King James Version
Matthew 23
39 verses with commentary
Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees
Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples</strong>—the Greek verb <em>elalēsen</em> (ἐλάλησεν) indicates a formal, authoritative discourse. This transitional verse introduces Jesus's most searing public denunciation of religious hypocrisy, delivered not privately but before <em>ochlos</em> (ὄχλος, the crowds) and <em>mathētais</em> (μαθηταῖς, disciples). The dual audience is ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
**XXIII.**
(1) **To the multitude.**—Now, as in Matthew 15:10, but here more fully and emphatically, our Lord not only reproves the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, but warns the multitude against them. He appeals, as it were, to the unperverted conscience of the people, as against the perversions of their guides. In some points, as, *e.g.,* in Matthew 23:16-21, it presents a striking parallel to the S...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 23
Chapter Outline
Jesus reproves the scribes and Pharisees.(1-12)
Crimes of the Pharisees.(13-33)
The guilt of Jerusalem.(34-39)
**Verses 1-12**
The scribes and Pharisees explained the law of Moses, and enforced obedience to it. They are charged with hypocrisy in religion. We can only judge according to outward appearance; but God searches the heart. They made phylac...
Read full commentary →Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat</strong>—the phrase <em>epi tēs Mōuseōs kathedras ekathisan</em> (ἐπὶ τῆς Μωϋσέως καθέδρας ἐκάθισαν) literally means they have seated themselves on Moses's chair. The <em>kathedra</em> (καθέδρα, chair/seat of authority) refers to the teaching office of interpreting Torah. Archaeological evidence confirms actual stone seats in synagogues wher...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.**—The words were probably spoken of their collective action as represented in the Sanhedrin, rather than of their individual work as interpreters of the Law. As such, they claimed to be the authoritative exponents of the Law, and our Lord recognises (unless we suppose a latent protest in His words, like that which is veiled in the “full well ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 23
Chapter Outline
Jesus reproves the scribes and Pharisees.(1-12)
Crimes of the Pharisees.(13-33)
The guilt of Jerusalem.(34-39)
**Verses 1-12**
The scribes and Pharisees explained the law of Moses, and enforced obedience to it. They are charged with hypocrisy in religion. We can only judge according to outward appearance; but God searches the heart. They made phylac...
Read full commentary →All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not</strong>—Jesus commands obedience to Torah teaching (<em>tēreite kai poieite</em>, τηρεῖτε καὶ ποιεῖτε, keep and do) while forbidding imitation of hypocritical conduct. The stark contrast <em>legousin kai ou poiousin</em> (λέγουσιν καὶ οὐ ποιοῦσιν, they say and do n...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **All therefore whatsoever . . .**—Followed, as the words are, by repeated protests against special and grave errors in the teaching of the Pharisees, it is obvious that they must be received with an implied limitation. So far as they really sit in Moses’ seat, and set forth his teaching—as, *e.g.,* the scribe had done whose answer has been just recorded—they were to be followed with all obedi...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 23
Chapter Outline
Jesus reproves the scribes and Pharisees.(1-12)
Crimes of the Pharisees.(13-33)
The guilt of Jerusalem.(34-39)
**Verses 1-12**
The scribes and Pharisees explained the law of Moses, and enforced obedience to it. They are charged with hypocrisy in religion. We can only judge according to outward appearance; but God searches the heart. They made phylac...
Read full commentary →For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers</strong>—the verb <em>desmeuousin</em> (δεσμεύουσιν, they bind) describes tying up loads, while <em>phortia barea kai dysbastakta</em> (φορτία βαρέα καὶ δυσβάστακτα, burdens heavy and hard-to-carry) emphasizes crushing weight. This imagery ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **Heavy burdens.**—The thought was involved in our Lord’s call to the “heavy laden,” in the words that spoke of His own “burden” as “light” (Matthew 11:28; Matthew 11:30). Here it finds distinct expression. That it appealed to the witness which men’s hearts were bearing, secretly or openly, we see from St. Peter’s confession in Acts 15:10.
**They themselves will not move . . .**—The rigorous p...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 23
Chapter Outline
Jesus reproves the scribes and Pharisees.(1-12)
Crimes of the Pharisees.(13-33)
The guilt of Jerusalem.(34-39)
**Verses 1-12**
The scribes and Pharisees explained the law of Moses, and enforced obedience to it. They are charged with hypocrisy in religion. We can only judge according to outward appearance; but God searches the heart. They made phylac...
