Matthew 03:09 linguistic word play in Hebrew

In Matthew 03:09, the Hebrew word for “Stones,” eben (אבן) is a pun for “Children,” ben (בן). The word play in this verse is similar to the word play in Genesis 17:5 where a single letter is added to Abram’s name, “Neither shall your name any more be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for the father of a multitude of nations have I made you." The Shem Tob Hebrew version of Matthew contains the Hebrew spellings that I indicated for Matthew 03:09. More linguistic information is available from the notes in The Comprehensive New Testament.

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