Matthew - 10:12



12 As you enter into the household, greet it.

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Matthew 10:12.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
And when ye come into an house, salute it.
And when you come into the house, salute it, saying: Peace be to this house.
And coming to the house salute it,
And when you go in, say, May peace be on this house.
Then, when you enter into the house, greet it, saying, 'Peace to this house.'
As you enter the house, greet it.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

Salute it. As they could not distinguish the devout worshippers of God from despisers, he enjoins them to address in a friendly manner any family which they may have occasion to meet. The act of saluting is a kind of opening to a conversation. They had already been warned to look out for persons to entertain them, whose religious zeal was generally known and believed. But as it sometimes happens that persons of lofty reputation, when they are brought to a serious trial, discover their impiety, it was proper that this rule should be expressly laid down. The meaning therefore is: "Make trial, when you first enter, whether your entertainers will cheerfully submit to hear you. Whoever shall willingly embrace your doctrine, remain in their house, that your salutation may be confirmed. If any shall reject, depart from them immediately, and, so far as lies in your power, withdraw your salutation."

And when ye come into a house, salute it - The word "house" here evidently means "family," as it does in the following verse.
See also Matthew 12:25, and John 4:53; "And himself believed and his whole house." The apostles were directed to salute the family - to show them the customary tokens of respect, and to treat them with civility. Religion never requires or permits its friends to outrage the common rules of social contact. It demands of them to exhibit to all the customary and proper tokens of respect, according to their age and station, 1-Peter 2:12-25; 1-Peter 3:8-11; Philippians 4:8. For the mode of salutation, see the notes at Luke 10:4-5.

Salute it - Λεγουτες, ειρηνη εν τω οικω τουτω, saying, "Peace be to this house." This clause, which, as explanatory of the word ασπασασθε, is necessary to the connection in which it now stands, is added, by the MSS. D and L, and forty-three others, the Armenian, Ethiopic, Slavonic, Saxon, Vulgate, all the copies of the old Itala, Theophylact, and Hilary. The clause is also found in several modern versions. The modern Greek has λεγοντες· ειρηνη εις το σκηπρι τουτο. The Italian, by Matthew, of Erberg, and of Diodati, renders it thus: Pace sia a questa casa. Peace be to this house.
It is found also in Wickliff, and in my old MS. Seyinge, pees be to this hous. Some suppose it is an addition taken from Luke; but there is nearly as much reason to believe he took it from Matthew.
Peace, שלום, among the Hebrews, had a very extensive meaning: - it comprehended all blessings, spiritual and temporal. Hence that saying of the rabbins, גדול שלום שכל הברכות כלולות בו Gadal shalom, shecol haberacoth culoloth bo. Great is Peace, for all other blessings are comprehended in it. To wish peace to a family, in the name and by the authority of Christ, was in effect a positive promise, on the Lord's side, of all the good implied in the wish. This was paying largely even beforehand. Whoever receives the messengers of God into his house confers the highest honor upon himself, and not upon the preacher, whose honor is from God, and who comes with the blessings of life eternal to that man and his family who receives him.
In India, it is customary for a way-faring man, when night draws on, to enter a house, and simply say, "Sir, I am a guest with you this night." If the owner cannot lodge him, he makes an apology, and the traveler proceeds to another house.

And when ye come into an house,.... Or the "house"; that is, the house of an hospitable man, when, upon inquiry, found out:
salute it; meaning the inhabitants of it; or, as the Persic version reads, those of the household, especially the master of the family. Some copies add, saying, peace be to this house, as in Luke 10:5 and so read the Vulgate Latin, and Munster's Hebrew Gospel; and is a very just, and proper explanation of saluting: for the usual form of salutation among the Jews was in such words; of which See Gill on Matthew 5:47 by which is meant all kind of happiness, and prosperity, temporal, spiritual, and eternal.

And when ye come into an house--or "the house," but it means not the worthy house, but the house ye first enter, to try if it be worthy.
salute it--show it the usual civilities.

When you come into an house, salute it. Courteously salute the household.

Salute it - In the usual Jewish form, "Peace (that is, all blessings) be to this house."

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