Read full commentary →But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, phylacteries: pieces of parchment containing sentences of the law
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse reveals profound theological truth central to Reformed understanding of Scripture. The passage demonstrates God's sovereignty and grace working through human circumstances. Christ's teaching here challenges contemporary religious assumptions while pointing to deeper spiritual realities.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **To be seen of men.**—As with a clear insight into the root-evil of Pharisaism, and of all kindred forms of the religious life, our Lord fixes, as before in Matthew 6:1-18, on the love of man’s applause as that which vitiated the highest ethical teaching and the most rigorous outward holiness. The fact, which we learn from John 12:42-43, that many “among the chief rulers” were in their hearts...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 23
Chapter Outline
Jesus reproves the scribes and Pharisees.(1-12)
Crimes of the Pharisees.(13-33)
The guilt of Jerusalem.(34-39)
**Verses 1-12**
The scribes and Pharisees explained the law of Moses, and enforced obedience to it. They are charged with hypocrisy in religion. We can only judge according to outward appearance; but God searches the heart. They made phylac...
Read full commentary →And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues</strong>—the verb <em>philousin</em> (φιλοῦσιν, they love) reveals not mere acceptance but craving for honor. <em>Prōtoklisian</em> (πρωτοκλισίαν, first reclining place) at feasts and <em>prōtokathedrias</em> (πρωτοκαθεδρίας, first seats) in synagogues both emphasize <em>prōtos</em> (πρῶτος, first/chief)—the Phar...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **The uppermost rooms.**—Better, *the first places,* the word “room,” which had that meaning at the time when the English version was made, having now become identical with “chamber.” Strictly speaking, they would be the first places, nearest to the host, on the couches or ottomans (as we have learnt to call them from their modern Eastern use) on which the guests reclined, these being assigned...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 23
Chapter Outline
Jesus reproves the scribes and Pharisees.(1-12)
Crimes of the Pharisees.(13-33)
The guilt of Jerusalem.(34-39)
**Verses 1-12**
The scribes and Pharisees explained the law of Moses, and enforced obedience to it. They are charged with hypocrisy in religion. We can only judge according to outward appearance; but God searches the heart. They made phylac...
Read full commentary →And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.</strong> This verse continues Jesus' denunciation of scribal and Pharisaical hypocrisy, exposing their craving for public recognition and honor. The "greetings in the markets" (<em>aspasamous en tais agorais</em>, ἀσπασμοὺς ἐν ταῖς ἀγοραῖς) refers to elaborate, honorific salutations in public spaces where maximum visibili...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **Greetings in the markets.**—The greetings referred to were more than the familiar “Peace with thee,” and involved the language of formal reverence (comp. Note on Luke 10:4) paid to those whom men delighted to honour.
**Rabbi, Rabbi.**—The title, which properly meant a “great” or “chief” one, as in Rab-Mag (“the chief priest,” Jeremiah 39:3), Rabsaris (“the chief eunuch,” 2Kings 18:17), had c...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 23
Chapter Outline
Jesus reproves the scribes and Pharisees.(1-12)
Crimes of the Pharisees.(13-33)
The guilt of Jerusalem.(34-39)
**Verses 1-12**
The scribes and Pharisees explained the law of Moses, and enforced obedience to it. They are charged with hypocrisy in religion. We can only judge according to outward appearance; but God searches the heart. They made phylac...
Read full commentary →But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
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KJV Study Commentary
Reformed theology emphasizes the divine initiative evident in this text. The verse connects to broader biblical themes of covenant, redemption, and God's unchanging character. Understanding this passage requires recognizing both its historical context and its application to Christian life.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **Be not ye** **called Rabbi.**—The teaching of our Lord was not without its foreshadowings in that of the better scribes, and a precept of Shemaiah, the predecessor of Hillel, lays down the rule that “men should love the work, but hate the Rabbi-ship.”
**One is your Master.**—The word, as found in the better MSS., is used in its old sense as “teacher.” He was, as the disciples called Him, *th...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 23
Chapter Outline
Jesus reproves the scribes and Pharisees.(1-12)
Crimes of the Pharisees.(13-33)
The guilt of Jerusalem.(34-39)
**Verses 1-12**
The scribes and Pharisees explained the law of Moses, and enforced obedience to it. They are charged with hypocrisy in religion. We can only judge according to outward appearance; but God searches the heart. They made phylac...
