Matthew 15


Matthew 15 is the fifteenth chapter in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament section of the Christian Bible. It concludes the narrative about Jesus' ministry in Galilee and can be divided into the following subsections:
The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 39 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:
Most of the events recorded in this chapter took place in Galilee. Verse 1 refers to scribes and Pharisees who have come from Jerusalem. The word order is "scribes and Pharisees" in the Textus Receptus, but "Pharisees and scribes" in Westcott and Hort's critical edition. Theologian Johann Bengel makes the point that these events could not therefore have taken place at the time of the Passover.
Verses 21 to 28 refer to an excursion to the region of Tyre and Sidon, after which Jesus returned to Galilee and 'skirted' or walked beside the Sea of Galilee to a mountain on the lake's eastern shore. Harold H. Buls notes that "at this point in the life of Jesus", he is "less than a year from his suffering and death".
At the close of the chapter, Jesus "got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala" or Magadan. According to E. H. Plumptre in Anglican bishop Charles Ellicott's Commentary, "the better give the reading Magadan. The King James Version translates this text as "the coasts of Magdala". Heinrich Ewald thinks the reference may be to Megiddo, but Heinrich Meyer criticises this opinion because Megiddo is "too far inland". The parallel passage in the Gospel of Mark gives a quite different place name, Dalmanutha, although a handful of manuscripts give either Magdala or Magadan, possibly through assimilation with the Matthean text.

Verse 16

Meyer suggests that the word "Jesus" in this verse is probably an addition.