Matthew 23:24

New Revised Standard

You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Blind guides!

King James Version (1611)
Ye blind guides, which straine at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

King James Version
Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

English Standard Version
You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

New American Standard Bible
"You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

New Century Version
You guide the people, but you are blind! You are like a person who picks a fly out of a drink and then swallows a camel!

Amplified Bible
"You [spiritually] blind guides, who strain out a gnat [consuming yourselves with miniscule matters] and swallow a camel [ignoring and violating God's precepts]!

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

Legacy Standard Bible
You blind guides, who strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!

Berean Standard Bible
You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

Contemporary English Version
You blind leaders! You strain out a small fly but swallow a camel.

Complete Jewish Bible
Blind guides! — straining out a gnat, meanwhile swallowing a camel!

Darby Translation
Blind guides, who strain out the gnat, but drink down the camel.

Easy-to-Read Version
You guide the people, but you are blind! Think about a man picking a little fly out of his drink and then swallowing a camel! You are like that.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Ye blinde guides, which straine out a gnat, and swallowe a camell.

George Lamsa Translation
O blind guides, who strain at gnats and swallow camels!

Good News Translation
Blind guides! You strain a fly out of your drink, but swallow a camel!

Lexham English Bible
Blind guides who filter out a gnat and swallow a camel!

Literal Translation
Blind guides, straining out the gnat, but swallowing the camel!

American Standard Version
Ye blind guides, that strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel!

Bible in Basic English
You blind guides, who take out a fly from your drink, but make no trouble over a camel.

Hebrew Names Version
You blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel!

International Standard Version
You blind guides! You filter out a gnat, yet swallow a camel!

Etheridge Translation
You blind guides, who strain out gnats and swallow camels.

Murdock Translation
Ye blind guides, who strain out gnats, and swallow down camels.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Ye blynde guides, which strayne out a gnat, and swalowe a Camel.

English Revised Version
Ye blind guides, which strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel.

World English Bible
You blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel!

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Ye blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel.

Weymouth's New Testament
You blind guides, straining out the gnat while you gulp down the camel!

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Blynde lederis, clensinge a gnatte, but swolewynge a camel.

Update Bible Version
You blind guides, that strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel!

Webster's Bible Translation
[Ye] blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel.

New English Translation
Blind guides! You strain out a gnat yet swallow a camel!

New King James Version
Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

New Living Translation
Blind guides! You strain your water so you won't accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!

New Life Bible
You blind leaders, you take a small bug out of your cup but you swallow a camel!

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Blind guides! Straining out the gnat, but, the camel, swallowing.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.

Revised Standard Version
You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Ye blinde gydes which strayne out a gnat and swalowe a cammyll.

Young's Literal Translation
`Blind guides! who are straining out the gnat, and the camel are swallowing.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
O ye blynde gydes, which strayne out a gnat, but swalowe vp a Camell.

Mace New Testament (1729)
ye blind guides, who strain your liquor for a gnat, and swallow a beetle.

Simplified Cowboy Version
You blind trail guides will pick a piece of dirt out of your coffee, but then eat a mud pie.

Contextual Overview

¹³ "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in, you stop them. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the sanctuary is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the sanctuary is bound by the oath.' You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the sanctuary that has made the gold sacred? And you say, ‘Whoever swears by the altar is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gift that is on the altar is bound by the oath.' How blind you are! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it; and whoever swears by the sanctuary, swears by it and by the one who dwells in it; and whoever swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by the one who is seated upon it. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel! "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your ancestors. You snakes, you brood of vipers! How can you escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets, sages, and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, so that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come upon this generation. "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you, desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'" ¹⁴Jesus Denounces Scribes and Pharisees Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students. And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father—the one in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted. "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in, you stop them. ¹⁵ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. ¹⁶ "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the sanctuary is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the sanctuary is bound by the oath.' ¹⁷ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the sanctuary that has made the gold sacred? ¹⁸ And you say, ‘Whoever swears by the altar is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gift that is on the altar is bound by the oath.' ¹⁹ How blind you are! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? ²⁰ So whoever swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it; ²¹ and whoever swears by the sanctuary, swears by it and by the one who dwells in it; ²² and whoever swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by the one who is seated upon it.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Matthew 7:4, Matthew 15:2-6, Matthew 19:24, Matthew 27:6-8, Luke 6:7-10, John 18:28, John 18:40

Reciprocal: Job 20:18 - swallow Psalms 119:99 - than all Ecclesiastes 7:16 - Be not Isaiah 60:2 - the darkness Matthew 12:45 - Even Matthew 22:36 - General Matthew 23:16 - ye blind Mark 2:24 - why Mark 10:25 - General Luke 6:2 - Why Luke 18:12 - I give Luke 18:25 - a camel

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Ye blind guides,.... As in Matthew 23:16

who strain at a gnat and swallow a camel: the Syriac and Persic versions read the words in the plural number, gnats and camels. The Jews had a law, which forbid them the eating of any creeping thing,

Leviticus 11:41 and of this they were strictly observant, and would not be guilty of the breach of it for ever so much.

