Nor bag for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet a staff: for the workman is worthy of his food.
All Commentaries on Matthew 10:10 Go To Matthew 10
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Nor two coats, nor shoes; i.e. provide not yourselves with another coat for a reserve, but go like poor people, who have but just what is necessary. They were not to wear shoes, but they were allowed sandals, or soles with tops tied to their feet. (Mark vi. 9.)
Nor a staff. So Luke, Chap. ix. ver. 3: yet St. Mark says, but a staff only. To reconcile these expressions, some distinguish betwixt a staff necessary to walk with (which even the poorest people had) and another staff for their defence, which at least they were not to seek for. And the meaning of these admonitions is that they were to go on their mission, not regarding whether they had a staff or not, unless it were necessary for them to walk with. (Witham)
In many Greek manuscripts we read staffs in the plural, so that Jesus Christ orders them not to take any other than the one in their hand.
