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Read the Bible

George Lamsa Translation

Matthew 23:19

O you fools and blind! for which is greater, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering?

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Altar;   Blindness;   Church;   Ecclesiasticism;   Hypocrisy;   Oath;   Pharisees;   Satire;   Teachers;   Temple;   Thompson Chain Reference - Blindness;   Blindness-Vision;   Spiritual;   The Topic Concordance - Blindness;   Guidance;   Hypocrisy;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Altar of Burnt-Offering, the;   Blindness, Spiritual;   Fools;   Hypocrites;   Oaths;   Pharisees, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Pharisees;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Hypocrisy;   Matthew, gospel of;   Pharisees;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Altar;   Anger;   Blindness;   Ethics;   Fool, Foolishness, Folly;   Hypocrisy;   Sanctification;   Worship;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Supralapsarians;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Altar;   Pharisees;   Scribes;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Altar;   Blindness;   Consecration;   Matthew, the Gospel of;   Oaths;   Salutation;   Sanctification;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Hypocrite;   Judas Iscariot;   Sacrifice and Offering;   Sanctification, Sanctify;   Scribes;   Sin;   Text of the New Testament;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Altar ;   Anger (2);   Children of God;   Claim;   Common Life;   Courage;   Discourse;   Error;   Fool (2);   Judgment;   Law of God;   Manuscripts;   Mental Characteristics;   Oath;   Organization (2);   Paradox;   Profaning, Profanity;   Reality;   Sabbath ;   Sanctify, Sanctification;   Self-Control;   Teaching of Jesus;   Temple (2);   Woe;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Blindness;   Oath;   Scribes;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Corban;   Pharisee;   Scribe;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Pharisees;   Scribe;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Oath,;   Scribes;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Vow;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Jesus of Nazareth;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Fool;   Matthew, the Gospel of;   Sanctification;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Hypocrisy;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Blind people!
King James Version (1611)
Ye fooles and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the Altar that sanctifieth the gift?
King James Version
Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
English Standard Version
You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
New American Standard Bible
"You blind men, which is more important, the offering or the altar that sanctifies the offering?
New Century Version
You are blind! Which is greater: the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy?
Amplified Bible
"You [spiritually] blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering?
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering?
Legacy Standard Bible
You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering?
Berean Standard Bible
You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes it sacred?
Contemporary English Version
Are you blind? Which is more important, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
Complete Jewish Bible
Blind men! Which is more important? the sacrifice? or the altar which makes the sacrifice holy?
Darby Translation
[Fools and] blind ones, for which is greater, the gift, or the altar which sanctifies the gift?
Easy-to-Read Version
You are blind! Can't you see that the altar is greater than any gift on it? It's the altar that makes the gift holy!
Geneva Bible (1587)
Ye fooles and blinde, whether is greater, the offering, or the altar which sanctifieth the offering?
Good News Translation
How blind you are! Which is the more important, the gift or the altar which makes the gift holy?
Lexham English Bible
Blind people! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy?
Literal Translation
Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
American Standard Version
Ye blind: for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
Bible in Basic English
You blind ones: which is greater, the offering, or the altar which makes the offering holy?
Hebrew Names Version
You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
International Standard Version
You blind men!blind and foolish men
">[fn] Which is more important, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy?Exodus 29:37;">[xr]
Etheridge Translation
You foolish and sightless ! for which is greater, the oblation, or the altar that sanctifieth the oblation ?
Murdock Translation
Ye fools, and blind: for which is greater, the oblation, or the altar that sanctifieth the oblation?
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Ye fooles and blynde, for whether is greater, the gyft: or the aulter that sanctifieth the gyft?
English Revised Version
Ye blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
World English Bible
You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Ye fools and blind; for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
Weymouth's New Testament
"You are blind! Why, which is greater? --the offering, or the altar which makes the offering holy?
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Blynde men, for what is more, the yifte, or the auter that halewith the yifte?
Update Bible Version
You blind men: for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
Webster's Bible Translation
[Ye] fools, and blind: for which [is] greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
New English Translation
You are blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
New King James Version
Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
New Living Translation
How blind! For which is more important—the gift on the altar or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
New Life Bible
You fools and blind men! Which is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift holy?
New Revised Standard
How blind you are! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Blind! for which is greater, The gift, or the altar that halloweth the gift?
Douay-Rheims Bible
Ye foolish and blind: for whether is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
Revised Standard Version
You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Ye foles and blinde: whether is greater ye offeringe or ye aultre which sanctifieth ye offeringe?
Young's Literal Translation
Fools and blind! for which [is] greater, the gift, or the altar that is sanctifying the gift?
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Ye fooles and blynde, whether is greater? the offeringe, or the altare that sanctifieth the offerynge?
Mace New Testament (1729)
ye blind fools, which is most sacred, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
Simplified Cowboy Version