"One that eats a flea, or a gnat; they say p is מומר, "an apostate";''

one that has changed his religion, and is no more to be reckoned as one of them. Hence they very carefully strained their liquors, lest they should transgress the above command, and incur the character of an apostate; and at least, the penalty of being beaten with forty stripes, save one; for,

"whoever eats a whole fly, or a whole gnat, whether alive or dead, was to be beaten on account of a creeping flying thing q.''

Among the accusations Haman is said to bring against them to Ahasuerus, and the instances he gives of their laws being different from the king's, this one r; that

"if a fly falls into the cup of one of them, זורקו ושותהו, "he strains it, and drinks it"; but if my lord the king should touch the cup of one of them, he would throw it to the ground, and would not drink of it.''

Maimonides says s,

"He that strains wine, or vinegar, or strong liquor, and eats "Jabchushin" (a sort of small flies found in wine cellars t, on account of which they strained their wine), or gnats, or worms, which he hath strained off, is to be beaten on account of the creeping things of the water, or on account of the creeping flying things, and the creeping things of the water.''

Moreover, it is said u,

"a man might not pour his strong liquors through a strainer, by the light (of a candle or lamp), lest he should separate and leave in the top of the strainer (some creeping thing), and it should fail again into the cup, and he should transgress the law, in Leviticus 11:41.''

To this practice Christ alluded here; and so very strict and careful were they in this matter, that to strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel, became at length a proverb, to signify much solicitude about little things, and none about greater. These men would not, on any consideration, be guilty of such a crime, as not to pay the tithe of mint, anise, and cummin, and such like herbs and seeds; and yet made no conscience of doing justice, and showing mercy to men, or of exercising faith in God, or love to him. Just as many hypocrites, like them, make a great stir, and would appear very conscientious and scrupulous, about some little trifling things, and yet stick not, at other times, to commit the grossest enormities, and most scandalous sins in life.

p T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 26. 2. & Horaiot, fol. 11. 1. q Mainon. Hilch. Maacolot Asurot, c. 2. sect. 22. r T. Bab. Megilla, fol, 13. 2. Vid. T. Hietos. Sota, fol. 17. 1. s Ubi supra, (Mainon. Hilch. Maacolot Asurot, c. 2.) sect. 20. t Gloss. in T. Bab. Cholin, fol. 67. 1. u Ib.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Which strain at a gnat ... - This is a proverb. There is, however, a mistranslation or misprint here, which makes the verse unmeaning. “To strain” at a “gnat” conveys no sense. It should have been to strain out a gnat; and so it is printed in some of the earlier versions, and so it was undoubtedly rendered by the translators. The common reading is a “misprint,” and should be corrected. The Greek means to “strain” out by a cloth or sieve.

A gnat - The gnat has its origin in the water; not in great rivers, but in pools and marshes In the stagnant waters they appear in the form of small “grubs” or “larvae.” These larvae retain their form about three weeks, after which they turn to chrysalids, and after three or four days they pass to the form of gnats. They are then distinguished by their well-known sharp sting. It is probable that the Saviour here refers to the insect as it exists in its “grub” or “larva” form, before it appears in the form of a gnat. Water is then its element, and those who were nice in their drink would take pains to strain it out. Hence, the proverb. See Calmet’s Dict., art. “Gnat.” It is used here to denote a very small matter, as a camel is to denote a large object. “You Jews take great pains to avoid offence in very small matters, superstitiously observing the smallest points of the law, like a man carefully straining out the animalculae from what he drinks, while you are at no pains to avoid great sins - hypocrisy, deceit, oppression, and lust - like a man who should swallow a camel.” The Arabians have a similar proverb: “He eats an elephant, and is suffocated with a gnat.” He is troubled with little things, but pays no attention to great matters.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Matthew 23:24. Blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. — This clause should be thus translated: Ye strain out the gnat, but ye swallow down the camel. In the common translation, Ye strain AT a gnat, conveys no sense. Indeed, it is likely to have been at first an error of the press, AT for OUT, which, on examination, I find escaped in the edition of 1611, and has been regularly continued since. There is now before me, "The Newe Testament, (both in Englyshe and in Laten,) of Mayster Erasmus translacion, imprynted by Wyllyam Powell, dwellynge in Flete strete: the yere of our Lorde M.CCCCC.XLVII. the fyrste yere of the kynges (Edwd. VI.) moste gracious reygne." in which the verse stands thus: "Ye blinde gides, which strayne out a gnat, and swalowe a cammel." It is the same also in Edmund Becke's Bible, printed in London 1549, and in several others. - Clensynge a gnatte. - MS. Eng. Bib. So Wickliff. Similar to this is the following Arabic proverb [Arabic]. He eats an elephant and is choked by a gnat.