Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how they might entrap him in his talk.
- BSB Then the Pharisees went out and conspired to trap Jesus in His words.
- NKJV Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk.
- NASB Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap Him in what He said.
- NLT Then the Pharisees met together to plot how to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested.
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
The Pharisees plot to trap Jesus in His words. Their hostility now turns to calculated entrapment.
Overview
Having been exposed by the parables, the Pharisees scheme to catch Jesus in a politically dangerous statement. Their plotting reveals hearts set on destroying Him rather than learning from Him. This begins a series of test-questions designed to discredit Jesus, each of which He turns into an occasion for revealing truth.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Luke 20:20–26And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.
- Mark 12:13–17And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words.
- Ps 2:2The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
- Ps 56:5–7Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil.
- Ps 59:3For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O LORD.
- Luke 11:53–54And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things:
- Ps 57:6They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah.
- Jer 20:10For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.
- Heb 12:3For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
- Ps 41:6And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it.
- Jer 18:18Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
- Isa 29:21That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.
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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 22:15 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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