the Fifth Week after Easter
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Geneva Bible
Matthew 23:4
Bible Study Resources
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- InternationalParallel Translations
They tie up heavy loads that are hard to carry
For they binde heauie burdens, and grieuous to be borne, and lay them on mens shoulders, but they themselues will not mooue them with one of their fingers.
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.
They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.
"And they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as their finger.
They make strict rules and try to force people to obey them, but they are unwilling to help those who struggle under the weight of their rules.
"The scribes and Pharisees tie up heavy loads [that are hard to bear] and place them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not lift a finger [to make them lighter].
"They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.
And they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.
They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
They pile heavy burdens on people's shoulders and won't lift a finger to help.
They tie heavy loads onto people's shoulders but won't lift a finger to help carry them.
but bind burdens heavy and hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of men, but will not move them with their finger.
They make strict rules that are hard for people to obey. They try to force others to obey all their rules. But they themselves will not try to follow any of those rules.
And they bind heavy burdens, and put them on men''s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to touch them, even with their finger.
They tie onto people's backs loads that are heavy and hard to carry, yet they aren't willing even to lift a finger to help them carry those loads.
And they tie up heavy burdens and put them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing with their finger to move them.
For they bind heavy and hard to bear burdens, and lay them on the shoulders of men, but they do not desire to move them with their finger.
Yea, they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger.
They make hard laws and put great weights on men's backs; but they themselves will not put a finger to them.
For they bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them.
They tie up burdens that are heavy and unbearable and lay them on people's shoulders, but they refuse to lift a finger to remove them.Luke 11:46; Acts 15:10; Galatians 6:13;">[xr]
And they bind heavy burdens, and lay them on the shoulders of men, but they [fn] with their fingers are not willing to touch them.
They tie up heavy burdens, and lay [fn] on men's shoulders; but will not themselves touch them with their finger.
Yea, they bynde together heauy burthens, and greeuous to be borne, and lay them on mens shoulders: but they them selues wyll not moue them with [one] of their fingers.
Yea, they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger.
For they bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them.
For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders, but they will not move them with their finger.
Heavy and cumbrous burdens they bind together and load men's shoulders with them, while as for themselves, not with one finger do they choose to lift them.
And thei bynden greuouse chargis, and that moun not be borun, and putten on schuldris of men; but with her fyngur thei wolen not moue hem.
Yes, they bind loads that are heavy and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger.
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.
They tie up heavy loads, hard to carry, and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing even to lift a finger to move them.
For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.
They make heavy loads and put them on the shoulders of men. But they will not help lift them with a finger.
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.
But they bind together heavy burdens, and lay upon men's shoulders, whereas, they, with their finger, are not willing to move them.
For they bind heavy and insupportable burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders: but with a finger of their own they will not move them.
They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger.
For they saye and do not. Ye and they bynde hevy burthes and grevous to be borne and ley the on menes shulders: but they themsylfes will not heave at them with one of their fyngers.
for they bind together burdens heavy and grievous to be borne, and lay upon the shoulders of men, but with their finger they will not move them.
for they saye & do not. For they bynde heuy and intollerable burthens, and laye them vpon mens shulders: But they them selues wil not heaue at them with one of their fyngers.
for they load men with intolerable impositions, and will not take the least pains to ease them of the burthen: they do nothing but out of ostentation,
"Instead of giving you God's Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn't think of lifting a finger to help. Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called ‘Doctor' and ‘Reverend.'
"They will load y'all down with impossible tasks they wouldn't be willing to bear.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Matthew 23:23, Matthew 11:28-30, Luke 11:46, Acts 15:10, Acts 15:28, Galatians 6:13, Revelation 2:24
Reciprocal: Genesis 49:15 - bowed 1 Kings 12:4 - our yoke 2 Chronicles 10:4 - Thy father Lamentations 5:13 - fell Galatians 5:1 - entangled 3 John 1:9 - who loveth
Cross-References
In the sweate of thy face shalt thou eate bread, till thou returne to the earth: for out of it wast thou taken, because thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou returne.
And I will giue thee and thy seede after thee the land, wherein thou art a stranger, euen all the land of Canaan, for an euerlasting possession, and I will be their God.
Then Abraham bowed himselfe before the people of the land,
And spake vnto Ephron in the audience of the people of the countrey, saying, Seeing thou wilt giue it, I pray thee, heare me, I will giue the price of the fielde: receiue it of me, and I will bury my dead there.
So Abraham hearkened vnto Ephron, and Abraham weyed to Ephron the siluer, which he had named, in the audience of the Hittites, euen foure hundreth siluer shekels of currant money among marchants.
And Iaakob sayd vnto Pharaoh, The whole time of my pilgrimage is an hundreth & thirty yeeres: fewe and euill haue the dayes of my life bene, and I haue not attayned vnto the yeeres of the life of my fathers, in the dayes of their pilgrimages.
