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

22Or somebody may make a promise by heaven. Then he is making a promise by the place where God sits and rules. So he is making a promise by the name of God himself. 23It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's Law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! When you grow spices to cook with food, you give a tenth part of these small things to God. You are right to obey this rule. But you do not obey the more important parts of God's Law. You do not help people in a good way. You are not kind to them. You do not always do what God says is right. You should have done these important things as well as the other small things. You are like blind people, but you show other people which way to go. You carefully take a small fly out of your water so that you do not drink it. But then you drink the large animal that is swimming in it! 25It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's Law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! You always clean the outside of your cups and plates very carefully. You only clean the outside part that people can see. But on the inside, everything is still dirty. Inside you, your minds are full of bad thoughts. You want to have more things for yourself. You hurt other people to get what you want. 26Pharisees, you do not see what is true! You must first clean the inside of the cup. Then the outside that people can see will also be clean.

Matthew 23:24 word by word

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

Words taken from the KJV.

• ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• blindτυφλόςtuphlos · blindG5185
• guidesὁδηγόςhodēgos · guide/leaderG3595
• which strain atδιϋλίζωdiulizō · to strain outG1368
• a gnatκώνωψkōnōps · gnatG2971
• andδέde · thenG1161
• swallowκαταπίνωkatapinō · to swallowG2666
• a camelκάμηλοςkamēlos · camelG2574

Cross-references for Matthew 23:24

• Matthew 7:4You are like a person who has a big piece of wood in his eye. But then he says to his friend, “Let me take that little piece of dirt out of your eye for you.”
• Matthew 15:2They said, ‘Our leaders in past times taught us the right way to do everything. But your disciples do not obey the things that our leaders taught us. They do not wash their hands in the right way before they eat a meal. Why is that?’
• Matthew 19:24The hole in a needle is very small. A camel cannot go through it! But I tell you, it is even more difficult than that for a rich person to let God rule in their life.’
• Matthew 27:6The leaders of the priests picked up the coins. They said, ‘We used this money to catch and kill a man. So it is against our Law to use this same money for the temple.’
• Luke 6:7Some teachers of God's Law and some Pharisees were watching Jesus carefully. They wanted to find a reason to say that he was doing something wrong. So they watched Jesus to see if he would make the man well on the day of rest.
• John 18:28The Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas's house to the Roman ruler's big house. It was early in the morning. The Jewish leaders wanted to follow the Jewish rules so that they could eat the Passover meal. They did not go into the ruler's house, because it would have made them unclean.

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