Matthew Chapter 8 verse 21 Holy Bible
And another of the disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
read chapter 8 in ASV
And another of the disciples said to him, Lord, let me first go and give the last honours to my father.
read chapter 8 in BBE
But another of his disciples said to him, Lord, suffer me first to go away and bury my father.
read chapter 8 in DARBY
And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
read chapter 8 in KJV
read chapter 8 in WBT
Another of his disciples said to him, "Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father."
read chapter 8 in WEB
And another of his disciples said to him, `Sir, permit me first to depart and to bury my father;'
read chapter 8 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 21. - And another of his (Revised Version, the) disciples said unto him. Disciples in the wider sense (Matthew 5:1, note),whether the twelve had or had not been chosen. In the latter case, the man may have been Thomas (Trench, loc. cit.), but hardly Philip (Clem. Alex.) after John 1:43. Yet it is precarious to see in him the despondency of Thomas (John 11:6; John 20:24, 25) merely because his father is dead, and he has scruples about immediately following Christ. Lord, suffer me first. The man's words imply a consciousness of a call. His heart told him that he ought to go, but he asks for a delay, and, in fact, a real difficulty seems to hinder him from going. St. Luke places the Lord's "Follow me" before the man's request; but here, as in textual criticism, proclivi scriptioni praestat ardua. To go and bury my father. Then lying dead. Of all filial duties perhaps the most bind-ins (cf. Tobit 4:3 Tobit 14:10, 11). Observe (1) that the burial would take place much sooner than is usual with us, and would seldom be more than twenty-four hours after death; (2) that, however, according to Jewish law, the ceremonial observances connected with the burial and consequent purifications would have taken many days (Edersheim, 'Life,' 2:133).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(21) Suffer me first to go and bury my father.--A curious tradition, preserved by Clement of Alexandria, says that the disciple who came with this request was Philip. Nothing in the Gospel history, however, suggests this. Philip had been called before, and had obeyed the call (John 1:43). All that we can say is that it may have been so, and that he may at this stage of his spiritual growth have shrunk from the fresh activity of actual service in the work of evangelising. The form of the petition may mean either (1) that his father was then actually dead, and that the disciple asked leave to remain and pay the last honours to his remains, or (2) that he asked to remain with his father till his death. The latter seems by far the most probable. In the East burial followed so immediately on death that the former would hardly have involved more than the delay of a few hours. In the latter case the request was, in fact, a plea for indefinite postponement. This at least fits in best with the apparent severity of our Lord's answer.
