“Watch out!” Jesus warned them. “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
- KJV Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
- BSB “Watch out!” Jesus told them. “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
- NKJV Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”
- NASB And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
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 warns the disciples to beware the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. It matters because false teaching, like yeast, spreads quietly and corrupts.
Overview
Jesus uses yeast as a picture of how false doctrine permeates and corrupts unseen. The warning targets the teaching and influence of the religious leaders just encountered. A small amount of error, left unchecked, can spread through and spoil the whole. The disciples are to guard their minds against such corrupting influence.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Luke 12:1Meanwhile, 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.
- Gal 5:9A little yeast grows through the whole lump.
- Matt 16:12Then they understood that he didn’t tell them to beware of the yeast of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
- 1 Cor 5:6–8Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump?
- Lev 2:11“‘No meal offering, which you shall offer to Yahweh, shall be made with yeast; for you shall burn no yeast, nor any honey, as an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
- Mark 8:15He warned them, saying, “Take heed: beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.”
- 2 Tim 2:16–17But shun empty chatter, for it will go further in ungodliness,
- Luke 12:15He said to them, “Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.”
- Exod 12:15–19“‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away yeast out of your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
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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.'
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Original language
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