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Amplified Bible

Matthew 12:47

Someone said to Him, "Look! Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside asking to speak to You."

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Mary;   The Topic Concordance - Disciples/apostles;   Family;   Will of God;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Brother;   Mary;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Brother;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Disciple, Discipleship;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Hutchinsonians;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Mary of Cleophas;   Holman Bible Dictionary - James;   Matthew, the Gospel of;   Mother;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Jesus Christ;   Mss;   Text of the New Testament;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Brethren of the Lord (2);   Brotherhood (2);   Desire;   James ;   Marriage (I.);   Woman (2);   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Mary, the Mother of Jesus;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Chief parables and miracles in the bible;  

Encyclopedias:

- The Jewish Encyclopedia - James;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
King James Version (1611)
Then one saide vnto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speake with thee.
King James Version
Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.
English Standard Version
New American Standard Bible
[Someone said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak to You."]
New Century Version
Someone told Jesus, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, and they want to talk to you."
Geneva Bible (1587)
Then one said vnto him, Beholde, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speake with thee.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Someone said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You."
Legacy Standard Bible
Now someone said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You."
Berean Standard Bible
Someone told Him, "Look, Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to You."
Contemporary English Version
Someone told Jesus, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside and want to talk with you."
Complete Jewish Bible
Darby Translation
Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren are standing without, seeking to speak to thee.
Easy-to-Read Version
Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are waiting for you outside. They want to talk to you."
George Lamsa Translation
Then a man said to him, Behold your mother and your brothers are standing outside, and they want to speak with you.
Good News Translation
So one of the people there said to him, "Look, your mother and brothers are standing outside, and they want to speak with you."
Lexham English Bible
And someone told him, "Behold, your mother and your brothers are standing there outside desiring to speak to you."
Literal Translation
Then one said to Him, Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak to You.
American Standard Version
And one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, seeking to speak to thee.
Bible in Basic English
And one said to him, See, your mother and your brothers are outside, desiring to have talk with you.
Hebrew Names Version
One said to him, "Behold, your mother and your brothers stand outside, seeking to speak to you."
International Standard Version
Someone told him, "Look! Your mother and your brothers are standing outside asking to speak to you."[fn]
Etheridge Translation
And a man said to him, Thy mother and thy brethren are standing without, and are requesting to speak with thee.
Murdock Translation
And a person said to him: Lo, thy mother and thy brothers stand without, and seek to speak with thee.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Then one sayde vnto hym: beholde, thy mother, and thy brethren, stande without, desyryng to speake with thee.
English Revised Version
And one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, seeking to speak to thee.
World English Bible
One said to him, "Behold, your mother and your brothers stand outside, seeking to speak to you."
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And one said to him, Behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without, seeking to speak to thee.
Weymouth's New Testament
So some one told Him, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, and desire to speak to you."
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And a man seide to hym, Lo! thi modir and thi britheren stonden withouteforth, sekynge thee.
Update Bible Version
And one said to him, Look, your mother and your brothers stand outside, seeking to speak to you.
Webster's Bible Translation
Then one said to him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.
New English Translation
Someone told him, "Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside wanting to speak to you."
New King James Version
Then one said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You."
New Living Translation
Someone told Jesus, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, and they want to speak to you."
New Life Bible
Someone said to Him, "Your mother and brothers are outside and want to talk to you."
New Revised Standard
Someone told him, "Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And one said to him, Lo! thy mother and thy brethren, without, are standing, seeking, to speak, with thee.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And one said unto him: Behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without, seeking thee.
Revised Standard Version
* [No text]
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Then one sayde vnto hym: beholde thy mother and thy brethre stonde without desiringe to speke wt the.
Young's Literal Translation
and one said to him, `Lo, thy mother and thy brethren do stand without, seeking to speak to thee.'
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then sayde one vnto him: Beholde, thy mother and thy brethren stonde without, & wolde speake wt the.
Mace New Testament (1729)
then some body said to him, your mother and your brothers are without, and desire to speak with you.
Simplified Cowboy Version
Someone said, "Hey, your momma and your brothers are waiting outside. They want to talk to you."

