For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’
Parallel translations
- KJV For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the 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 20:12“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
- Exod 21:17“Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
- Lev 20:9“‘For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death: he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.
- Deut 5:16“Honor your father and your mother, as Yahweh your God commanded you; that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you, in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
- Deut 21:18–21If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they chasten him, will not listen to them;
- Prov 23:22Listen to your father who gave you life, and don’t despise your mother when she is old.
- Lev 19:3“‘Each one of you shall respect his mother and his father. You shall keep my Sabbaths. I am Yahweh your God.
- Matt 19:19‘Honor your father and your mother.’ And, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
- Eph 6:1Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
- Prov 20:20Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness.
- Deut 27:16‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or his mother.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
- Rom 3:31Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be! No, we establish the law.
- Matt 5:17–19“Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill.
- Prov 30:17“The eye that mocks at his father, and scorns obedience to his mother: the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, the young eagles shall eat it.
- Matt 4:10Then Jesus said to him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’”
- Isa 8:20Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they don’t speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.