only because of the new state of affairs the proclamation of the kingdom initiates (Mt 4:17, 23), the insistence that Jesus has come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets (5:17). 3 Two words and their cognates stand behind “blessed” and “blessing” in the NT. The word used in vv. 3–11 is makarios, which usually corresponds in the LXX to ʾašrê, a Hebrew term used almost as an interjection: “Oh the blessednesses [pl.] of.” Usually makarios describes the man who is singularly favored by God and therefore