Contextual Overview

46While He was still talking to the crowds, it happened that His mother and brothers stood outside, asking to speak to Him. 47Someone said to Him, "Look! Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside asking to speak to You."48But Jesus replied to the one who told Him, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?" 49And stretching out His hand toward His disciples [and all His other followers], He said, "Here are My mother and My brothers! 50"For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven [by believing in Me, and following Me] is My brother and sister and mother."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Reciprocal: Exodus 18:6 - said John 7:3 - brethren 1 John 5:3 - this

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then one said unto him,.... Either one of his auditors, or, as the Ethiopic version has it, one "of his disciples": the other evangelists intimate, that more than one acquainted him with it; which is easily reconciled: for, upon his mother and brethren calling to him, as Mark says they did; first one and then another, and more, might apprise him of it, and especially as he did not immediately go out unto them.

Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee: whether this message was carried at the request of the mother and brethren of Christ, and delivered in a simple manner, and with an honest intention; or whether it was officiously done, and with a design to interrupt him, and to try him, whether he would prefer his natural relations, and their society and conversation, to the spiritual work in which he was engaged, in doing good to the souls of men, is not certain; the latter seems probable, from the following words, and conduct of Christ. Some copies read, "desiring to see thee".

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See also Mark 3:31-35; Luke 8:19-21.

His brethren - There has been some difference of opinion about the persons who are referred to here, some supposing that they were children of Mary his mother, others that they were the children of Mary, the wife of Cleophas or Alpheus, his “cousins,” and called “brethren” according to the customs of the Jews. The natural and obvious meaning is, however, that they were the children of Mary his mother. See also Mark 6:3. To this opinion, moreover, there can be no valid objection.

Matthew 12:48

Who is my mother? ... - There was no want of affection or respect in Jesus toward his mother, as is proved by his whole life.

See especially Luke 2:51, and John 19:25-27. This question was asked merely to “fix the attention” of the hearers and to prepare them for the answer - that is, to show them who sustained toward him the nearest and most tender relation. To do this he pointed to his disciples. Dear and tender as were the ties which bound him to his mother and brethren, yet those which bound him to his disciples were more tender and sacred. How great was his love for his disciples, when it was more than even that for his mother! And what a bright illustration of his own doctrine, that we ought to forsake father, and mother and friends, and houses, and lands, to be his followers!

Remarks On Matthew 12:0

1. Our Saviour has taught us the right use of the Sabbath, Matthew 12:1-13. His conduct was an explanation of the meaning of the fourth commandment. By his example we may learn what may be done. He himself performed only those works on the Sabbath which were strictly necessary for life, and those which tended to benefit the poor, the afflicted, and needy. Whatever work is done on the Sabbath that is not for these ends must be wrong. All labor that can as well be done on another day all which is not for the support of life, or to aid the ignorant, poor, and sick. must be wrong. This example justifies teaching the ignorant, supplying the wants of the poor, instructing children in the precepts of religion, teaching those to read in Sunday schools who have no other opportunity for learning, and visiting the sick, when we go not for formality, or “to save time on some other day,” but to do them good.

2. The Sabbath is of vast service to mankind. It was made for man - not for man to violate or profane, or to be a day of mere idleness, but to improve to his spiritual and eternal good. Where people are employed through “six” days in worldly occupations, it is kind toward them to give them one day particularly to prepare for eternity. Where there is no Sabbath there is no religion. This truth, from the history of the world, will bear to be recorded in letters of gold - “that true religion will exist among men only when they strictly observe the Sabbath.” They, therefore, who do most to promote the observance of the Sabbath, are doing most for religion and the welfare of man. In this respect Sunday school teachers may do more, perhaps, than all the world besides for the best interests of the world.

3. In the conduct of Christ Matthew 12:14-15 we have an illustration of the nature of Christian prudence. He did not throw himself needlessly into danger. He did not remain to provoke opposition. He felt that his time was not come, and that his life, by a prudent course, should be preserved. He therefore withdrew. Religion requires us to sacrifice our lives rather than deny the Saviour. To throw our lives away when, with good conscience, they might be preserved, is self-murder.

4. The rejection of the gospel in one place is often the occasion of its being received elsewhere, Matthew 12:15. People may reject it to their own destruction; but somewhere it “will” be preached, and will be the power of God unto salvation. The wicked cannot drive it out of the world. They only secure their own ruin, and, against their will, benefit and save others. To reject it is like turning a beautiful and fertilizing stream from a man’s own land. He does not, he cannot dry it up. “It will flow somewhere else.” He injures himself and perhaps benefits multitudes. People never commit so great foolishness and wickedness, and so completely fail in what they aim at, as in rejecting the gospel. A man, hating the light of the sun, might get into a cave or dungeon, and be in total darkness; but the sun will continue to shine, and millions, in spite of him, will be benefited by it. So it is with the gospel.

