Lectionary Calendar
Friday, July 11th, 2025
the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
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

New Century Version

Matthew 23:20

The person who swears by the altar is really using the altar and also everything on the altar.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Blindness;   Church;   Ecclesiasticism;   Hypocrisy;   Oath;   Pharisees;   Satire;   Teachers;   Temple;   The Topic Concordance - Blindness;   Guidance;   Hypocrisy;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Oaths;   Pharisees, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Pharisees;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Hypocrisy;   Matthew, gospel of;   Pharisees;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Anger;   Blindness;   Destroy, Destruction;   Ethics;   Fool, Foolishness, Folly;   Worship;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Supralapsarians;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Pharisees;   Scribes;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Altar;   Blindness;   Matthew, the Gospel of;   Oaths;   Salutation;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Hypocrite;   Judas Iscariot;   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;   Judgment;   Law of God;   Manuscripts;   Mental Characteristics;   Oath;   Organization (2);   Paradox;   Profaning, Profanity;   Reality;   Sabbath ;   Sanctify, Sanctification;   Self-Control;   Teaching of Jesus;   Woe;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Blindness;   Oath;   Scribes;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - 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 - Matthew, the Gospel of;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Hypocrisy;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Therefore, the one who takes an oath by the altar takes an oath by it and by everything on it.
King James Version (1611)
Who so therefore shall sweare by the Altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
King James Version
Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
English Standard Version
So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
New American Standard Bible
"Therefore, the one who swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it.
Amplified Bible
"Therefore, whoever swears [an oath] by the altar, swears both by it and by everything [offered] on it.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it.
Legacy Standard Bible
Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it.
Berean Standard Bible
So then, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
Contemporary English Version
Anyone who swears by the altar also swears by everything on it.
Complete Jewish Bible
So someone who swears by the altar swears by it and everything on it.
Darby Translation
He therefore that swears by the altar swears by it and by all things that are upon it.
Easy-to-Read Version
Whoever uses the altar to make a promise is really using the altar and everything on the altar.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Whosoeuer therefore sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
George Lamsa Translation
Therefore he who swears by the altar, he swears by it and by everything that is on it.
Good News Translation
So then, when a person swears by the altar, he is swearing by it and by all the gifts on it;
Lexham English Bible
Therefore the one who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything that is on it.
Literal Translation
Then the one swearing by the altar swears by it, and by all things on it.
American Standard Version
He therefore that sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
Bible in Basic English
He, then, who takes an oath by the altar, takes it by the altar and by all things on it.
Hebrew Names Version
He therefore who swears by the altar, swears by it, and by everything on it.
International Standard Version
Therefore, the one who swears an oath by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
Etheridge Translation
He therefore who sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things that are upon it.
Murdock Translation
He therefore who sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all that is upon it.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Who so therfore sweareth by the aulter, sweareth by it, and by all thynges theron.
English Revised Version
He therefore that sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
World English Bible
He therefore who swears by the altar, swears by it, and by everything on it.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
He therefore that sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it and by all things thereon.
Weymouth's New Testament
He who swears by the altar swears both by it and by everything on it;
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor he that swerith in the auter, swerith in it, and in alle thingis that ben ther on.
Update Bible Version
He therefore that swears by the altar, swears by it, and by all things thereon.
Webster's Bible Translation
Whoever therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things upon it.
New English Translation
So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
New King James Version
Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.
New Living Translation
When you swear ‘by the altar,' you are swearing by it and by everything on it.
New Life Bible
Whoever makes a promise by the altar, promises by it and by everything on it.
New Revised Standard
So whoever swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it;
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
He therefore that hath sworn by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all that is upon it;
Douay-Rheims Bible
He therefore that sweareth by the altar sweareth by it and by all things that are upon it.
Revised Standard Version
So he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it;
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Whosoever therfore sweareth by ye aultre sweareth by it and by all yt there on is.
Young's Literal Translation
`He therefore who did swear by the altar, doth swear by it, and by all things on it;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Therfore who so sweareth by the altare, sweareth by the same, and by all that is theron:
Mace New Testament (1729)
whoever swears by the altar, swears not only by the altar, but by every thing upon it.
Simplified Cowboy Version

Contextual Overview

13 "How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You close the door for people to enter the kingdom of heaven. You yourselves don't enter, and you stop others who are trying to enter. [ 14 How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites. You take away widows' houses, and you say long prayers so that people will notice you. So you will have a worse punishment.] 15 "How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You travel across land and sea to find one person who will change to your ways. When you find that person, you make him more fit for hell than you are. 16 "How terrible for you! You guide the people, but you are blind. You say, ‘If people swear by the Temple when they make a promise, that means nothing. But if they swear by the gold that is in the Temple, they must keep that promise.' 17 You are blind fools! Which is greater: the gold or the Temple that makes that gold holy? 18 And you say, ‘If people swear by the altar when they make a promise, that means nothing. But if they swear by the gift on the altar, they must keep that promise.' 19 You are blind! Which is greater: the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy? 20 The person who swears by the altar is really using the altar and also everything on the altar. 21 And the person who swears by the Temple is really using the Temple and also everything in the Temple. 22 The person who swears by heaven is also using God's throne and the One who sits on that throne.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Reciprocal: Hebrews 6:16 - swear

Cross-References

Genesis 23:7
Abraham rose and bowed to the people of the land, the Hittites.
Genesis 23:10
Ephron was sitting among the Hittites at the city gate. He answered Abraham,
Genesis 23:14
Ephron answered Abraham,
Genesis 25:9
His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah in the field of Ephron east of Mamre. (Ephron was the son of Zohar the Hittite.)
Genesis 50:5
‘When my father was near death, I made a promise to him that I would bury him in a cave in the land of Canaan, in a burial place that he cut out for himself. So please let me go and bury my father, and then I will return.'"
Genesis 50:13
They carried his body to the land of Canaan and buried it in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre. Abraham had bought this cave and field from Ephron the Hittite to use as a burial place.
2 Samuel 24:24
But the king answered Araunah, "No, I will pay you for the land. I won't offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for one and one-fourth pounds of silver.
2 Kings 21:18
Manasseh died and was buried in the garden of his own palace, the garden of Uzza. Then Manasseh's son Amon became king in his place.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Whosoever therefore shall swear by the altar,.... Not that Christ allowed of swearing by the altar, or by the temple, or by heaven, or by any creature, animate or inanimate; for such swearing is elsewhere disapproved of by him, and forbid, but if a man did swear by the altar, he ought to know, and consider that he not only

sweareth by it, but by all the gifts, and offerings that are brought, and laid upon it,

and by all things thereon; whatever gifts and sacrifices are offered upon it; which, by being put there, become holy, as the altar itself: so that he that swears by the altar, swears also by the gifts of the altar; and consequently, according to their own traditions, such oaths must be binding.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Matthew 23:20. Whoso - shall swear by the altar — As an oath always supposes a person who witnesses it, and will punish perjury; therefore, whether they swore by the temple or the gold, (Matthew 23:16), or by the altar or the gift laid on it, (Matthew 23:18), the oath necessarily supposes the God of the temple, of the altar, and of the gifts, who witnessed the whole, and would, even in their exempt cases, punish the perjury.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile