Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
But I say unto you (egw de legw umin). Jesus thus assumes a tone of superiority over the Mosaic regulations and proves it in each of the six examples. He goes further than the Law into the very heart. "
Raca" (Raka) and "
Thou fool" (Mwre). The first is probably an Aramaic word meaning "Empty," a frequent word for contempt. The second word is Greek (dull, stupid) and is a fair equivalent of "raca." It is urged by some that mwre is a Hebrew word, but Field (Otium Norvicense) objects to that idea. "Raca expresses contempt for a man's head=you stupid! M"re expresses contempt for his heart and character=you scoundrel" (Bruce). "
The hell of fire" (thn geennan tou purov), "the Gehenna of fire," the genitive case (tou purov) as the genus case describing Gehenna as marked by fire. Gehenna is the Valley of Hinnom where the fire burned continually. Here idolatrous Jews once offered their children to Molech (2 Kings 23:10). Jesus finds one cause of murder to be abusive language. Gehenna "should be carefully distinguished from Hades (aidhv) which is never used for the place of punishment, but for the place of departed spirits, without reference to their moral condition" (Vincent). The place of torment is in Hades (Luke 16:23), but so is heaven.
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
Matthew 10:28
Matthew 23:17
Matthew 26:66
Mark 6:2
Luke 12:5
John 11:47
Acts 2:27
James 2:11
James 3:6
2 Peter 3:16
Jude 1:7
Revelation 19:20
Revelation 20:15
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