Matthew 12:46 is the 46th verse in the twelfth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. Content In the original Greek according to Westcott-Hort, this verse is: Ἔτι δὲ αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος τοῖς ὄχλοις, ἰδού, ἡ μήτηρ καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτοῦ εἱστήκεισαν ἔξω, ζητοῦντες αὐτῷ λαλῆσαι. In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads: While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. The New International Version translates the passage as: While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Analysis There has been much debate throughout the history of the church as to who the brothers of Jesus were and if they were child of Mary. However, the ancient churches (Catholic and Orthodox) maintain that Mary remained a virgin after giving birth to Jesus and that the word brothers (Greek: ἀδελφοὶ) is used here to refer to cousins of Jesus. The principal work on this subject is St. Jerome's, "Against Helvidius". The motive for the visit of the brothers appears in Mark and John's Gospel, "that they might take Him with them, and bring Him to Nazareth. For they said that He was beside Himself" (Mark 3:21). "For neither did His brothers believe in Him" (John 7:5). Commentary from the Church Fathers Hilary of Poitiers: "Because He had spoken all the aforesaid things in the power of His Father’s majesty, therefore the Evangelist proceeds to tell what answer He made to one that told Him that His mother and His brethren waited for Him without; While he yet spake unto the people, his mother and his brethren stood without desiring to see him." Augustine: " We are to understand without doubt that this happened close upon the foregoing; for he begins to tell it with the words, And while he yet spake. What can that yet mean but that it was at the very time He spake the foregoing things? Mark also follows up that which He had said concerning blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, by saying, And there came his mother and his brethren. (Mark 3:31) Luke has not observed the order of action here, but has placed this earlier as he happened to recollect it." Jerome: " From this is taken one of Helvidius’s propositions, on the ground that mention is