here He identifies Himself and His cause with that of righteousness, binding up the cause of righteousness in the world with the reception of Himself. Would Moses, or David, or Isaiah, or Paul have so expressed themselves? Never. Whereas He that speaks, being Righteousness incarnate ... when He so speaks, speaks only like Himself.” Pulpit, independently, concludes from the same verse that the Messianic self-consciousness is already complete. ⚙ We note only that the argument rests on a grammatical parallel, not on a title: the claim is made by keeping the preposition and changing the object.

Matthew 5:10 · Matthew 5:11

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text. Three real textual questions touch this unit, all reported by the sources themselves. (1) Pulpit: “In some, especially ‘Western’ authorities, vers. 4, 5 are transposed,” and Ellicott agrees that “many of the best MSS. invert the order of Matthew 5:4-5”; Pulpit judges “far the greater balance of evidence is in favour of the usual order,” which our BSB text follows. (2) At v. 9, Pulpit reports that αὐτοί is “omitted by א, C, D, 13, 124, Latt., Peshito,” and thinks it genuine but possibly lost by accident. Our interlinear prints it. (3) At v. 11, Ellicott states that ψευδόμενοι, the word our versions render “falsely,” “is absent from the best MSS., and was probably added as a safeguard.” Barnes builds an argument on that very word. We have kept both in the record rather than choose between them. Pulpit also preserves Clement of Alexandria's variant at v. 10, “persecuted through righteousness (ὑπὸ τῆς δικαιοσύνης), for they shall be perfect.”

Sources. Every original-language fact above (surface forms, transliterations, Strong's numbers, parses, lexeme frequencies) comes from the unit brief's Berean interlinear and Verifier output, and every commentator sentence is a verbatim contiguous excerpt resolved from the raw text by anchor, never retyped. Matthew Henry's entry in this brief is a single block covering 5:3-12, so the sentence quoted at v. 5 is drawn from his treatment of the third character within that one block. Several entries in the brief are capped (Benson at v. 3, JFB at v. 3, Barnes at v. 5, Pulpit at vv. 3 and 5); nothing above depends on the capped remainder. JFB at v. 7 and Pulpit at vv. 3 and 10 are themselves quoting Trench and Wetstein, and we have said so in the editorial notes rather than let the borrowed judgments pass as theirs.

What is uncertain. The commentators openly disagree at v. 6 on whether dikaiosynē means imputed justifying righteousness (Gill) or entire conformity to the law of God (JFB, expressly rejecting the narrower reading); the accusative and the article settle neither, and we have not settled it either. The sense of praus at v. 5 is disputed even within one source: Pulpit argues against Weiss that the word bears on the relation to God and not only to men. The meaning of tēn gēn (the land, this earth, the new earth, or heaven) divides Barnes, JFB and Gill, and all three readings are recorded. No thread in this unit is tiered verbal across the Testaments: the Psalm 37:11 and Isaiah 61 links are real and named by multiple commentators, but shared Strong's numbers cannot be computed between the Greek and Hebrew lexicons, so those badges are held at structural and typological by method rather than by doubt. The two verbal badges (Hebrews 2:17, and the praus cluster) rest on rare shared lexemes within Greek and claim no quotation in either direction.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)