For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
Parallel translations
- WEB For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’
- BSB For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’
- NKJV For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’
- NASB For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘The one who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.’
- NLT For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’
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
Jesus cites the command to honor one's parents, showing what God actually requires. It matters because he is about to expose how tradition was being used to evade this very law.
Overview
Jesus quotes the fifth commandment (Exodus 20:12) and the penalty for cursing parents (Exodus 21:17), grounding his argument firmly in the Law of Moses. Honoring father and mother is no minor matter but a weighty command carrying serious consequences. By appealing to Scripture, Jesus shows that genuine obedience to God includes practical care and respect within the family. He, the obedient Son, fulfilled the Law's righteous demands on behalf of those who could not.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Exod 20:12Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
- Exod 21:17And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.
- Lev 20:9For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.
- Deut 5:16Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
- Deut 21:18–21If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:
- Prov 23:22Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
- Lev 19:3Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.
- Matt 19:19Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
- Eph 6:1Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
- Prov 20:20Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.
- Deut 27:16Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.
- Rom 3:31Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
- Matt 5:17–19Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
- Prov 30:17The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.
- Matt 4:10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
- Isa 8:20To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 15:4 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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