Matthew 23:15

Matthew 23:15 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
• New International Version (NIV)“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
• New Living Translation (NLT)“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!

Context of Matthew 23:15

13“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. 14Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. 16“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ 17Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?

Matthew 23:15 word by word

Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταί, ὅτι περιάγετε τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ τὴν ξηρὰν ποιῆσαι ἕνα προσήλυτον, καὶ ὅταν γένηται, ποιεῖτε αὐτὸν υἱὸν γεέννης διπλότερον ὑμῶν.¶Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Woeοὐαίouai · woe!G3759
• unto youσύsu · youG4771
• scribesγραμματεύςgrammateus · scribeG1122
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• PhariseesΦαρισαῖοςPharisaios · PhariseeG5330
• hypocritesὑποκριτήςhupokritēs · hypocriteG5273
• forὅτιhoti · that/since: sinceG3754
• ye compassπεριάγωperiagō · to take/go aroundG4013
• seaὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• seaθάλασσαthalassa · seaG2281
• landξηρόςxēros · dried up/witheredG3584
• to makeποιέωpoieō · to do/make: doG4160
• oneεἷςheis · oneG1520
• proselyteπροσήλυτοςprosēlutos · proselyteG4339
• whenὅτανhotan · when(-ever)G3752
• he is madeγίνομαιginomai · to beG1096
• himαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
• twofold moreδιπλοῦςdiplous · doubleG1362
• the childυἱόςuihos · sonG5207
• of hellγέενναgeenna · hell: GehennaG1067

Cross-references for Matthew 23:15

• Galatians 4:17They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them.
• Galatians 6:12As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.
• Esther 8:17And in every province and city, wherever the king’s command and decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a holiday. Then many of the people of the land became Jews, because fear of the Jews fell upon them.
• Acts 2:10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
• Acts 13:43Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.
• John 8:44You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
• Acts 13:10and said, “O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord?
• Acts 14:2But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren.
• Acts 17:5But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
• Ephesians 2:3among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

Commentaries on Matthew 23:15

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 15Compass sea and land - A proverbial expression, similar to ours, You leave no stone unturned; intimating that they did all in their power to gain converts, not to God, but to their sect. These we may suppose were principally sought for among the Gentiles, for the bulk of the Jewish nation was already on the side of the Pharisees. Proselyte - , a stranger, or foreigner; one who is come from his own people and country, to sojourn with another. See the…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 15Ye compass sea and land - You take every means, spare no pains, to gain proselytes. Proselyte - One that comes over from a foreign nation, religion, or sect to us - a convert. Among the Jews there were two kinds of proselytes: 1.“Proselytes of righteousness,” or those who wholly and fully embraced the Jewish religion, who were baptized, who were circumcised, and who conformed to all the rites of the Mosaic institutions. 2.“Proselytes of the gate,” or…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. 15A convert (proselyte) fully accepted Judaism by performing ceremonies like baptism, sacrifice, and circumcision (see Acts 13:43). A convert differed from a "God-fearer." A God-fearer was a person who accepted some Jewish beliefs, especially monotheism (belief in one God), without fully converting to Judaism (see Luke 7:4–5; Acts 10:2). To win a single convert likely means persuading God-fearers to fully convert by becoming circumcised (compare Galatians…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1515. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte--from heathenism. We have evidence of this in Josephus. and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves--condemned, for the hypocrisy he would learn to practice, both by the religion he left and that he embraced.Read the comment

Topics related to Matthew 23:15

• Church
• Ecclesiasticism
• Hell
• Hypocrisy
• Pharisees
• Satire
• Teachers

In the dictionaries

• Abase
• Bewray
• Devour
• Exalt
• Fill
• Gehenna
• Gnat
• Ought
• Partaker
• Pharisees

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