Matthew 23:24

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.’

31 “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that ^ayou are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

32 ^aFill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt.

33 Serpents, ^abrood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?

34 ^aTherefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: ^bsome of them you will kill and crucify, and ^csome of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,

35 ^athat on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, ^bfrom the blood of righteous Abel to ^cthe blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Jesus Laments over Jerusalem

37 ^a“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets ^band stones those who are sent to her! How often ^cI wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks ^dunder her wings, but you were not willing!

38 See! Your house is left to you desolate;

Commentaries:

Barnes' Notes

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Matthew 23:24

Which strain at a gnat ... - This is a proverb. There is, however, a mistranslation or misprint here, which makes the verse unmeaning. "To strain" at a "gnat" conveys no sense. It should have been to strain out a gnat; and so it is printed in some of the earlier versions, and so it was undoubtedly rendered by the translators. The common reading is a "misprint," and should be corrected. The Greek means to "strain" out by a cloth or sieve.

A gnat - The gnat has its origin in the water; not in great rivers, but in pools and marshes In the stagnant waters they appear in the form of small "grubs" or "larvae." These larvae retain their form about three weeks, after which they turn to chrysalids, and after three or four days they pass to the form of gnats. They are then distinguished by their well-known sharp sting. It is probable that the Saviour here refers to the insect as it exists in its "grub" or "larva" form, before it appears in the form of a gnat. Water is then its element, and those who were nice in their drink would take pains to strain it out. Hence, the proverb. See Calmet' s Dict., art. "Gnat." It is used here to denote a very small matter, as a camel is to denote a large object. "You Jews take great pains to avoid offence in very small matters, superstitiously observing the smallest points of the law, like a man carefully straining out the animalculae from what he drinks, while you are at no pains to avoid great sins - hypocrisy, deceit, oppression, and lust - like a man who should swallow a camel." The Arabians have a similar proverb: "He eats an elephant, and is suffocated with a gnat." He is troubled with little things, but pays no attention to great matters.

**Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Matthew 23:24:**

Matthew 22:13
Romans 2:20

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Matthew 23:25 >>

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