You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
Parallel Translations
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You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
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Ye foles and blinde: whether is greater the offeringe or the aultre which sanctifieth the offeringe?
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Ye fooles and blinde, whether is greater, the offering, or the altar which sanctifieth the offering?
Cross-references (2)
Passages linked to Matthew 23:19 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 29:37 Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall be holy.
- Exodus 30:29 You shall sanctify them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them shall be holy.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (6 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater,…
19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
Ver. 19. Ye fools and blind] The second time so, for behold they have rejected the word of the Lord (yea, the Word, the Lord Christ), and what wisdom was in them? Jer 8:9. True it is, they were accounted the only wise men. "Where is the wise? where is the scribe?" saith St Paul, 1Co 1:20. As if wise and scribe were terms convertible. And for the Pharisees, they did so carry away the hearts of the people that there was no holy man that was not termed a Pharisee, as we find in their Talmud. And "after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee," saith Paul, Act 26:5. They were omnium districtissimi, and did utterly outshine and obscure those other sects of Sadducees and Essenes, the latter whereof are not so much as mentioned in the gospel. And yet we see what esteem Christ had for them, and what titles he here bestows upon them. To teach us not to rest in man’s applause, nor to think it sufficient that others think well of us. "But let every man prove his own work," Gal 6:4, and know that not he that commends himself, or is commended by others, is approved, but he whom the Lord commendeth, 2Co 10:18.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Whosoever therefore shall swear by the altar,.... Not that…
Whosoever therefore shall swear by the altar,.... Not that Christ allowed of swearing by the altar, or by the temple, or by heaven, or by any creature, animate or inanimate; for such swearing is elsewhere disapproved of by him, and forbid, but if a man did swear by the altar, he ought to know, and consider that he not only
sweareth by it, but by all the gifts, and offerings that are brought, and laid upon it,
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and by all things thereon; whatever gifts and sacrifices are offered upon it; which, by being put there, become holy, as the altar itself: so that he that swears by the altar, swears also by the gifts of the altar; and consequently, according to their own traditions, such oaths must be binding.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The altar that sanctifieth the gift - The altar,…
The altar that sanctifieth the gift - The altar, dedicated to God, gave all the value or holiness to the offering, and must therefore be the greatest or of the most importance. If, therefore, either bound to the fulfillment of an oath, it must be the altar.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Sanctifieth. The altar is sanctified by our Lord’s body…
Sanctifieth. The altar is sanctified by our Lord’s body thereon. Theophylactus, the close follower of St. John Chrysostom, writeth thus upon this text: "In the old law, Christ will not allow the gift to be greater than the altar; but with us the altar is sanctified by the gift: for the bread, by the divine grace is converted into our Lord’s body, and therefore the altar is sanctified by it."
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Ye fools, and blind! for whether is greater, the…
Ye fools, and blind! for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?--(See Exo 29:37).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Our Lord repeats the unanswerable argument of ver. 17.…
Our Lord repeats the unanswerable argument of ver. 17. That sanctifieth the gift. Exo_29:37. "It shall be an altar most holy; whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy". (comp. Eze_41:22) The offering is one with the altar.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.