saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sat on Moses’ seat.
World English Bible
Matthew 23:2
This verse is examined in more than one Scripture Analysis section. Each lens is shown on its own terms, in the section's own words; GEBible reaches no verdict of its own.
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WEB World English Bible Public Domain ✓ - Modern English
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- MSB Majority Standard Bible A modern translation of the Majority/Byzantine text — the Berean counterpart to the critical-text BSB · Public Domain
- TCENT Text-Critical English New Testament A modern reasoned-eclectic New Testament (2022) · CC BY 4.0
- F35 Family 35 New Testament Wilbur Pickering's Byzantine-priority New Testament, with text-critical commentary notes · CC BY-SA 4.0
- OJB Orthodox Jewish Bible A Messianic-Jewish English Bible using transliterated Hebrew names and terms · CC BY 4.0
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- JPS JPS Tanakh (1917) An early Jewish English translation of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament only) · Public Domain
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- LEESER Isaac Leeser Tanakh (1853) The first Jewish English translation of the Hebrew Bible (1853, Old Testament only) · Public Domain
- KJVCP KJV Cambridge Paragraph Bible David Norton's critical Cambridge edition of the King James Version, set in paragraphs · Public Domain
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
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Should we do what the Pharisees say to do?
Matthew 23:1-3 has Jesus tell the crowds that because the scribes and Pharisees 'sit in Moses' seat,' the listeners should 'observe and do' whatever the Pharisees tell them — just don't imitate their behavior. Matthew 16:12, by contrast, has the disciples finally understand Jesus' warning that they should beware 'the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.'
Critical scholarship: Genuinely disputed among scholars.
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The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
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This citation refers to this GEBible page — the verse and the analysis gathered here. To cite the underlying scholarship, cite those sources directly.
"Matthew 23:2 — Scripture Analysis" GEBible, https://gebible.app/analysis/verse/matthew/23/2?version=WEB (retrieved 27 August 2026).