Contextual Overview

13 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you embezzle the property of widows, with the pretense that you make long prayers; because of this you shall receive a greater judgment.* 14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you have shut off the kingdom of heaven against men; for you do not enter into it yourselves, and do not permit those who would enter. 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you traverse sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him the son of hell twice more than yourselves. 16 Woe to you, blind guides, for you say, Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold which is in the temple, he is guilty! 17 O you fools and blind! for which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 18 And whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the offering that is on it, he is guilty. 19 O you fools and blind! for which is greater, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering? 20 Therefore he who swears by the altar, he swears by it and by everything that is on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple, swears by it and by him who dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him who sits on it.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

or: Exodus 29:37, Exodus 30:29

Reciprocal: Exodus 37:25 - General Exodus 40:26 - General Exodus 40:29 - the altar Leviticus 21:18 - a blind man Numbers 7:1 - sanctified them Deuteronomy 26:4 - before the Isaiah 60:2 - the darkness Haggai 2:12 - General Matthew 5:23 - thou Matthew 23:16 - ye blind Matthew 23:17 - or

Cross-References

Genesis 3:19
In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, until you return to the ground; out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust shall you return.
Genesis 23:9
That he may give me the double cave which belongs to him, which is by the side of his field; let him give it to me for a full price as a possession for a burial ground among you.
Genesis 23:10
And Ephron dwelt among the Hittites; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the presence of the Hittites and in the presence of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying,
Genesis 47:30
But when I sleep with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place. And Joseph said, I will do as you have said.
Genesis 50:13
For they carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the double cave, which is in the field, which Abraham purchased with the field for a possession for a burial ground from Ephron, the Hittite, before Mamre.
Genesis 50:25
And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely remember you, and you shall carry up my bones from here with you.
Job 30:23
And yet I know that thou wilt bring me back from death to the meeting place for all living.
Ecclesiastes 6:3
If a man beget a hundred children and live a multitude of years so that the days of his years are many, and his soul is not filled with good things, and also that he have no burial, I say that an untimely birth is better than he.
Ecclesiastes 12:5
He shall be afraid of that which is high, and shall tremble in his ways, and sleeplessness shall come upon him; the almond tree shall blossom, and the locust shall be multiplied, and fragrance shall scatter, and trouble shall cease; because man goes to the house of his reward and the mourners walk about the streets.
Ecclesiastes 12:7
Then the dust shall return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Ye fools, and blind,.... This is very justly repeated, since this is no less an instance of their folly, blindness, and stupidity. In three copies of Beza's the word "fools" is not; nor is it in the Vulgate Latin, nor in Munster's Hebrew Gospel; but the Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions have it:

for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? The gift, or offering, before it was devoted to sacred use, and brought, and laid upon the altar, was common, had no ceremonial sanctity in it, and might be put to any use; but when it was brought, and laid upon the altar, it became holy; for, according to the law, whatever touched the altar, and indeed all, or any of the vessels of the sanctuary, was holy, Exodus 29:37. Christ speaks the sense of the law, and their own traditions, and in their own language, and argues from the same to the confutation of them: חמזבח מקדש, "the altar", they say u, "sanctifies" that which is fit for it; that is, that which is proper to be offered up upon it:

"as the altar sanctifies that which is fit for it, so the ascent unto it sanctifies; and as the altar, and the ascent, sanctify what is fit for them, so the vessels sanctify; the vessels for liquids sanctify the liquids, and the dry measures sanctify the dry; the vessels for liquids do not sanctify the dry, nor the dry measures sanctify the liquids; the holy vessels, which are bored, (or broken,) when they do the service they used to do, when whole, sanctify, if not, they do not sanctify; nor does anything sanctify but in the sanctuary.''

Now, since this is a clear case, that the altar sanctifies the gift, and not the gift the altar, our Lord's question is, which is the greater? A man that has the least share of common sense will easily see, that the altar must be the greater: wherefore these scribes and Pharisees must be wretchedly stupid to give out, that an oath made by the altar was not binding, when one that was made by the gift, or

Korban, was binding; seeing the gift, or offering, received its sanctity from the altar: hence, of the two, an oath made by the altar should be more sacred and obligatory than one made by the gift.

u Misn. Zebachim, c. 9. sect. 7.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The altar that sanctifieth the gift - The altar, dedicated to God, gave all the value or holiness to the offering, and must therefore be the greatest or of the most importance. If, therefore, either bound to the fulfillment of an oath, it must be the altar.


 
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