the Second Week after Easter
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New King James Version
Matthew 23:19
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
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- CondensedParallel Translations
Blind people!
Ye fooles and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the Altar that sanctifieth the gift?
Ye fools 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?
"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 [spiritually] 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?
You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering?
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?
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 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 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?
How blind you are! Which is the more important, the gift or the altar which makes the gift holy?
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?
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?
You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
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 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 blynde, for whether is greater, the gyft: or the aulter that sanctifieth the gyft?
Ye blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
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?
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 are blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
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?
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 foles and blinde: whether is greater ye offeringe or ye aultre which sanctifieth ye offeringe?
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?
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 your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return."
that he may give me the cave of Machpelah which he has, which is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me at the full price, as property for a burial place among you."
Now Ephron dwelt among the sons of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the presence of the sons of Heth, all who entered at the gate of his city, saying,
but let me lie with my fathers; you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place." And he said, "I will do as you have said."
For his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as property for a burial place.
Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here."
For I know that You will bring me to death, And to the house appointed for all living.
If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or indeed he has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better than he--
Also they are afraid of height, And of terrors in the way; When the almond tree blossoms, The grasshopper is a burden, And desire fails. For man goes to his eternal home, And the mourners go about the streets.
Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to 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.
