Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, May 25th, 2025
the <>Sixth Sunday after Easter
Attention!
Take your personal ministry to the Next Level by helping StudyLight build churches and supporting pastors in Uganda.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

Good News Translation

Matthew 23:19

How blind you are! Which is the more important, the gift or the altar which makes the gift holy?

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?
George Lamsa Translation
O you fools and blind! for which is greater, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering?
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 "How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You lock the door to the Kingdom of heaven in people's faces, but you yourselves don't go in, nor do you allow in those who are trying to enter! 14 15 "How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You sail the seas and cross whole countries to win one convert; and when you succeed, you make him twice as deserving of going to hell as you yourselves are! 16 "How terrible for you, blind guides! You teach, ‘If someone swears by the Temple, he isn't bound by his vow; but if he swears by the gold in the Temple, he is bound.' 17 Blind fools! Which is more important, the gold or the Temple which makes the gold holy? 18 You also teach, ‘If someone swears by the altar, he isn't bound by his vow; but if he swears by the gift on the altar, he is bound.' 19 How blind you are! Which is the more important, the gift or the altar which makes the gift holy? 20 So then, when a person swears by the altar, he is swearing by it and by all the gifts on it; 21 and when he swears by the Temple, he is swearing by it and by God, who lives there; 22 and when someone swears by heaven, he is swearing by God's throne 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
You will have to work hard and sweat to make the soil produce anything, until you go back to the soil from which you were formed. You were made from soil, and you will become soil again."
Genesis 23:9
to sell me Machpelah Cave, which is near the edge of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for its full price, here in your presence, so that I can own it as a burial ground."
Genesis 23:10
Ephron himself was sitting with the other Hittites at the meeting place at the city gate; he answered in the hearing of everyone there,
Genesis 47:30
I want to be buried where my fathers are; carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried." Joseph answered, "I will do as you say."
Genesis 50:13
they carried his body to Canaan and buried it in the cave at Machpelah east of Mamre in the field which Abraham had bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burial ground.
Genesis 50:25
Then Joseph asked his people to make a vow. "Promise me," he said, "that when God leads you to that land, you will take my body with you."
Job 30:23
I know you are taking me off to my death, to the fate in store for everyone.
Ecclesiastes 6:3
We may have a hundred children and live a long time, but no matter how long we live, if we do not get our share of happiness and do not receive a decent burial, then I say that a baby born dead is better off.
Ecclesiastes 12:5
You will be afraid of high places, and walking will be dangerous. Your hair will turn white; you will hardly be able to drag yourself along, and all desire will be gone. We are going to our final resting place, and then there will be mourning in the streets.
Ecclesiastes 12:7
Our bodies will return to the dust of the earth, and the breath of life will go back to God, who gave it to us.

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.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile