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MATTHEW 10:14 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Matt 10:13Matt 10:15
“And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.”
And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. The dust-shaking is a gesture of prophetic judgment and personal disassociation: the Jewish practice of shaking off Gentile dust when leaving Gentile territory is here applied to the towns and households of Israel that reject the kingdom's messengers. Acts 13:51 records Paul and Barnabas shaking dust from their feet in Pisidian Antioch after the Jewish leadership rejected their message. The gesture is not contempt but judgment — the messengers have done their part; the rejection is the town's or household's responsibility.

Church Fathers on Matthew 10:14

The Lord had said above, 'The workman is worthy of his meat;' that they should not hence suppose that He would open all doors to them, He here commands them to use much circumspection in the choice of a host, saying, 'Into what city or town ye enter, enquire who in it is worthy.'

Chrysostom · 4th century

The Apostles, on entering a strange town, could not know of each inhabitant what sort of man he was; they were to choose their host therefore by the report of the people, and opinion of the neighbours, that the worthiness of the preacher might not be disgraced by the ill character of his entertainer.

Jerome · 4th century

The Apostles are not to choose carelessly the house into which they enter, that they may have no cause for changing their lodging; the same caution is not enforced upon the entertainer, lest in choosing his guests, his hospitality should be diminished.

Ambrose · 4th century · Ambros., in Luc., 9. 5
Read all 19 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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Matthew 10:14 — Community Reflections | HolyStudy