5. Christ was mild, quiet, retiring not clamorous or noisy, Matthew 12:19. So is all religion. There is no piety in noise; if there was, then thunder and artillery would be piety. Confusion and discord are not religion. Loud words and shouting are not religion. Religion is love, reverence, fear, holiness, a deep and awful regard for the presence of God, profound apprehensions of the solemnities of eternity, imitation of the Saviour. It is still. It is full of awe - an awe too great to strive, or cry, or lift up the voice in the streets. If people ever should be overawed and filled with emotions “repressing” noise and clamor, it should be when they approach “the great God.”

6. The feeble may trust to Jesus, Matthew 12:20. A child of any age, an ignorant person, the poorest man, may come, and he shall in nowise be east out. It is a sense of our weakness that Jesus seeks. Where that is “he” will strengthen us, and we shall not fail.

7. Grace will not be extinguished, Matthew 12:20. Jesus, where he finds it in the feeblest degree, will not destroy it. He will cherish it. He will kindle it to a flame. It will burn brighter and brighter, until it “glows like that of the pure spirits above.”

8. People are greatly prone to ascribe all religion to the devil, Matthew 12:24. Anything that is unusual, anything that confounds them, anything that troubles their consciences, they ascribe to fanaticism, overheated zeal, and Satan. It has always been so. It is sometimes an easy way to stifle their own convictions, and to bring religion into contempt. “Somehow or other,” like the Pharisees, infidels must account for revivals of religion, for striking instances of conversion, and for the great and undeniable effects which the gospel produces. How easy to say that it is “delusions,” and that it is the work of the devil! How easy to show at once the terrible opposition of their own hearts to God, and to boast themselves in their own wisdom, in having found a cause so simple for all the effects which religion produces in the world! How much pains, also, men will take to secure their own perdition, rather than to admit it to be possible that Christianity is true!

9. We see the danger of blasphemy - the danger of trifling with the influences of the Holy Spirit, Matthew 12:31-32. Even if we do not commit the unpardonable sin, yet we see that all trifling with the Holy Spirit is a sin very near to God, and attended with infinite danger. He that “laughs away” the thoughts of death and eternity; he that seeks the society of the frivolous and trifling, or of the sensual and profane, for the express purpose of driving away these thoughts; and he that struggles directly against his convictions, and is resolved that he will not submit to God, may be, for aught he knows, making his damnation sure. Why should God “ever” return when a man has “once” rejected the gospel? Who would be to blame if the sinner is then lost? Assuredly not God. None but himself. Children sometimes do this. Then is the time, the very time, when they should begin to love God and Jesus Christ. Then the Spirit also strives. Many “have then” given their hearts to him and become Christians. Many more might have done so, if they had not grieved away the Spirit of God.

10. We see the danger of rejecting Christ, Matthew 12:38-42. All past ages, all the wicked and the good, the foolish and the wise, will rise up in the day of judgment, and condemn us, if we do not believe the gospel. No people, heretofore, have seen so much light as we do in this age. And no people can be so awfully condemned as those who, in a land of light, of Sundays and Sunday schools, reject Christ and go to hell. Among the 120,000 children of Nineveh Jonah 4:11 there was not one single Sunday school. There was no one to tell them of God and the Saviour. They have died and gone to judgment. Children now living will die also, and go to meet them in the day of judgment. How will they condemn the children of this age, if they do not love the Lord Jesus Christ!

11. Sinners, when awakened, if they grieve away the Spirit of God, become worse than before, Matthew 12:43-45. They are never as they were before. Their hearts are harder, their consciences are more seared, they have a more bitter hatred of religious people, and they plunge deeper and deeper into sin. Seven devils often dwell where one did, and God gives the man over to blindness of mind and hardness of heart. This shows, also, the great guilt and danger of grieving the Holy Spirit.

12. We see the love of Christ for his followers, Matthew 12:46-50. Much as he loved his mother, yet he loved his disciples more. He still loves them. He will always love them. His heart is full of affection for them. And though poor, and despised, and unknown to the rich and mighty, yet to Jesus they are dearer than mother, and sisters, and brothers.


 
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