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Matthew 23:15
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13 “But awoe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.  
14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! aFor you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.  
15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of1 hell as yourselves.  
16 “Woe to you, ablind guides, who say, b‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’  
17 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold aor the temple that sanctifies the gold?  
18 And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’
19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift aor the altar that sanctifies the gift?  
20 Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.  
21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by aHim who dwells in it.  
22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by athe throne of God and by Him who sits on it.  
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! aFor you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and bhave neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.  
24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! aFor you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and1 self-indulgence.  
26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! aFor you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.  
28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 a“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and1 adorn the monuments of the righteous,  
30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’
Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
<< Matthew 23:14   Matthew 23:16 >>


Matthew 23:15

Compass sea and land - A proverbial expression, similar to ours, You leave no stone unturned; intimating that they did all in their power to gain converts, not to God, but to their sect. These we may suppose were principally sought for among the Gentiles, for the bulk of the Jewish nation was already on the side of the Pharisees.

Proselyte - , a stranger, or foreigner; one who is come from his own people and country, to sojourn with another. See the different kinds of proselytes explained in the note on Exodus 12:43 (note).

The child of hell - A Hebraism for an excessively wicked person, such as might claim hell for his mother, and the devil for his father.

Twofold - the child of - The Greek word , which has generally been translated twofold, Kypke has demonstrated to mean more deceitful. ͂ is used by the best Greek writers for simple, sincere, ́ for simplicity, sincerity; so ͂ , deceitful, dissembling, and ́ , hypocrisy, fraudulence, and , more fraudulent, more deceitful, more hypocritical. See also Suidas in .

Dr. Lightfoot, and others, observe, that the proselytes were considered by the Jewish nation as the scabs of the Church, and hindered the coming of the Messiah; and Justin Martyr observes, that "the proselytes did not only disbelieve Christ' s doctrine, but were abundantly more blasphemous against him than the Jews themselves, endeavoring to torment and cut off the Christians wherever they could; they being in this the instruments of the scribes and Pharisees."




Other Adam Clarke entries containing Matthew 23:15:

Matthew 23:39

 

<< Matthew 23:14   Matthew 23:16 >>

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