Matthew 23:13

Matthew 23:13 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
• New International Version (NIV)“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
• English Standard Version (ESV)"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.
• New King James Version (NKJV)“But woe 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.

Context of Matthew 23:13

11The person among you who is most important will be your servant. 12Some people lift themselves up to be important. But God will bring them down low. Other people are humble. God will lift up those people to a good place.’ Jesus spoke to the teachers of God's Law and the Pharisees. ‘It will be very bad for you,’ he said. ‘You are hypocrites! You have stopped people who wanted to go into the kingdom of heaven. It is like you have shut the door so that they cannot go in. Then you yourselves do not even go in. 14[It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's Law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! You take things away from women after their husbands have died. You pray for a long time so that other people will praise you. God will punish you much more than other people.] 15It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's Law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! You travel far across land and sea. You do this to make one person believe what you believe. Then, when he does believe your ideas, he becomes worse than you are. He shows that he belongs to hell even more than you do.

Matthew 23:13 word by word

Οὐαὶ δὲ ὑμῖν, γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταί, ὅτι κλείετε τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων· ὑμεῖς γὰρ οὐκ εἰσέρχεσθε οὐδὲ τοὺς εἰσερχομένους ἀφίετε εἰσελθεῖν.¶Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Butδέde · thenG1161
• woeοὐαίouai · woe!G3759
• unto youσύsu · youG4771
• scribesγραμματεύςgrammateus · scribeG1122
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• PhariseesΦαρισαῖοςPharisaios · PhariseeG5330
• hypocritesὑποκριτήςhupokritēs · hypocriteG5273
• forὅτιhoti · that/since: sinceG3754
• ye shut upκλείωkleiō · to shutG2808
• the kingdomὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• the kingdomβασιλείαbasileia · kingdomG932
• of heavenοὐρανόςouranos · heavenG3772
• againstἔμπροσθενemprosthen · beforeG1715
• menἄνθρωποςanthrōpos · a humanG444
• forγάρgar · forG1063
• neitherοὐou · noG3756
• go inεἰσέρχομαιeiserchomai · to enterG1525
• neitherοὐδέoude · norG3761
• suffer yeἀφίημιaphiēmi · to release: permitG863

Cross-references for Matthew 23:13

• Matthew 23:14[It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's Law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! You take things away from women after their husbands have died. You pray for a long time so that other people will praise you. God will punish you much more than other people.]
• Isaiah 9:14So, in one day, the Lord will destroy Israel, both its head and its tail. He will cut down both palm branch and reed.
• Isaiah 33:14The sinners who live in Zion are afraid. The people who do not respect God shake with fear. They ask, ‘Who among us can stay alive? This is a fire that burns everything. Nobody can stop it from burning!’
• Zechariah 11:17Bad things will happen to the bad shepherd who leaves his sheep. His enemy's knife will cut his arm and his right eye. His arm will become like a dry stick. And his right eye will no longer be able to see anything.’
• Luke 11:43Yes, it will be very bad for you Pharisees! You like to sit in the best seats in the meeting place. And you like people to praise you in the market place.
• Matthew 21:31Tell me, which of the man's sons did what his father wanted?’ The Jewish leaders replied, ‘The older son did what his father wanted.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you this: The men who take taxes from people are going into the kingdom of God before you. It is the same with prostitutes. They also are going into the kingdom of God before you.
• Luke 11:52It will be very bad for you teachers of God's Law! You have studied God's message. But you do not then accept it. You have also stopped people who really wanted to know God's message. Then they could not go on to accept it and go into God's kingdom.’
• John 7:46The officers answered, ‘Nobody has ever spoken great things like this man speaks.’
• John 9:22The man's parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. The Jewish leaders did not want anyone to say that Jesus was the Messiah. They would not let anyone like that belong to their meeting places.
• Acts 4:17But we do not want any more people to know what has happened. So we must say to these men, “You must stop using the name of Jesus. You must stop teaching people about him.” ’
• Acts 5:28‘We told you that you must not teach people any more with the authority of Jesus. But now look at what you have done! Now people everywhere in Jerusalem have heard your teaching. You also want people to think that we are guilty for the death of Jesus.’
• Acts 8:1Saul was standing there while the Jewish leaders killed Stephen. He agreed with what they did. On the same day that Stephen died, the group of believers who lived in Jerusalem began to have great trouble. People did bad things to them. All the believers left Jerusalem and went to other places in Judea and Samaria. Only Jesus' 12 apostles stayed in Jerusalem.
• Acts 13:8Bar-Jesus was also called Elymas. That was his name in the Greek language. He did not like what Barnabas and Saul were saying. He did not want Sergius Paulus to believe in Jesus. So he tried to stop him.
• 1 Thessalonians 2:15People like that even killed the Lord Jesus. They killed God's prophets, too. They also did bad things against us, so that we had to leave their towns. They make God become angry. They are enemies of all people,
• 2 Timothy 3:8These are people who speak against God's true message, in the same way that Jannes and Jambres spoke against Moses. Their minds have become confused. The way that they serve God is false.
• 2 Timothy 4:15You must also be careful that he does not cause trouble for you. He argued very strongly against our message.

Commentaries on Matthew 23:13

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 13Ye shut up the kingdom - As a key by opening a lock gives entrance into a house, etc., so knowledge of the sacred testimonies, manifested in expounding them to the people, may be said to open the way into the kingdom of heaven. But where men who are termed teachers are destitute of this knowledge themselves, they may be said to shut this kingdom; because they occupy the place of those who should teach, and thus prevent the people from acquiring heavenly…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 13Woe unto you - You are guilty, and punishment will come upon you. Jesus proceeds to state wherein they were guilty. This most eloquent, most appalling, and most terrible of all discourses ever delivered to mortals was pronounced in the temple, in the presence of multitudes. Never was there more faithful dealing, more terrible reproof, more profound knowledge of the workings of hypocrisy, or more skill in detecting the concealments of sin. This was the…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. 13Woe to you: This is a distinct warning about God's judgment. hypocrites!: In English, hypocrisy means a contradiction between what is real and what seems to be real. In the Bible, it means misunderstanding God's will, misleading others, and facing God's judgment. This often includes: desire for fame and power (Matthew 23:5–12), misuse of teaching authority, false teachings (23:13–22), and focusing on minor ethical details (23:23–28). A suitable English…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1313. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men--Here they are charged with shutting heaven against men: in Lu 11:52 they are charged with what was worse, taking away the key--"the key of knowledge"--which means, not the key to open knowledge, but knowledge as the only key to open heaven. A right knowledge of God's revealed word is eternal life, as our Lord says (Joh 17:3; 5:39); but this they took…Read the comment

Topics related to Matthew 23:13

• Church
• Ecclesiasticism
• Hypocrisy
• Minister, Christian
• Pharisees
• Satire
• Teachers

In the dictionaries

• Abase
• Bewray
• Devour
• Exalt
• Fill
• Gnat
• Key
• Ought
• Partaker
• Scribes

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