Read full commentary →And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
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KJV Study Commentary
This text illustrates key Reformed principles: sola Scriptura, sola gratia, and sola fide. The passage demonstrates how God's Word speaks authoritatively to human need, revealing both our depravity and God's merciful provision through Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **Call no man your father.**—This also, under its Hebrew form of *Abba,* was one of the titles in which the scribes delighted. In its true use it embodied the thought that the relation of scholars and teachers was filial on the one side, paternal on the other; but precisely because it expressed so noble an idea was its merely conventional use full of danger. The history of the ecclesiastical t...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 23
Chapter Outline
Jesus reproves the scribes and Pharisees.(1-12)
Crimes of the Pharisees.(13-33)
The guilt of Jerusalem.(34-39)
**Verses 1-12**
The scribes and Pharisees explained the law of Moses, and enforced obedience to it. They are charged with hypocrisy in religion. We can only judge according to outward appearance; but God searches the heart. They made phylac...
Read full commentary →Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ</strong>—the term <em>kathēgētai</em> (καθηγηταί, guides/teachers/masters) refers to authoritative instructors who guide students. Jesus prohibits His disciples from accepting this title because only Christ is the true <em>kathēgētēs</em> (καθηγητής, Guide). This verse, like the prohibitions of being called 'rabbi' (verse 8)...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **Neither be ye called masters.**—The word is not the same as in Matthew 23:8, and signifies “guide,” or “leader;” the “director” of conscience rather than the teacher. (Comp. Romans 2:19.)
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 23
Chapter Outline
Jesus reproves the scribes and Pharisees.(1-12)
Crimes of the Pharisees.(13-33)
The guilt of Jerusalem.(34-39)
**Verses 1-12**
The scribes and Pharisees explained the law of Moses, and enforced obedience to it. They are charged with hypocrisy in religion. We can only judge according to outward appearance; but God searches the heart. They made phylac...
Read full commentary →But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant</strong>—the Greek construction <em>ho de meizōn hymōn estai hymōn diakonos</em> (ὁ δὲ μείζων ὑμῶν ἔσται ὑμῶν διάκονος) presents a radical redefinition of greatness. <em>Meizōn</em> (μείζων, greater) and <em>diakonos</em> (διάκονος, servant/minister) appear contradictory—yet Jesus makes servanthood the criterion for kingdom greatness,...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **He that is greatest among you.**—Literally, *the greater of you.* The words admit of a two-fold meaning. Either (1), as in Mark 9:35, they assert a law of retribution—the man who seeks to be greatest shall be the servant of all; or (2) they point out the other law, of which our Lord’s own life was the highest illustration—that he who is really greatest will show his greatness, not in assert...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 23
Chapter Outline
Jesus reproves the scribes and Pharisees.(1-12)
Crimes of the Pharisees.(13-33)
The guilt of Jerusalem.(34-39)
**Verses 1-12**
The scribes and Pharisees explained the law of Moses, and enforced obedience to it. They are charged with hypocrisy in religion. We can only judge according to outward appearance; but God searches the heart. They made phylac...
Read full commentary →And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted</strong>—this perfectly balanced chiasm uses <em>hypsōsei</em> (ὑψώσει, will exalt) and <em>tapeinōthēsetai</em> (ταπεινωθήσεται, will be humbled/abased) in divine passive voice—God does the exalting and abasing. The verbs <em>hypsōn</em> (ὑψῶν, exalting) and <em>tapeinōn</em> (ταπεινῶν, hu...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **Whosoever shall exalt himself.**—The precept seems to have been one which our Lord desired specially to imprint on the hearts of the disciples. It had been spoken at least twice before, as in Luke 14:11; Luke 18:14. The echoes of it in James 4:10, 1Peter 5:6, show that the impression had been made.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 23
Chapter Outline
Jesus reproves the scribes and Pharisees.(1-12)
Crimes of the Pharisees.(13-33)
The guilt of Jerusalem.(34-39)
**Verses 1-12**
The scribes and Pharisees explained the law of Moses, and enforced obedience to it. They are charged with hypocrisy in religion. We can only judge according to outward appearance; but God searches the heart. They made phylac...
