Matthew 11:5
Good news preached to the poor
- The gospel’s word εὐαγγελίζομαι euangelizomai · to speak good news
Original
Translations
The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.
The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
blind receive sight, and lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and deaf hear, dead are raised, and poor have good news proclaimed,
소경이 보며 앉은뱅이가 걸으며 문둥이가 깨끗함을 받으며 귀머거리가 들으며 죽은 자가 살아나며 가난한 자에게 복음이 전파된다 하라
곧 눈먼 자들이 시력을 받으며 다리 저는 자들이 걸으며 나병 환자들이 정결하게 되며 귀먹은 자들이 들으며 죽은 자들이 일으켜지며 가난한 자들에게 복음이 선포된다, 하라.
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on Matt 11:2-6 as a whole
Some think that John sent this inquiry for his own satisfaction. Where there is true faith, yet there may be a mixture of unbelief. The remaining unbelief of good men may sometimes, in an hour of temptation; call in question the most important truths. …
Read the whole commentary →Church Fathers Matt 11:5
Jerome: This last is no less than the first. And understand it as if it had been said, Even "the poor;" that so between noble and mean, rich and poor, there may be no difference in preaching. …
Read the whole commentary →Wesley Matt 11:5
The poor have the Gospel preached to them - The greatest mercy of all. Isaiah 29:18; 35:5.
Read the whole commentary →
Note
From prison John the Baptist sends his disciples with a question: "Are You the One who was to come, or should we look for someone else?" (Matthew 11:3). Jesus does not answer yes. He tells them to report what they hear and see, and the last thing on the list is good news.
The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.
Matthew 11:5John was in Herod's prison (Matthew 14:3) when he heard about the works of the One he had pointed out at the Jordan. The answer Jesus sends back is woven from Isaiah's promises: the blind, the deaf and the lame from Isaiah 35:5–6, the dead who rise from Isaiah 26:19, good news for the poor from Isaiah 61:1. The list does not end with the dead being raised, where one might expect the climax; it ends with the poor. Then comes the word that tests every hearer: "Blessed is the one who does not fall away on account of Me" (Matthew 11:6).
Here Matthew uses the verb, not the noun: , in the present passive, third person plural (euangelizontai), with "the poor" (ptōchoi) as its subject. Word for word the clause says ‘the poor are given good news’. The poor stand in the subject's place as the ones who receive it. Every verb in the list is present: these things are happening while John's messengers watch. The same verb is the Greek translators' word for the Hebrew in Isaiah 61:1. In Hebrew that verb could carry any news: the messenger who told Eli of Israel's rout and his sons' death (1 Samuel 4:17) is named by its participle, the bearer of news. In Isaiah it is the joyful message of the one the Lord has anointed. Matthew uses this verb nowhere else.
The English versions part ways over that passive. The KJV keeps the Greek order, "the poor have the gospel preached to them," and so does the LSV, "poor have good news proclaimed"; the BSB turns the clause around, "the good news is preached to the poor," as Isaiah's own sentence runs. The KJV's Isaiah, following the Hebrew, sends "good tidings unto the meek"; the Greek Isaiah that Jesus' words echo has "the poor," and the BSB writes "the poor" in both places. "The meek," "the poor" and "the humble" are all faces of the one Hebrew word ('anavim): people brought low, with nothing to lean on but God.
John Wesley writes over this last item, "The greatest mercy of all" Wesley. In the Catena, Jerome says, "This last is no less than the first," and draws out the point: "between noble and mean, rich and poor, there may be no difference in preaching" Jerome. Chrysostom explains why Jesus answered with works rather than a claim: "the testimony of deeds is stronger than the testimony of words" Chrysostom. Why John asked has been read in more than one way. Matthew Henry gives both views, that he asked for his own sake and that he asked for his disciples' Matthew Henry; Hilary and Chrysostom hold that he asked for his disciples.
At the end of the signs by which the Messiah is known stands this: the poor hear good news. The people who have least are the ones named as its hearers, and that is this verse's word to its readers now.