Matthew 16:7

Simplified Cowboy Version

The cowboys talked among themselves and said to each other, "He must be sayin' that because we forgot the biscuits."

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
They were discussing among themselves, “We didn’t bring any bread.”

King James Version (1611)
And they reasoned among themselues, saying, It is because we haue taken no bread.

King James Version
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread.

English Standard Version
And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, "We brought no bread."

New American Standard Bible
They began to discuss this among themselves, saying, "He said that because we did not bring any bread."

New Century Version
His followers discussed the meaning of this, saying, "He said this because we forgot to bring bread."

Amplified Bible
They began to discuss this among themselves, saying, "He said that because we did not bring bread."

Geneva Bible (1587)
And they reasoned among themselues, saying, It is because we haue brought no bread.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
They began to discuss this among themselves, saying, "He said that because we did not bring any bread."

Legacy Standard Bible
Now they began to discuss this among themselves, saying, "He said that because we did not bring bread."

Berean Standard Bible
They discussed this among themselves and concluded, "It is because we did not bring any bread."

Contemporary English Version
The disciples talked this over and said to each other, "He must be saying this because we didn't bring along any bread."

Complete Jewish Bible
they thought he said it because they hadn't brought bread.

Darby Translation
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, Because we have taken no bread.

Easy-to-Read Version
The followers discussed the meaning of this. They said, "Did Jesus say this because we forgot to bring bread?"

George Lamsa Translation
And they were reasoning among themselves and saying, It is because we have not brought bread.

Good News Translation
They started discussing among themselves, "He says this because we didn't bring any bread."

Lexham English Bible
So they were discussing this among themselves, saying, "It is because we did not take bread."

Literal Translation
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, Because we did not take loaves.

American Standard Version
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, We took no bread.

Bible in Basic English
And they were reasoning among themselves, saying, We took no bread.

Hebrew Names Version
They reasoned among themselves, saying, "We brought no bread."

International Standard Version
They began to discuss this among themselves and said, "We didn't take any bread."

Etheridge Translation
But they thought within themselves, saying, (It is) because bread we have not taken.

Murdock Translation
And they reasoned among themselves, and said, [fn] because they had taken no bread.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And they thought in them selues, saying: for we haue taken no bread [with vs].

English Revised Version
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, We took no bread.

World English Bible
They reasoned among themselves, saying, "We took no bread."

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, We have taken no bread.

Weymouth's New Testament
they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have not brought any bread."

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And thei thouyten among hem, and seiden, For we han not take looues.

Update Bible Version
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, We took no bread.

Webster's Bible Translation
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, [It is] because we have taken no bread.

New English Translation
So they began to discuss this among themselves, saying, "It is because we brought no bread."

New King James Version
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread."

New Living Translation
At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn't brought any bread.

New Life Bible
They started to think about it among themselves and said, "He said this because we forgot to bring bread."

New Revised Standard
They said to one another, "It is because we have brought no bread."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, they, began to deliberate among themselves, saying - Because, loaves, we took not.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But they thought within themselves, saying: Because we have taken no bread.

Revised Standard Version
And they discussed it among themselves, saying, "We brought no bread."

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And they thought in them selves sayinge: because we have brought no breed with vs.

Young's Literal Translation
and they were reasoning in themselves, saying, `Because we took no loaves.'

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The thought they in the selues, sayege: We haue take no bred wt us.

Mace New Testament (1729)
upon which they said to one another, this comes from our not taking any bread.

THE MESSAGE
Thinking he was scolding them for forgetting bread, they discussed in whispers what to do. Jesus knew what they were doing and said, "Why all these worried whispers about forgetting the bread? Runt believers! Haven't you caught on yet? Don't you remember the five loaves of bread and the five thousand people, and how many baskets of fragments you picked up? Or the seven loaves that fed four thousand, and how many baskets of leftovers you collected? Haven't you realized yet that bread isn't the problem? The problem is yeast, Pharisee-Sadducee yeast." Then they got it: that he wasn't concerned about eating, but teaching—the Pharisee-Sadducee kind of teaching.