Read full commentary →But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men</strong>—the Greek <em>ouai</em> (οὐαί, woe) expresses not anger but profound grief, like a funeral lament. <em>Hypokritai</em> (ὑποκριταί, hypocrites) derives from Greek theater, meaning actors wearing masks—their piety was performance, not reality. The phrase <em>kleiete tēn basileian tō...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **Woe unto you.**—We enter in these verses on the sternest words of condemnation that ever came from our Lord’s lips; but it may be questioned whether our English “Woe unto you” does not exclude too entirely the element of sorrow, as well as indignation, of which the Greek interjection (as in Mark 13:17) is at least capable. *Woe for you* is, perhaps, a better rendering.
**Hypocrites.**—See N...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-33**
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very bu...
Read full commentary →Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse reveals profound theological truth central to Reformed understanding of Scripture. The passage demonstrates God's sovereignty and grace working through human circumstances. Christ's teaching here challenges contemporary religious assumptions while pointing to deeper spiritual realities.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **Ye devour widows’ houses.**—The avarice thus described may have attained its end either (1) by using the advantages which they possessed, as the jurists and notaries of the time, to press unjust claims against wealthy widows, or to become their heirs, or (2) by leading devout women, under the show of piety, to bestow on them their estates or houses. To minister to the maintenance of a scrib...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-33**
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very bu...
Read full commentary →Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
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KJV Study Commentary
This text illustrates key Reformed principles: sola Scriptura, sola gratia, and sola fide. The passage demonstrates how God's Word speaks authoritatively to human need, revealing both our depravity and God's merciful provision through Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **To make one proselyte.**—The zeal of the earlier Pharisees had showed itself in a propagandism which reminds us rather of the spread of the religion of Mahomet than of that of Christ. John Hyrcanus, the last of the Maccabean priest-rulers, had offered the Idumeans the alternative of death, exile, or circumcision (Jos. *Ant. xiii.* 9, § 3). When the government of Rome rendered such measures ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-33**
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very bu...
Read full commentary →Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
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KJV Study Commentary
This text illustrates key Reformed principles: sola Scriptura, sola gratia, and sola fide. The passage demonstrates how God's Word speaks authoritatively to human need, revealing both our depravity and God's merciful provision through Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **Whosoever shall swear by the temple.**—On the general teaching of the Pharisees as to oaths, see Notes on Matthew 5:33-37. It is not easy to trace the currents of thought that run through a corrupt casuistry, but probably the line of reasoning that led to this distinction was that the “gold of the Temple”—not the gold used in its structural ornamentation, but that which in coin or bullion w...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-33**
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very bu...
Read full commentary →Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?</strong>—Jesus uses <em>mōroi kai typhloi</em> (μωροὶ καὶ τυφλοί, fools and blind) to describe moral and spiritual stupidity, not intellectual deficiency. The Pharisees' casuistry about oaths inverted reality: they claimed swearing by Temple gold was binding, but swearing by the Temple itself was...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-33**
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very bu...
Read full commentary →And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. guilty: or, debtor, or, bound
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty</strong>—the phrase <em>ouden estin</em> (οὐδέν ἐστιν, it is nothing) reflects Pharisaic teaching that such oaths were non-binding, while <em>opheilei</em> (ὀφείλει, he owes/is bound) indicates binding obligation. Jesus exposes a legalistic system designed to permit oath...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-33**
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very bu...
Read full commentary →Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?</strong>—Jesus repeats His accusation <em>mōroi kai typhloi</em> (μωροὶ καὶ τυφλοί, fools and blind), emphasizing their culpable ignorance. The rhetorical question parallels verse 17's structure: the altar (<em>thysiastērion</em>, θυσιαστήριον) sanctifies the gift (<em>dōron</em>, δῶρον), not the ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-33**
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very bu...
Read full commentary →Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon .
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon</strong>—the particle <em>oun</em> (οὖν, therefore) introduces Jesus's logical conclusion from verses 18-19. The phrase <em>omnuei en autō kai en pasin tois epanō autou</em> (ὀμνύει ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ, swears by it and by all things upon it) establishes an inseparable unity: altar and off...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-33**
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very bu...
Read full commentary →And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein</strong>—the verb <em>katoikounti</em> (κατοικοῦντι, dwelling) is a present participle describing God's continuous habitation in the Temple. Jesus's argument climaxes: swearing by the Temple invokes <em>God Himself</em>, who dwells there. The phrase <em>en autō kai en tō katoikounti auton</em> (ἐν αὐτῷ κα...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-33**
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very bu...
Read full commentary →And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon .
