Matthew 15:16

New Living Translation

"Don't you understand yet?" Jesus asked.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“Do you still lack understanding?”

King James Version (1611)
And Iesus said, Are yee also yet without vnderstanding?

King James Version
And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?

English Standard Version
And he said, "Are you also still without understanding?

New American Standard Bible
Jesus said, "Are you also still lacking in understanding?

New Century Version
Jesus said, "Do you still not understand?

Amplified Bible
And He said, "Are you still so dull [and unable to put things together]?

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then said Iesus, Are ye yet without vnderstanding?

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Jesus said, "Are you still lacking in understanding also?

Legacy Standard Bible
And Jesus said, "Are you still lacking in understanding also?

Berean Standard Bible
"Do you still not understand?" Jesus asked.

Contemporary English Version
Jesus then said: Don't any of you know what I am talking about by now?

Complete Jewish Bible
So he said, "Don't you understand even now?

Darby Translation
But he said, Are *ye* also still without intelligence?

Easy-to-Read Version
Jesus said, "Do you still have trouble understanding?

George Lamsa Translation
And he said to them, Even yet do you not understand?

Good News Translation
Jesus said to them, "You are still no more intelligent than the others.

Lexham English Bible
But he said, "Are you also still without understanding?

Literal Translation
But Jesus said, Are you also still without understanding?

American Standard Version
And he said, Are ye also even yet without understanding?

Bible in Basic English
And he said, Are you, like them, still without wisdom?

Hebrew Names Version
So Yeshua said, "Do you also still not understand?

International Standard Version
JesusHe">[fn] said, "Are you still so ignorant?Matthew 16:9; Mark 7:18;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
But he said to them, Do you also not yet understand?

Murdock Translation
And he said to them: Are ye also, up to this time, without understanding?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Iesus sayde: Are ye also without vnderstandyng?

English Revised Version
And he said, Are ye also even yet without understanding?

World English Bible
So Jesus said, "Do you also still not understand?

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?

Weymouth's New Testament
"Are even you," He answered, "still without intellingence?

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And he seide, Yit `ye ben also with oute vndurstondyng?

Update Bible Version
And he said, Are you also even yet without understanding?

Webster's Bible Translation
And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?

New English Translation
Jesus said, "Even after all this, are you still so foolish?

New King James Version
So Jesus said, "Are you also still without understanding?

New Life Bible
Jesus said, "Do you not understand yet?

New Revised Standard
Then he said, "Are you also still without understanding?

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, he, said, To this moment, are, ye also, without discernment?

Douay-Rheims Bible
But he said: Are you also yet without understanding?

Revised Standard Version
And he said, "Are you also still without understanding?

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Then sayde Iesus: are ye yet with oute vnderstondinge?

Young's Literal Translation
And Jesus said, `Are ye also yet without understanding?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And Iesus sayde vnto the: Are ye yet the without vnderstondinge?

Mace New Testament (1729)
and Jesus said, are ye also yet without understanding?

THE MESSAGE
Jesus replied, "You, too? Are you being willfully stupid? Don't you know that anything that is swallowed works its way through the intestines and is finally defecated? But what comes out of the mouth gets its start in the heart. It's from the heart that we vomit up evil arguments, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, lies, and cussing. That's what pollutes. Eating or not eating certain foods, washing or not washing your hands—that's neither here nor there."

Simplified Cowboy Version
Jesus told him, "Don't any of you have a clue what I was talkin' about?

Contextual Overview

¹⁰ Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. "Listen," he said, "and try to understand. ¹¹ It's not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth." ¹² Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?" ¹³ Jesus replied, "Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted, ¹⁴ so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch." ¹⁵ Then Peter said to Jesus, "Explain to us the parable that says people aren't defiled by what they eat." ¹⁶ "Don't you understand yet?" Jesus asked. ¹⁷ "Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. ¹⁸ But the words you speak come from the heart—that's what defiles you. ¹⁹ For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Matthew 15:10, Matthew 13:51, Matthew 16:9, Matthew 16:11, Isaiah 28:9, Isaiah 28:10, Mark 6:52, Mark 7:18, Mark 8:17, Mark 8:18, Mark 9:32, Luke 9:45, Luke 18:34, Luke 24:45, Hebrews 5:12

Reciprocal: Proverbs 7:7 - void Ezekiel 17:12 - Know Matthew 13:36 - Declare Matthew 16:7 - It is Mark 7:15 - but Mark 16:14 - and upbraided Romans 1:31 - Without understanding

Cross-References

Genesis 15:5
Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, "Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That's how many descendants you will have!"

Genesis 15:8
But Abram replied, "O Sovereign Lord , how can I be sure that I will actually possess it?"

Genesis 15:9
The Lord told him, "Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon."

Genesis 15:11
Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.

Exodus 12:40
The people of Israel had lived in Egypt for 430 years.

1 Kings 21:26
His worst outrage was worshiping idols just as the Amorites had done—the people whom the Lord had driven out from the land ahead of the Israelites.)

