the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
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King James Version
Matthew 23:19
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- CondensedParallel Translations
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!
Ye foles and blinde: whether is greater ye offeringe or ye aultre which sanctifieth ye offeringe?
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]
"You blind men, which is more important, the offering or the altar that sanctifies the offering?
You are blind! Which is greater: the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy?
You blind men: for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
[Ye] fools, and blind: for which [is] greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
"You [spiritually] blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering?
You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
Ye fools and blind; for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
"You are blind! Why, which is greater? --the offering, or the altar which makes the offering holy?
Blynde men, for what is more, the yifte, or the auter that halewith the yifte?
Ye blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes it sacred?
Are you blind? Which is more important, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
Ye blind: for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
You blind ones: which is greater, the offering, or the altar which makes the offering holy?
Blind men! Which is more important? the sacrifice? or the altar which makes the sacrifice holy?
[Fools and] blind ones, for which is greater, the gift, or the altar which sanctifies the gift?
You foolish and sightless ! for which is greater, the oblation, or the altar that sanctifieth the oblation ?
Ye fools, and blind: for which is greater, the oblation, or the altar that sanctifieth the oblation?
Ye fooles and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the Altar that sanctifieth the gift?
How blind! For which is more important—the gift on the altar or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
You fools and blind men! Which is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift holy?
How blind you are! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
Ye fooles and blinde, whether is greater, the offering, or the altar which sanctifieth the offering?
O you fools and blind! for which is greater, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering?
Blind! for which is greater, The gift, or the altar that halloweth the gift?
Ye foolish and blind: for whether is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
Ye fooles and blynde, for whether is greater, the gyft: or the aulter that sanctifieth the gyft?
How blind you are! Which is the more important, the gift or the altar which makes the gift holy?
Blind people!
You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
Blind people! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy?
Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
Fools and blind! for which [is] greater, the gift, or the altar that is sanctifying the gift?
Ye fooles and blynde, whether is greater? the offeringe, or the altare that sanctifieth the offerynge?
ye blind fools, which is most sacred, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
You are blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
"You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering?
You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering?
Contextual Overview
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
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me for a possession of a buryingplace amongst you.
And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying,
But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.
For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.
And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.
For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.
Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto 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.
