Matthew 23:4

Matthew 23:4 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
• New International Version (NIV)They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
• English Standard Version (ESV)They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.
• New King James Version (NKJV)For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

Context of Matthew 23:4

2He said, ‘The teachers of God's Law and the Pharisees have authority to explain the Law of Moses. 3So you must obey everything that they teach you. But you should not do the same things that they do. They tell you what the Law of Moses teaches. But then they themselves do not obey it. The rules that they give you are difficult to obey. Their rules are like heavy luggage, which they make you carry. But they themselves will not help you to carry that luggage. They will not agree to use even one finger to help you. 5The Pharisees do things only so that people will see them. They wear little boxes with words from the Bible in them, but they make them really big. They also make the tassels on their clothes very long. 6They like to sit in the important places at special meals. They also choose to sit in the best seats in the meeting places.

Matthew 23:4 word by word

δεσμεύουσιν δὲ φορτία βαρέα καὶ δυσβάστακτα καὶ ἐπιτιθέασιν ἐπὶ τοὺς ὤμους τῶν ἀνθρώπων· αὐτοὶ δὲ τῷ δακτύλῳ αὐτῶν οὐ θέλουσιν κινῆσαι αὐτά.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• Forγάρgar · forG1063
• they bindδεσμεύωdesmeuō · to bindG1195
• heavyβαρύςbarus · weightyG926
• burdensφορτίονphortion · burdenG5413
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• grievous to be borneδυσβάστακτοςdusbastaktos · ponderousG1419
• layἐπιτίθημιepitithēmi · to put/lay onG2007
• onἐπίepi · upon/to/againstG1909
• men’sἄνθρωποςanthrōpos · a humanG444
• shouldersὦμοςōmos · shoulderG5606
• butδέde · thenG1161
• theyθέλωthelō ethelō · to will/desireG2309
• notοὐou · noG3756
• moveκινέωkineō · to moveG2795
• themαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
• with one ofδάκτυλοςdaktulos · fingerG1147

Cross-references for Matthew 23:4

• Matthew 23:23It 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.
• Matthew 11:28Come to me all of you who are tired. You are like people who have worked for a long time. You are like people who have carried heavy things. Come to me. If you do that, you will find a place to rest.
• Luke 11:46Jesus replied, ‘It will be very bad for you as well, teachers of God's Law. You give rules to people to obey. Those rules are like things that are too heavy for people to carry. You do not even help people to carry them. Not even with one finger do you help them!
• Acts 15:10So do not say that God has done a wrong thing. God has shown us that he accepts Gentiles when they believe in Jesus. If you make the Gentile believers obey the Law of Moses, that is like a heavy weight on their necks. Even we Jews and our ancestors could not carry that heavy weight.
• Galatians 6:13Even those men that someone has circumcised do not obey all the Jewish rules. They want to circumcise you only to make themselves seem important. They want to show that they have authority over your bodies.
• Revelation 2:24But I say this to you other people in Thyatira. You have not agreed with what Jezebel taught. You have not learned what they call ‘Satan's deep secrets’. So I say this to you: I will not tell you to obey any other difficult rules.

Commentaries on Matthew 23:4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4They bind heavy burdens - They are now so corrupt that they have added to the ceremonies of the law others of their own invention, which are not only burdensome and oppressive, but have neither reason, expediency, nor revelation, to countenance them. In a word, like all their successors in spirit to the present day, they were severe to others, but very indulgent to themselves.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4They bind heavy burdens … - This phrase is derived from the custom of loading animals. The load or burden is bound up and then laid on the beast. So the Pharisees appointed weighty burdens, or grievous and heavy precepts, and insisted that the people should obey them, though they lent no assistance. The “heavy burdens” refer not here to the traditions and foolish customs of the Pharisees, for Jesus would not command the people to observe them; but they…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4heavy, burdensome loads: According to the rabbis, there were 613 laws with commands and prohibitions (see 11:28–30; Acts 15:10, 28). not willing to lift a finger: The religious leaders were not willing to ease or change these traditional laws.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them--"touch them not" (Lu 11:46). with one of their fingers--referring not so much to the irksomeness of the legal rites, though they were irksome enough (Ac 15:10), as to the heartless rigor with which they were enforced, and by men of shameless inconsistency.Read the comment

Topics related to Matthew 23:4

• Burden
• Church
• Ecclesiasticism
• Hypocrisy
• Inconsistency
• Minister, Christian
• Oppression
• Pharisees
• Satire
• Teachers

In the dictionaries

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

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