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon</strong>—Jesus's climactic conclusion: <em>heaven</em> (<em>ouranos</em>, οὐρανός) is <em>God's throne</em> (<em>thronos tou theou</em>, θρόνος τοῦ θεοῦ), and swearing by heaven invokes <em>the One sitting on it</em> (<em>kathēmenō epanō autou</em>, καθημένῳ ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ). No oath, however word...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-33**
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very bu...
Read full commentary →Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. anise: Gr. dill
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin</strong> (ἀποδεκατοῦτε τὸ ἡδύοσμον καὶ τὸ ἄνηθον καὶ τὸ κύμινον)—the Pharisees meticulously tithed garden herbs not even required by Mosaic law (Leviticus 27:30 specified grain, wine, oil). This extreme scrupulosity revealed their zeal for externals while <strong>omitted the weightier matters</strong> (ἀφήκατε τὰ βαρύτερα)—they abandoned <em>krisis...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(23) **Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin.**—The language of Deuteronomy 12:17 seems to recognise only corn, wine, and oil, among the produce of the earth, as subject to the law of tithes. The Pharisee, in his minute scrupulosity (based, it may be, on the more general language of Leviticus 27:30), made a point of gathering the tenth sprig of every garden herb, and presenting it to the pries...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-33**
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very bu...
Read full commentary →Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
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KJV Study Commentary
This text illustrates key Reformed principles: sola Scriptura, sola gratia, and sola fide. The passage demonstrates how God's Word speaks authoritatively to human need, revealing both our depravity and God's merciful provision through Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(24) **Strain at a gnat.**—Better, as in Tyndale’s and other earlier versions, *strain out.* It is sometimes said that the present rendering of the Authorised version is but the perpetuation of a printer’s blunder; but of this there is scarcely sufficient evidence, nor is it probable in itself. In the Greek both nouns have the emphasis of the article, “*the* gnat—*the* camel.” The scrupulous care ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-33**
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very bu...
Read full commentary →Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
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KJV Study Commentary
This text illustrates key Reformed principles: sola Scriptura, sola gratia, and sola fide. The passage demonstrates how God's Word speaks authoritatively to human need, revealing both our depravity and God's merciful provision through Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(25) **The outside of the cup and of the platter.**—The latter word in the Greek indicates what we should call a “side-dish,” as distinct from the “charger” of Matthew 14:11. The “outside” includes the inner surface. (Comp., as regards the practice, Mark 7:4.)
**Are full of extortion and excess.**—The two words point (1) to the source from which the viands and the wine came—the cup and the platter...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-33**
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very bu...
Read full commentary →Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Cleanse first that which is within the cup</strong> (καθάρισον πρῶτον τὸ ἐντὸς τοῦ ποτηρίου)—Jesus shifts from metaphor (v. 25) to direct command. The word "first" (πρῶτον) establishes priority: internal transformation precedes external conformity. <em>Katharison</em> (cleanse) implies removing defilement, requiring repentance from <em>harpagē</em> (robbery, extortion) and <em>akrasia</em>...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(26) **That** **the outside of them may be clean also.**—The implied premise is that “uncleanness” in its ethical sense was altogether distinct from the outward uncleanness with which the Pharisees identified it. If the contents of the cup were pure in their source and in their use, they made the outside “clean,” irrespective of any process of surface purification.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-33**
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very bu...
Read full commentary →Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward</strong> (τάφοις κεκονιαμένοις οἵτινες ἔξωθεν μὲν φαίνονται ὡραῖοι)—Jews whitewashed tombs with lime before Passover so pilgrims wouldn't accidentally touch them and become ceremonially unclean (Numbers 19:16). The whitewashing made them conspicuous and attractive, but within remained <strong>dead men's bones and all uncleanness</str...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(27) **Ye are like unto whited sepulchres.**—Contact with a sepulchre brought with it ceremonial uncleanness, and all burial-places were accordingly white-washed once a year, on the 15th day of the month Adar—*i.e.,* about the beginning of March—that passers-by might be warned by them, as they were of the approach of a leper by his cry, “Unclean, unclean!” (Leviticus 13:45). The word translated “w...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 23 Mt 23:1-39. Denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees--Lamentation over Jerusalem, and Farewell to the Temple. ( = Mr 12:38-40; Lu 20:45-47).
For this long and terrible discourse we are indebted, with the exception of a few verses in Mark and Luke, to Matthew alone. But as it is only an extended repetition of denunciations uttered not long before at the table of a Pharisee, and record...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-33**
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very bu...
