Matthew 23:24

Matthew 23:24 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
• New International Version (NIV)You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
• English Standard Version (ESV)You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
• New King James Version (NKJV)Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

Context of Matthew 23:24

22And he that swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him that sits upon it. 23Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye pay tithes of mint and anise and cummin, and ye have left aside the weightier matters of the law, judgment and mercy and faith: these ye ought to have done and not have left those aside. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat, but drink down the camel. 25Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within they are full of rapine and intemperance. 26Blind Pharisee, make clean first the inside of the cup and of the dish, that their outside also may become clean.

Matthew 23:24 word by word

ὁδηγοὶ τυφλοί, οἱ διϋλίζοντες τὸν κώνωπα, τὴν δὲ κάμηλον καταπίνοντες.¶Read the interlinear

• Blindτυφλόςtuphlos · blindG5185
• guidesὁδηγόςhodēgos · guide/leaderG3595
• camelκάμηλοςkamēlos · camelG2574

Cross-references for Matthew 23:24

• Matthew 7:4Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Allow [me], I will cast out the mote from thine eye; and behold, the beam is in thine eye?
• Matthew 15:2Why do thy disciples transgress what has been delivered by the ancients? for they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.
• Matthew 19:24and again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to enter a needle's eye than a rich man into the kingdom of God.
• Matthew 27:6And the chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, It is not lawful to cast them into the Corban, since it is [the] price of blood.
• Luke 6:7And the scribes and the Pharisees were watching if he would heal on the sabbath, that they might find something of which to accuse him.
• John 18:28They lead therefore Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium; and it was early morn. And they entered not into the praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but eat the passover.

Commentaries on Matthew 23:24

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 24Blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. - This clause should be thus translated: Ye strain out the gnat, but ye swallow down the camel. In the common translation, Ye strain At a gnat, conveys no sense. Indeed, it is likely to have been at first an error of the press, At for Out, which, on examination, I find escaped in the edition of 1611, and has been regularly continued since. There is now before me, "The Newe Testament, (both in…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 24Which 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…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 13-33Verses 13-33 The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very busy to turn souls to be of their party. Not for the glory of God and…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 24gnat … camel: In Aramaic, the language Jesus likely spoke, these two words sound similar (qalma … gamla). This makes a wordplay or pun. Jesus used the contrast between a tiny gnat and a huge camel to show the hypocrisy of focusing on small details while ignoring much greater issues.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2424. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat--The proper rendering--as in the older English translations, and perhaps our own as it came from the translators' hands--evidently is, "strain out." It was the custom, says Trench, of the stricter Jews to strain their wine, vinegar, and other potables through linen or gauze, lest unawares they should drink down some little unclean insect therein and thus transgress (Le 11:20, 23, 41, 42)--just as the Buddhists…Read the comment

Topics related to Matthew 23:24

• Blindness
• Church
• Ecclesiasticism
• Hypocrisy
• Pharisees
• Satire
• Teachers

In the dictionaries

• Abase
• Bewray
• Camel
• Devour
• Drink
• Exalt
• Fill
• Gnat
• Ought
• Partaker

Commentaries on Matthew 23

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Catena Aurea
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• John Lightfoot Commentary
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings