Is persecution a blessing?

I am sure that you will love this alternative translation I found in a book. I am giving the basis for the translation from Strong’s Concordance. I like it.

Matthew 5:10 reads as follows:-

Blessed <G3107> are <G9999> they which are persecuted <G1377> for <G1752> righteousness' <G1343> sake <G1752>: for <G3754> theirs <G0846> is <G2076> the <G3588> kingdom <G0932> of heaven <G3772>.

The word persecute translates the Greek word dioko which means to chase or pursue and so could imply persecution. See the extract from Strong’s dictionary below:-

G 1377 dioko -- pronounced: dee-o'-ko

a prolonged (and causative) form of a primary verb dio (to flee; compare the base of 1169 and 1249); to pursue (literally or figuratively); by implication, to persecute: KJV -- ensue, follow (after), given to, (suffer) persecute(-ion), press forward.

But of we translate as chase or pursue we get this interesting alternative.

Blessed are those who pursue righteousness for theirs Is the kingdom of heaven.

In fact if we translate righteousness by the alternative justification (see extract from Strong’s below) we get blessed are they who pursue justification or salvation.

Then how do we explain verse 11? He suggests that the third person is used throughout the beatitudes but in verse 11 it is the second person used indicating that this is a later addition, either by Matthew or someone else. The Beattitudes logically and strucuturally ends with verse 10.

An interesting theory which makes a lot of sense.

The multitudes that followed Jesus - what does it mean?

I got the following from Understanding the Difficult words of Jesus by David Bivin and Roy Blizzard.

Robert L Lindsey writes that when he tried to translate the Gospel of Mark from Greek to Hebrew he found that the syntax of the Greek and the word relationships were as would be found in Hebrew, which could indicate that it was originally translated from Hebrew. (Could it be just a Hebrew writing in Greek - my comment).

Multitudes translates the Greek word "ochloi". Lindsey mentioned in class when teaching on day that 'ochloi' is an odd word since multitude did not fit most of the contexts. An Israeli girl in the class said that the Rabbi's used the word 'ochlosim' to mean the people living in a locality.

So when reading the gospels if you change the work multitude into the 'the people living in the locality' it may make more sense.