Read full commentary →Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Outwardly appear righteous unto men</strong> (ἔξωθεν μὲν φαίνεσθε δικαίοις τοῖς ἀνθρώποις)—<em>phainesthē</em> means "to appear" or "seem," implying the appearance doesn't match reality. <em>Dikaiois</em> (righteous) would normally be praiseworthy, but here it's mere façade. The Pharisees cultivated reputation for righteousness through conspicuous piety—long prayers (23:14), elaborate phyl...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(28) **Even so ye also** **. . .**—A like image meets us in the words in which one of the Maccabean princes, Alexander Jannæus, warned his wife on his death-bed to beware of “men who were *painted* Pharisees, expecting the reward of Phinehas, while their works were the works of Zimri.”
**Iniquity.**—Better, *lawlessness*—a reckless disregard of the very Law of which they professed to be the interp...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit--**The Jewish teachers stood to read, but sat to expound the Scriptures, as will be seen by comparing Lu 4:16 with Lu 4:20.
**in Moses' seat--**that is, as interpreters of the law given by Moses.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-33**
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very bu...
Read full commentary →Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous</strong> (οἰκοδομεῖτε τοὺς τάφους τῶν προφητῶν καὶ κοσμεῖτε τὰ μνημεῖα τῶν δικαίων)—<em>kosmeite</em> means "to adorn, decorate, beautify." The Pharisees constructed elaborate monuments honoring martyred prophets—likely including Isaiah (tradition says sawn in two, Hebrews 11:37), Jeremiah (stoned in Egypt, tra...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(29) **Ye build the tombs . . .**—Four conspicuous monuments of this kind are seen to the present day at the base of the Mount of Olives, in the so-called Valley of Jehoshaphat, the architecture of which, with its mixture of debased Doric and Egyptian, leads archæologists to assign them to the period of the Herodian dynasty. These may, therefore, well have been the very sepulchres of which our Lor...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. All therefore--**that is, all which, as sitting in that seat and teaching out of that law.
**they bid you observe, that observe and do--**The word "therefore" is thus, it will be seen, of great importance, as limiting those injunctions which He would have them obey to what they fetched from the law itself. In requiring implicit obedience to such injunctions, He would have them to recognize ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-33**
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very bu...
Read full commentary →And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets</strong>—the Pharisees' self-assessment reveals dangerous delusion. They imagined themselves morally superior to their prophet-killing ancestors, incapable of such wickedness. <em>Koinōnoi</em> (partakers) means "partners, sharers, participants." They denied they would partici...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(30) **If we had been in the days** **. . .**—There is no necessity for assuming that the Pharisees did not mean what they said. It was simply an instance of the unconscious hypocrisy of which every generation has more or less been guilty, when it has condemned the wrong-doing of the past—its bigotry, or luxury, or greed—and then has yielded to the same sins itself.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them--**"touch them not" (Lu 11:46).
**with one of their fingers--**referring not so much to the irksomeness of the legal rites, though they were irksome enough (Ac 15:10), as to the heartless rigor with which they were enforced, and by men of shameless inconsistency.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-33**
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very bu...
Read full commentary →Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets</strong> (μαρτυρεῖτε ἑαυτοῖς ὅτι υἱοί ἐστε τῶν φονευσάντων τοὺς προφήτας)—Jesus turns their self-defense into self-incrimination. <em>Martyreite</em> (witness) is legal terminology; they've testified against themselves. <em>Huioi</em> (sons/children) means both physical descendants and spiritual hei...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(31) **Ye be witnesses unto yourselves.**—Their words were true in another sense than that in which they had spoken them. They were reproducing in their deeds the very lineaments of those fathers whom they condemned.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. But all their works they do for to be seen of men--**Whatever good they do, or zeal they show, has but one motive--human applause.
**they make broad their phylacteries--**strips of parchment with Scripture-texts on them, worn on the forehead, arm, and side, in time of prayer.
**and enlarge the borders of their garments--**fringes of their upper garments (Nu 15:37-40).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-33**
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very bu...