Daniel 8:23
"At the end of their rule, when their sin is at its height, a fierce king, a master of intrigue, will rise to power.

1 Thessalonians 2:16
as they try to keep us from preaching the Good News of salvation to the Gentiles. By doing this, they continue to pile up their sins. But the anger of God has caught up with them at last.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Jesus said,.... As wondering at, and as being displeased with, and as reproving them for their dulness and ignorance:

are ye also yet without understanding? you, my disciples, as well as the Scribes and Pharisees; you, who have been with me so long, who have heard so many discourses from me, who for so long a time have been instructed by me, both in private, and in public; and yet do not understand what is so plain and easy, that has nothing of difficulty in it, but what might easily be accounted for.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See also Mark 7:17-23.

Then answered Peter, and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable - See the notes at Matthew 13:3. The word “parable” sometimes means a dark or obscure saying, Psalms 78:2. Peter meant, “Explain to us more fully this obscure and novel doctrine.” To us, now, it is plain; to the disciples, just coming out of Judaism, the doctrine of Jesus was obscure. Mark says that the disciples asked him. There is no contradiction. The question was put by Peter in the name of the disciples; or several of them put the question, though Matthew has mentioned only one. An omission is not a contradiction.

Matthew 15:16

Are ye also yet without understanding? - Jesus appeals, in explaining this, to their common sense; and he wonders that they had not yet learned to judge the foolish traditions of the Jews by the decisions of common sense and by his own instructions.

Matthew 15:17

Do ye not understand ... - The meaning of this may be thus expressed: The food which is eaten does not affect the mind, and therefore cannot pollute it.

The doctrine of the Pharisees, that neglect of washing and of similar observances defiles a man, cannot be true. Those things pertain to the body as much as food does, and they cannot affect the soul. That must be purified by something else than external washing, and it is polluted by other things than a neglect of mere outward ceremonies. The seat of corruption is within - it is the heart itself; and if people would be made pure, this must be cleansed. If that is corrupt, the whole man is corrupt.

Matthew 15:18-20

Christ proceeds to state what does defile the man, or render him a sinner:

1. “Evil thoughts” These are the first things - these are the fountains of all others. Thought precedes action. Thought, or purpose, or motive, gives its character to conduct. All evil thoughts are here intended. Though we labor to suppress them, yet they defile us. They leave pollution behind them.

2. “Murders.” Taking the life of others with malice. The malice has its seat in the heart, and the murder therefore proceeds from the heart, 1 John 3:15.

3. “Adulteries, fornication.” See Matthew 5:28.

4. “Thefts.” Theft is the taking and carrying away the goods of others without their knowledge or consent. Thefts are caused by coveting the property of others. They proceed, therefore, from the heart, and violate at the same time two commandments - the tenth commandment in thought and the eighth commandment in act.

5. “False witness.” Giving wrong testimony. Concealing the truth, or stating what we know to be false - a violation of the ninth commandment. It proceeds from a desire to injure others, to take away their character or property, or to do them injustice. It proceeds thus from the heart.

6. “Blasphemies.” See the notes at Matthew 9:3. Blasphemy proceeds from opposition to God, hatred of his character Romans 8:7, and from a desire that there should be no God. It proceeds from the heart. See Psalms 14:1. Mark adds several things to those enumerated by Matthew:

(a) “Covetousness.” The unlawful desire of what others possess, this always proceeds from the heart.

(b) “Wickedness.” The original here means malice, or a desire of injuring others, Romans 1:29.

(c) “Deceit,” i. e., fraud, concealment, cheating in trade. This proceeds from a desire to benefit ourselves by doing injustice to others, and this proceeds from the heart.

(d) Lasciviousness. Lust, obscenity, unbridled passion - a strong, evil desire of the heart.

(e) “An evil eye.” That is, an eye that is sour, malignant, proud; or an eye of lust and passion. See Matthew 5:28; Matthew 20:15; 2 Peter 2:14, “Having eyes full of adultery, that cannot cease from sin.”

(f) “Pride.” An improper estimate of our own importance; thinking that we are of much more consequence than we really are. This is always the work of an evil heart.

(g) “Foolishness.” Not a lack of intellect - man is not to blame for that - but a moral folly, consisting in choosing evil ends and the bad means of gaining them; or, in other words, sin and wickedness. All sin is folly. It is foolish for a man to disobey God, and foolish for anyone to go to hell.

Matthew 15:20

These are the things which defile a man - These are the true sources of pollution in man.

These are what corrupt and degrade. It is not the neglect of washing the body which defiles; it is the deep, inward corruption of the heart. And what a fountain of pollution is the human soul! What an array of crimes to proceed from the heart of man! What a proof of guilt! What strictness is there in the law of God! How universal is depravity!

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Matthew 15:16. Are ye also yet without understanding? — The word ακμη, which we translate yet, should be here rendered still: Are ye still void of understanding? and the word is used in this sense by several Greek writers. The authorities which have induced me to prefer this translation may be seen in Kypke.