the Week of Proper 20 / Ordinary 25
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King James Version
Colossians 2:21
Bible Study Resources
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- InternationalParallel Translations
"Do not handle, nor taste, nor touch"?
They tell you, "Don't pick up that. Don't taste this. Stay away from this or that."
"Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!"
Which say there may be no touching, tasting, or taking in your hands,
Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch,
"Don't handle, don't taste, don't touch"?
"Don't handle, nor taste, nor touch"
(Touch not, taste not, handle not:
"Do not handle this;" "Do not taste that;" "Do not touch that other thing" --
(Touch not, taste not, handle not:
Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch,
Touch not this, taist not that, handle not that.
"don't eat this, don't taste that, nor touch it:"
"Do not handle [this], do not taste [that], do not [even] touch!"?
Handle not, nor taste, nor touch
"Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch"
Touche not tast not handell not:
Don't handle, nor taste, nor touch
(Touch not; taste not; handle not;
-- thou mayest not touch, nor taste, nor handle --
"Don't handle this," "Don't taste that," "Don't even touch that thing"?
"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"
"Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!"?
"Don't handle this. Don't taste that. Don't touch this."?
"Don't touch this!" "Don't eat that!" "Don't handle the other!"
"Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch"
As, Touch not, Taste not, Handle not.
Do not touch; do not taste; do not follow;
"Don't handle, nor taste, nor touch"
"Don't handle this! Don't taste or touch that!"1 Timothy 4:3;">[xr]
you are not to touch, nor to taste, nor to handle?
But, touch thou not, and taste thou not, and handle thou not:
"Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,"
"Don't handle! Don't taste! Don't touch!"?
These rules say, "You must not put your hand on this." "Do not put this into your mouth." "You must not put your finger on that."
Handle not, nor taste, nor touch
"Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch"?
Do not handle, nor taste, nor touch; -
Touch not: taste not: handle not.
"Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch,"
Touche not, taste not, handle not?
"Don't eat this," "Don't taste that," "Don't touch that"?
"Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!"
"Don't handle this," "Don't taste that," "Don't touch the other"?
That ye touche not, nether taaste,
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Genesis 3:3, Isaiah 52:11, 2 Corinthians 6:17, 1 Timothy 4:3
Reciprocal: Genesis 9:3 - even Leviticus 11:8 - they are unclean Matthew 15:17 - that Mark 7:3 - the tradition Mark 7:19 - General 1 Timothy 4:8 - bodily
Cross-References
And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
So David took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul's bolster; and they gat them away, and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither awaked: for they were all asleep; because a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them.
In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,
In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;
Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.
Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me upright.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Touch not, taste not, handle not. This the apostle says, not of himself, but in the person of the Jewish doctors; who urging the use of the ceremonial law, to which they added decrees and constitutions of their own, said, "touch not" the dead body of any man, the bone of a man, or a grave, any man or woman in their uncleanness; not only their flesh, but the bed they lay on, or the seat they sat on; or any creature that was by the law unclean; of a Gentile, or any notorious sinner, or common man: hence the Pharisees used to wash themselves when they returned from market, lest they should have been by any means accidentally defiled by touching any thing unclean. There is a treatise in their Misna, called Oholot, which gives many rules, and is full of decrees about things במגע
מטמאים, "that defile by touching". And so they likewise said, "taste not", neither the fat, nor the blood of any creature which might be eaten itself, nor swine's flesh, nor the flesh of any creature that chewed the cud, or divided the hoof; nor might the Nazarites taste wine, or strong drink, or vinegar made of either, or moist grapes, or even the kernels and husks; and if a man ate but the quantity of an olive of any of the above things, he was, according to the Jewish canons, to be cut off, or beaten x: and they also said, "handle not"; or, as the Syriac and Arabic read, "do not come near", or "draw not nigh", to a Gentile, to one of another nation, or any unclean person, to whom they forbid any near approach or conversation; or "handle not" any of the above things. Some think that these several rules have respect only to meats; as "touch not", that is, do not eat of things forbidden ever so little; nay, "taste not", do not let anything of them come within your lips; yea, "handle not", do not so much as touch them with your fingers. Others think that touch not regards abstinence from women; see 1 Corinthians 7:1; and respects the prohibition of marriage by some in those times; and "taste not", the forbearance of certain meats, at certain times, which God had not restrained any from; and "handle not", that is, make no use of, or enjoy your own goods, and so designs that voluntary poverty which some entered into under the direction of false teachers.
x Maimon. Maacolot Asurot, c. 7. sect. 1. & c. 14. sect. 2. & Nezirut, c. 5. sect. 3.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Tough not; taste not; handle not - These words seem intended as a specimen of the kind of ordinances which the apostle refers to, or an imitation of the language of the Jewish teachers in regard to various kinds of food and drink. “Why are ye subject to ordinances of various kinds, such as this - Touch not, taste not, handle not?” That is, such as prohibit you from even touching certain kinds of food, or tasting certain kinds of drink, or handling certain prohibited things. The rapid succession of the words here, without any connecting particle, is supposed to denote the eagerness of the persons who imposed this injunction, and their earnestness in warning others from contaminating themselves with the prohibited things. Many injunctions of this kind are found in the writings of the Jewish rabbis; and the ancient Jewish sect of the Essenes (Notes, Matthew 3:7) abounded in precepts of this kind.
See Schoetgen, and Pict. Bib. in loc. “They allowed themselves no food that was pleasant to the taste, but ate dry, coarse bread, and drank only water. Many of them ate nothing until sunset, and, if anyone touched them who did not belong to their sect, they washed themselves as if they had been most deeply defiled. Perhaps there was at Colossae a society of this kind, as there were in many other places out of Judea; and, if there was, it is not improbable that many Christians imitated them in the uniqueness of their rules and observances;” compare Jenning’s Jew. Ant. i. 471, and Ros. Alt. u. neu. Morgenland, in loc. If this be the correct interpretation, then these are not the words of the apostle, forbidding Christians to have anything to do with these ordinances, but are introduced as a specimen of the manner in which they who enjoined the observance of those ordinances pressed the subject on others.
There were certain things which they prohibited, in conformity with what they understood to be the law of Moses; and they were constantly saying, in regard to them, “do not touch them, taste them, handle them.” These words are often used as a kind of motto in reference to the use of intoxicating drinks. They express very well what is held by the friends of total abstinence; but it is obvious that they had no such reference as used by the apostle, nor should they be alleged as an authority, or as an argument, in the question about the propriety or impropriety of the use of spirituous liquors. They may as well be employed in reference to anything else as that, and would have no authority in either case. Intoxicating drinks should be abstained from; but the obligation to do it should be made to rest on solid arguments, and not on passages of Scripture like this. This passage could with more plausibility be pressed into the service of the enemies of the total abstinence societies, than into their support; but it really has nothing to do with the subject, one way or the other.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse 21. Touch not; taste not; handle not — These are forms of expression very frequent among the Jews. In Maccoth, fol. xxi. 1: "If they say to a Nazarite, Don't drink, don't drink; and he, notwithstanding, drinks; he is guilty. If they say, Don't shave, don't shave; and he shaves, notwithstanding; he is guilty. If they say, Don't put on these clothes, don't put on these clothes; and he, notwithstanding, puts on heterogeneous garments; he is guilty." See more in Schoettgen.