In the caue that is in the field of Machpelah besides Mamre in the land of Canaan: which caue Abraham bought with the fielde of Ephron the Hittite for a possession to burie in.
For his sonnes caried him into the lande of Canaan, & buried him in the caue of the fielde of Machpelah, which caue Abraham bought with the fielde, to be a place to bury in, of Ephron the Hittite besides Mamre.
Also the lande shall not be solde to be cut off from the familie: for the land is mine, and ye be but strangers and soiourners with me.
For we are stragers before thee, & soiourners, like all our fathers: our dayes are like ye shadowe vpon the earth, & there is none abiding.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
For they bind heavy burdens,.... Meaning not the rites and ceremonies of the law of Moses, circumcision, and other rituals, which obliged to the keeping of the whole law, which was a yoke men were not able to bear; but the traditions of the elders, which the Scribes and Pharisees were very tenacious of, and very severely enjoined the observance of, and are called their "heavy" things o.
"It is a tradition of R. Ishmael, there are in the words of the law, that, which is bound or forbidden, and that which is loose or free; and there are in them light things, and there are in them heavy things; but the words of the Scribes, ×××× ×××ר×× ××, "all of them are heavy".''
And a little after,
"the words of the elders, ×××ר××, "are heavier" than the words of the prophets.''
Hence frequent mention is made of
"the light things of the school of Shammai, ×××××ר×, "and of the heavy things of the school of Hillell" p''
two famous doctors, heads of two universities, in being in Christ's time: these are also called, ×××ת פר×ש××, "the blows, or wounds of the Pharisees" q; not as Bartenora explains them, the wounds they gave themselves, to show their humility; or which they received, by beating their heads against the wall, walking with their eyes shut, that they might not look upon women, under a pretence of great chastity; but, as Maimonides says, these are their additions and heavy things, which they add to the law. Now the binding of these heavy things, means the imposing them on men, obliging them to observe them very strictly, under great penalties, should they omit them. The allusion is, to those frequent sayings in use among them, such a thing is "bound", and such a thing is loosed; such a "Rabbi binds", and such an one looses; that is, forbids, or allows of such and such things; :-.
and grievous to be borne. This clause is left out in the Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions; but is in all the Greek copies, and serves to illustrate and aggravate the burdensome rites and institutions of these people: and
lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers: the sense is, not that they were so rigid and hardhearted, that they would not move a finger to remove these burdens from the shoulders of men, or ease them in the least degree, or dispense with their performance of them in the least measure, upon any consideration, though this also was true in many respects; but that they were so slothful and indolent themselves, that though they strictly enjoined the observance of their numerous and unwritten traditions on the people, yet in many cases, where they could without public notice, they neglected them themselves, or at least, made them lighter and easier to them, as in their fastings, c. In the Misna r, mention is made of "a crafty wicked man", along with a woman Pharisee, and the blows of the Pharisees before spoken of and in the Gemara s, is explained by R. Hona, of one,
"that makes things "light" for himself, and makes them "heavy" for others.''
Such crafty wicked men were Scribes and Pharisees; though R. Meir pretended that he made things "light" to others and "heavy" to himself t.
o T. Hieros. Peracot, fol. 3. 2. p T. Hieros. Sota, fol. 19. 2. Yom Tob. fol. 60. 2. & Berncot, fol. 3. 2. q Misn. Sota, c. 3. sect. 4. r Ubi supra. (Misn. Sota, c. 3. sect. 4.) s T. Bab. Sota, fol. 21. 2. t T. Hieros. Beracot, fol. 3. 1.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
They bind heavy burdens ... - This phrase is derived from the custom of loading animals. The load or burden is bound up and then laid on the beast. So the Pharisees appointed weighty burdens, or grievous and heavy precepts, and insisted that the people should obey them, though they lent no assistance. The âheavy burdensâ refer not here to the traditions and foolish customs of the Pharisees, for Jesus would not command the people to observe them; but they clearly mean the ceremonies and rights appointed by Moses, which Peter says neither âthey nor their fathers were able to bear,â Acts 15:10. Those rites were numerous, expensive, requiring much time, much property, and laborious. The Pharisees were rigid in requiring that all the people should pay the taxes, give of their property, comply with every part of the law with the utmost rigor, yet they indulged themselves, and bore as little of the expense and trouble as possible; so that, where they could avoid it, they would not lend the least aid to the people in the toils and expense of their religious rites.
With one of their fingers - In the least degree. They will not render the least aid.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Matthew 23:4. They bind heavy burdens — They are now so corrupt that they have added to the ceremonies of the law others of their own invention, which are not only burdensome and oppressive, but have neither reason, expediency, nor revelation, to countenance them. In a word, like all their successors in spirit to the present day, they were severe to others, but very indulgent to themselves.
