Matthew 23:28

Matthew 23:28 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
• New International Version (NIV)In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
• English Standard Version (ESV)So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Context of Matthew 23:28

26You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too. 27“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. 29“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed, and you decorate the monuments of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. 30Then you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would never have joined them in killing the prophets.’

Matthew 23:28 word by word

οὕτως καὶ ὑμεῖς ἔξωθεν μὲν φαίνεσθε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις δίκαιοι, ἔσωθεν δέ ἐστε μεστοὶ ὑποκρίσεως καὶ ἀνομίας.¶Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Even soοὕτωςhoutō · thus(-ly)G3779
• yeσύsu · youG4771
• alsoκαίkai · andG2532
• outwardlyἔξωθενexōthen · outsideG1855
• ·μένmen · on the other handG3303
• appearφαίνωphainō · to shine/appearG5316
• righteousδίκαιοςdikaios · justG1342
• unto menὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• unto menἄνθρωποςanthrōpos · a humanG444
• butδέde · thenG1161
• withinἔσωθενesōthen · inwardlyG2081
• ye areεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
• fullμεστόςmestos · fullG3324
• of hypocrisyὑπόκρισιςhupokrisis · hypocrisyG5272
• iniquityἀνομίαanomia · lawlessnessG458

Cross-references for Matthew 23:28

• Matthew 23:5“Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels.
• 1 Samuel 16:7But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
• Psalms 51:6But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there.
• Jeremiah 17:9“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?
• Luke 16:15Then he said to them, “You like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts. What this world honors is detestable in the sight of God.
• Hebrews 4:12For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
• Matthew 12:34You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say.
• Matthew 15:19For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.
• Mark 7:21For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder,

Commentaries on Matthew 23:28

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 28Even so ye also - appear righteous unto men - But what will this appearance avail a man, when God sits in judgment upon his soul? Will the fair reputation which he had acquired among men, while his heart was the seat of unrighteousness, screen him from the stroke of that justice which impartially sends all impurity and unholiness into the pit of destruction? No. In the sin that he hath sinned, and in which he hath died, and according to that, shall he be…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. 27-28Jewish people used to coat limestone tombs, like funerary urns or ossuaries, with a mixture of marble and lime. This filled the holes and made the tombs look nicer. It also helped visitors to Jerusalem see and avoid them, preventing contamination. Jesus did not criticize decorating tombs. Instead, he compared these whitewashed tombs to Jewish religious teachers and Pharisees. Both looked good on the outside but had contamination and impurity on the inside.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-39For this long and terrible discourse we are indebted, with the exception of a few verses in Mark and Luke, to Matthew alone. But as it is only an extended repetition of denunciations uttered not long before at the table of a Pharisee, and recorded by Luke (Lu 11:37-54), we may take both together in the exposition. Denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees (Mt 23:1-36). The first twelve verses were addressed more immediately to the disciples, the rest to…Read the comment

Topics related to Matthew 23:28

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

In the dictionaries

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

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