Read full commentary →Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers</strong> (πληρώσατε τὸ μέτρον τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν)—<em>plērōsate</em> can be imperative ("fill up!") or predictive ("you will fill up"). Both senses apply: Jesus prophetically announces what they will do while their hardened wills make it effectively a command they'll fulfill. <em>Metron</em> (measure) evokes God's appointed limit of sin before judg...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(32) **Fill ye up then** **. . .**—The English fails to give the pathetic abruptness of the original: *And ye*—*fill ye up the measure of your fathers.* The thought implied is that which we find in Genesis 15:16, and of which the history of the world offers but too many illustrations. Each generation, as it passes, adds something to the ever-accumulating mass of evil. At last the penalty falls, as...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. And love the uppermost rooms at feasts--**The word "room" is now obsolete in the sense here intended. It should be "the uppermost place," that is, the place of highest honor.
and the chief seats in the synagogues. See on Lu 14:7, 8.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-33**
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very bu...
Read full commentary →Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse reveals profound theological truth central to Reformed understanding of Scripture. The passage demonstrates God's sovereignty and grace working through human circumstances. Christ's teaching here challenges contemporary religious assumptions while pointing to deeper spiritual realities.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(33) **Ye generation of vipers.**—Better, as in Matthew 3:7, *brood,* or *progeny of vipers.* The word of rebuke which had come before from the lips of the Baptist, comes now, with even more intense keenness, from those of the Christ.
**How can ye escape?**—Better—to maintain the parallelism with the Baptist’s words, which was, we can hardly doubt, designed—*How should ye flee from?*
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi--**It is the spirit rather than the letter of this that must be pressed; though the violation of the letter, springing from spiritual pride, has done incalculable evil in the Church of Christ. The reiteration of the word "Rabbi" shows how it tickled the ear and fed the spiritual pride of those ecclesiastics.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-33**
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very bu...
Read full commentary →Wherefore , behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes</strong> (ἐγὼ ἀποστέλλω πρὸς ὑμᾶς προφήτας καὶ σοφοὺς καὶ γραμματεῖς)—Jesus's "I send" reveals His divine prerogative to commission messengers. <em>Apostello</em> (send) is used of God sending prophets in the OT. He will send New Covenant ministers: apostles/prophets (Ephesians 4:11), wise men (teachers), and scribes (those trained in Scr...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(34) **Behold, I send unto you prophets.**—In the parallel passage of Luke 11:49 these words are introduced by the statement, “Therefore said the wisdom of God,” which has led some to see in them a quotation from some prophetic writing then current (see Note there). The words are, in any case, remarkable as including “scribes” no less than “prophets” among the ministers of the New Covenant. (See N...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**8. But be not ye called Rabbi; for one is your Master--**your Guide, your Teacher.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 34-39**
Our Lord declares the miseries the inhabitants of Jerusalem were about to bring upon themselves, but he does not notice the sufferings he was to undergo. A hen gathering her chickens under her wings, is an apt emblem of the Saviour's tender love to those who trust in him, and his faithful care of them. He calls sinners to take refuge under his tender protection, keeps them saf...
Read full commentary →That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth</strong> (ὅπως ἔλθῃ ἐφ' ὑμᾶς πᾶν αἷμα δίκαιον ἐκχυννόμενον)—<em>hopōs</em> indicates purpose or result. This generation's sin would bring accumulated judgment for all prophetic martyrdoms. <strong>From... Abel unto... Zacharias</strong> spans biblical history from Genesis 4:8 to 2 Chronicles 24:20-22 (last book in Hebrew Bi...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(35) **The blood of Zacharias son of Barachias.**—A very memorable martyrdom is recorded in 2Chronicles 24:20-22, in which a prophet, named Zechariah, was stoned “in the court of the house of the Lord, at the commandment of the king.” That Zacharias was, however, the son of Jehoiada; and the only “Zechariah the son of Barachias” in the Old Testament, is the minor prophet whose writings occupy the ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven, &c.--**To construe these injunctions into a condemnation of every title by which Church rulers may be distinguished from the flock which they rule, is virtually to condemn that rule itself; and accordingly the same persons do both--but against the whole strain of the New Testament and sound Christian j...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 34-39**
Our Lord declares the miseries the inhabitants of Jerusalem were about to bring upon themselves, but he does not notice the sufferings he was to undergo. A hen gathering her chickens under her wings, is an apt emblem of the Saviour's tender love to those who trust in him, and his faithful care of them. He calls sinners to take refuge under his tender protection, keeps them saf...
