HEBREW GOSPEL OF MATTHEW - CHAPTER 31

Note on Textual Divisions & Concordance Markers The section titles (פרק ראשון, פרק שני, etc.) follow the authentic internal layout of Shem-Tob's Hebrew text, which organizes the Gospel of Matthew into 116 structural pericopes. The traditional 28-chapter and verse divisions ([MT X:X–X]) did not exist in ancient manuscripts; they were devised centuries later by Western scholars (Stephen Langton in 1205 and Robert Estienne in 1551) to build Latin concordances. The standard chapter/verse citations are included in brackets solely as a concordance reference for readers navigating standard printed Bibles.

CHAPTER 8 — Section 031 [MT 8:1–4]

HEBREW TEXT & LITERAL TRANSLATION

#	Shem-Tob Hebrew Text	Literal Translation
1	וַיְהִי כַּאֲשֶׁר יָרַד מִן הָהָר הָלְכוּ אַחֲרָיו חֲבוּרוֹת רַבּוֹת׃	And it came to pass when he descended from the mountain, numerous companies walked after him.
2	וְהִנֵּה מְצוֹרָע אֶחָד בָּא וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲוֶה לוֹ לֵאמֹר אֲדֹנִי אִם תּוּכַל לִרְפֹּאת אֵלַי׃	And behold, a solitary leper came and prostrated to him, saying: "My lord, if you are able, extend healing unto me."
3	וַיִּפְשֹׁט יֵשׁוּ יָדוֹ וַיִּגַּע בּוֹ וַיֹּאמֶר אֶרְצֶה הִטָּהֵר וּבְאוֹתָהּ שָׁעָה נִטְהַר מִצָּרַעְתּוֹ׃	And Yeshu stretched forth his hand and touched him, saying: "I will; be cleansed!" And in that very hour, he was cleansed from his leprosy.
4	וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ יֵשׁוּעַ הִשָּׁמֶר לְךָ פֶּן תַּגִּיד לְאָדָם וְלֵךְ לַכֹּהֵן לְהַקְרִיב קָרְבָּנֶיךָ כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה מֹשֶׁה בְּתוֹרַתְכֶם׃	And Yeshu'a said to him: "Guard yourself lest you tell unto mortal man, but go to Ha-Kohen to present your offerings, according as Moses commanded in that law of yours."

Consonantal & Palaeographic Notes

• The Divine Protection of the Quarantine (Ve-Hisgir vs. Seter Panekha): Under the mechanical code of the institutional elite, the leper's seclusion in Leviticus 13 is treated as an engine of clerical rejection and curse (וְהִסְגִּיר הַכֹּהֵן / ve-hisgir ha-kohen). But Psalm 31 unlocks the true inward state of the afflicted one: "Thou hidest them in the secret of Thy presence from the plottings of man; Thou concealest them in a pavilion (sukkah) from the strife of tongues" (Psalm 31:21), and "Thou hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy; Thou hast set my feet in a broad place" (Psalm 31:9). The isolation was not penal abandonment; it was redemptive shielding. God used the mechanical quarantine of the priests to pull this man completely out of range of false light & religious hypocrisy, sheltering him in the crag (ba-sela') until the living Word came down the mount to place his feet in the broad place (merḥav).
• The Kinetic Reality of Metzora Eḥad Ba (Verse 2): The text does not present a passive beggar waiting inside an institutional pen. It records: וְהִנֵּה מְצוֹרָע אֶחָד בָּא (Ve-hinneh metzora eḥad ba). אֶחָד (Eḥad) marks the solitary, isolated one dwelling outside human fellowship, while בָּא (Ba) provides the kinetic verb of threshold crossing. Driven by faith, he breaks the quarantine perimeter, stepping straight out of isolation directly to the Master. Furthermore, לִרְפֹּאת אֵלַי (lirpo'at elai) is constructed with the preposition אֵלַי ("unto me"), emphasizing a personal, direct reaching out of restorative power rather than an abstract medical transaction.
• Palaeographic Name Shift: The Living Hand (Yeshu) vs. The Covenant Deliverer (Yeshu'a): A rigorous audit of the plate reveals an intentional scribal alternation across verses 3 and 4 that standard translations entirely flatten into a generic name. In verse 3, when reaching into the open field to touch the unclean outcast, the parchment writes יֵשׁוּ (Yeshu, Yod-Shin-Vav, without the 'Ayin). But in verse 4, the moment he issues the sovereign judicial decree commanding the offerings and invoking Moses, the scribe executes the full consonantal name: יֵשׁוּעַ (Yeshu'a, Yod-Shin-Vav-'Ayin). The addition of the 'Ayin activates the foundational Semitic root ישע (yasha — deliverance, dynamic salvation, setting into a broad place). The Master touches the untouchable in lowliness as Yeshu, but commands the realignment of the priesthood as Yeshu'a, the living Deliverer.
• The Absolute Absence of "Show Yourself" in Verse 4: Standard Greek recensions and academic English translations routinely interpolate "show yourself" (deixon seauton), misleading readers into thinking the man must crawl back to an institutional temple hierarchy to seek clerical inspection and clinical permission. On the Hebrew parchment, no such command exists. There is no reflexive root like הֵרָאֵה (hera'eh). The text reads plainly: וְלֵךְ לַכֹּהֵן (Ve-lekh la-kohen — "And go to Ha-Kohen").
• The Antithesis: Le-Adam vs. La-Kohen: Yeshu'a establishes a direct boundary: הִשָּׁמֶר לְךָ פֶּן תַּגִּיד לְאָדָם ("Guard yourself lest you tell unto mortal man"). If the command to go to Ha-Kohen were directing him to the earthly, institutional temple bureaucracy in Jerusalem, that bureaucracy consists entirely of mortal men (אָדָם). To forbid him from consulting adam and then dispatch him to a council of earthly clerics would be a direct contradiction. His approach is directed away from mortal men unto הַכֹּהֵן (Ha-Kohen—the Priest of the true, unmanufactured sanctuary).
• The Action of Priestly Consecration (Le-haqriv Qorbanecha): The verb is לְהַקְרִיב (le-haqriv — Hif'il infinitive construct), meaning "to cause to draw near / to present an offering," joined to the plural noun with possessive suffix קָרְבָּנֶיךָ (qorbanecha — "your offerings"). In the Torah, the cleansing of the leper in Leviticus 14 is structurally identical to the ordination of Aaron and his sons in Leviticus 8: blood and oil placed upon the right ear, right thumb, right toe, and head. The healed outcast does not go as an inferior subject seeking clearance; he approaches with his completed offerings as an ordained, consecrated worshiper.
• The Judicial Severance of Be-Toratchem: The sentence closes with כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה מֹשֶׁה בְּתוֹרַתְכֶם ("according as Moses commanded in that law of yours"). Yeshu'a does not say be-torati ("in my law") or be-toratenu ("in our law"). He refers back to the written code held by the religious factions (חֲבוּרוֹת רַבּוֹת) following down the mount in verse 1. He leaves the institutional system holding their own legal book, compelling their own statutes to testify to a divine cleansing executed wholly outside their manufactured courts.