Contextual Overview

⁵The cowboys had forgotten to bring biscuits when they crossed the lake. ⁶Jesus warned 'em against the yeast of the hypocritical preachers and the cattle barons. ⁷The cowboys talked among themselves and said to each other, "He must be sayin' that because we forgot the biscuits." ⁸Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, "Y'all ain't got a lick of faith do you? Why are you talkin' about not havin' any biscuits? ⁹Why don't you understand? Did you already forget about those five thousand people and all the leftovers from just five biscuits? ¹⁰And what about the four thousand cowboys and all the leftovers from just seven pieces of hard tack? ¹¹Don't you know by now I ain't talkin' about biscuits? Watch out for the yeast of the hypocritical preachers and cattle barons!" ¹²Finally it began to sink in and the cowboys knew what he was talkin' about. He wasn't talkin' about yeast for makin' biscuits, but the things that the hypocritical preachers and cattle barons tried to get people to do.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

they: Mark 8:16-18, Mark 9:10, Luke 9:46

It is: Matthew 15:16-18, Acts 10:14

Reciprocal: Matthew 9:4 - knowing Mark 2:6 - and reasoning Luke 20:14 - reasoned

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Ver. 7 And they reasoned among themselves,.... Either what should be the meaning of this caution of Christ's, and upon what account he should say this to them; or they were anxiously concerned what they should do for provision:

saying, because we have taken no bread; for the phrase, "it is", is a supplement, and is not in the original text, which confines the sense to the first way of interpretation; the words may be read without it, and confirms the other sense, and which receives strength from what follows.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The account in these verses is also recorded in Mark 8:13-21.

Matthew 16:5

And when his disciples were come to the other side - That is, to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

Mark says that he entered into a ship again, and departed to the other side. The conversation with the Pharisees and Sadducees had been on the western side of the Sea of Galilee. See the notes at Matthew 15:39. They crossed from that side again to the east.

Had forgotten to take bread - That is, had forgotten to lay in a sufficient supply. They had, it seems, not more than one loaf, Mark 8:14.

Matthew 16:6-11

Take heed ... - That is, be cautious, be on your guard.

The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees - Leaven is used in making bread.

It passes secretly, silently, but certainly through the mass of dough. See the notes at Matthew 13:33. “None can see its progress.” So it was with the doctrines of the Pharisees. They were insinuating, artful, plausible. They concealed the real tendency of their doctrines; they instilled them secretly into the mind, until they pervaded all the faculties like leaven.

They reasoned ... - The disciples did not understand him as referring to the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees, because the word “leaven” was not often used among the Jews to denote doctrines, no other instance of this use of the word occurring in the Scriptures. Besides, the Jews had many particular rules about the leaven (yeast) which might be used in making bread. Many held that it was not lawful to eat bread made by the Gentiles; and the disciples, perhaps, supposed that he was cautioning them not to procure a supply from the Pharisees and Sadducees.

O ye of little faith! - Jesus, in reply, said that they should not be so anxious about the supply of their temporal wants. They should not have supposed, after the miracles that he had performed in feeding so many, that he would caution them to be anxious about procuring bread for their necessities. It was improper, then, for them to reason about a thing like that, but they should have supposed that he referred to something more important. The miracles had been full proof that he could supply all their wants without such anxiety.

Matthew 16:12

Then understood they ... - After this explanation they immediately saw that he referred to the doctrines of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Erroneous doctrines are like leaven in the following respects:

1. They are at first slight and unimportant in appearance, just as leaven is small in quantity as compared with the mass that is to be leavened.
2. They are insinuated into the soul unawares and silently, and are difficult of detection.
3. They act gradually.
4. They act most certainly.
5. They will pervade all the soul, and bring all the faculties under their control.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Matthew 16:7. They reasoned — For, as Lightfoot observes, the term leaven was very rarely used among the Jews to signify doctrine, and therefore the disciples did not immediately apprehend his meaning. In what a lamentable state of blindness is the human mind? Bodily wants are perceived with the utmost readiness, and a supply is sought with all speed. But the necessities of the soul are rarely discovered, though they are more pressing than those of the body, and the supply of them of infinitely more importance.