Read full commentary →Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation</strong> (ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἥξει ταῦτα πάντα ἐπὶ τὴν γενεὰν ταύτην)—<em>amēn</em> (verily) introduces solemn prophetic declaration. <em>Genean tautēn</em> (this generation) clearly refers to Jesus's contemporaries, not a distant future generation. "All these things" references the accumulated judgment of verse 35.<br><br...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(36) **All** **these things shall come upon this generation.**—The words carry on the thought of the measure that is gradually being filled up. Men make the guilt of past ages their own, reproduce its atrocities, identify themselves with it; and so, what seems at first an arbitrary decree, visiting on the children the sins of the fathers, becomes in such cases a righteous judgment. If they repent,...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 34-39**
Our Lord declares the miseries the inhabitants of Jerusalem were about to bring upon themselves, but he does not notice the sufferings he was to undergo. A hen gathering her chickens under her wings, is an apt emblem of the Saviour's tender love to those who trust in him, and his faithful care of them. He calls sinners to take refuge under his tender protection, keeps them saf...
Read full commentary →Lament over Jerusalem
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee</strong> (Ἰερουσαλὴμ Ἰερουσαλήμ, ἡ ἀποκτείνουσα τοὺς προφήτας καὶ λιθοβολοῦσα τοὺς ἀπεσταλμένους πρὸς αὐτήν)—the repeated name expresses intense emotion—grief, not merely anger. <em>Apokteinousa</em> and <em>lithobolousa</em> are present participles: "the one continually killing... continually...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(37) **Jerusalem, Jerusalem.**—The lamentation had been uttered once before (Luke 13:34-35), and must, we may believe, have been present to our Lord’s mind when He “beheld the city and wept over it” (Luke 19:41), as He halted on the brow of Olivet.
It should be noted that the Hebrew form of Jerusalem (Ἱερουσαλὴμ instead of Ἱεροσόλυμα) occurs here only in St. Matthew, as though the very syllables ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**11. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant--**This plainly means, "shall show that he is so by becoming your servant"; as in Mt 20:27, compared with Mr 10:44.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 34-39**
Our Lord declares the miseries the inhabitants of Jerusalem were about to bring upon themselves, but he does not notice the sufferings he was to undergo. A hen gathering her chickens under her wings, is an apt emblem of the Saviour's tender love to those who trust in him, and his faithful care of them. He calls sinners to take refuge under his tender protection, keeps them saf...
Read full commentary →Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
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KJV Study Commentary
This text illustrates key Reformed principles: sola Scriptura, sola gratia, and sola fide. The passage demonstrates how God's Word speaks authoritatively to human need, revealing both our depravity and God's merciful provision through Christ.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(38) **Your house.**—The word “desolate” is omitted in some of the best MSS. The words “your house” may refer either generally to the whole polity of Israel, or more specifically to the “house” in which they gloried, the Temple, which was the joy of their hearts. It had been the house of God, but He, as represented by His Son, was now leaving it for ever. It was *their* house now, not His. We must...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased--**See on Lu 18:14. What follows was addressed more immediately to the scribes and Pharisees.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 34-39**
Our Lord declares the miseries the inhabitants of Jerusalem were about to bring upon themselves, but he does not notice the sufferings he was to undergo. A hen gathering her chickens under her wings, is an apt emblem of the Saviour's tender love to those who trust in him, and his faithful care of them. He calls sinners to take refuge under his tender protection, keeps them saf...
Read full commentary →For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth , till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord</strong> (λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν, οὐ μή με ἴδητε ἀπ' ἄρτι ἕως ἂν εἴπητε, Εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου)—The double negative οὐ μή ('never, by no means') with aorist subjunctive gives strongest denial: they will absolutely not see Him ἀπ' ἄρτι ('from now') until (ἕως ἄ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(39) **Till ye shall say.**—There is obviously a reference to the fact that the words quoted from Psalm 118:26, had been uttered by the crowd but a few days before on His solemn entry into Jerusalem. Not till those words should be uttered once again—not in a momentary burst of excitement, not with feigned Hosannas, but in spirit and in truth—would they look on Him as they looked now. There can be ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**13. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men--**Here they are charged with shutting heaven against men: in Lu 11:52 they are charged with what was worse, taking away the key--"the key of knowledge"--which means, not the key to open knowledge, but knowledge as the only key to open heaven. A right knowledge of God's revealed word is eter...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 34-39**
Our Lord declares the miseries the inhabitants of Jerusalem were about to bring upon themselves, but he does not notice the sufferings he was to undergo. A hen gathering her chickens under her wings, is an apt emblem of the Saviour's tender love to those who trust in him, and his faithful care of them. He calls sinners to take refuge under his tender protection, keeps them saf...
Read full commentary →