A PHYLACTERY — the small leather case holding Torah texts, bound on the arm and forehead in obedience to Deuteronomy 6:8, 'bind them as a sign on your hand.' The Hebrew name is TEFILLIN. ⚠ The Greek word means an AMULET, a protective charm — which is either Matthew's wry choice of term or simply what Greek-speakers called them, and either way it is what English has inherited untranslated. The complaint at Matthew 23:5 is not that they are worn: it is platynousi, they WIDEN them, alongside megalynousi of the tassels — they make them big, so as 'to be seen.' Note that this is the only place the word appears in the New Testament, and that nothing in the Gospels says whether Jesus wore them, though 9:20 and 14:36 show he wore the tassels. → first discussed at Matt 23:5