Meanwhile, when a multitude of many thousands had gathered together, so much so that they trampled on each other, he began to tell his disciples first of all, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
Parallel translations
- KJV In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
- BSB In the meantime, a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling one another. Jesus began to speak first to His disciples: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
- NKJV In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
- NASB Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
- NLT Meanwhile, the crowds grew until thousands were milling about and stepping on each other. Jesus turned first to his disciples and warned them, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees—their hypocrisy.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Amid a vast crowd, Jesus warns His disciples first to beware the 'yeast of the Pharisees,' which He identifies as hypocrisy. Inward sincerity before God matters more than outward show.
Overview
Like leaven that quietly permeates dough, hypocrisy spreads pervasively and corrupts. Jesus warns His followers against the religious pretense that He has just denounced in the Pharisees, urging genuineness instead of performance. True discipleship flows from a heart transformed by grace, not from outward conformity that masks an unchanged inner life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- 1 Pet 2:1Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking,
- 1 Cor 5:7–8Purge out the old yeast, that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place.
- Jas 3:17But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
- Matt 16:6–12Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
- 1 Cor 15:3For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
- Mark 8:15–21He warned them, saying, “Take heed: beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.”
- Luke 12:56You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how is it that you don’t interpret this time?
- Job 27:8For what is the hope of the godless, when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?
- Job 20:5that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?
- 2 Kgs 7:17The king appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to be in charge of the gate; and the people trampled over him in the gate, and he died as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him.
- Luke 11:44Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like hidden graves, and the men who walk over them don’t know it.”
- Acts 21:20They, when they heard it, glorified God. They said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law.
- Luke 6:17He came down with them, and stood on a level place, with a crowd of his disciples, and a great number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases;
- Job 36:13“But those who are godless in heart lay up anger. They don’t cry for help when he binds them.
- Luke 5:15But the report concerning him spread much more, and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities.
- Luke 5:1Now while the multitude pressed on him and heard the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.
- Isa 33:14The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless ones. Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning?
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 12:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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