Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
Parallel translations
- WEB But Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.
- BSB Jesus answered, “You are mistaken because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.
- NKJV Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.
- NASB But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, since you do not understand the Scriptures nor the power of God.
- NLT Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.
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 tells them they err because they know neither the Scriptures nor God's power. Their denial of the resurrection rests on a double ignorance.
Overview
Jesus directly diagnoses the Sadducees' mistake: they misread the Scriptures and underestimate God's power to raise the dead and transform life. This rebuke affirms that right doctrine flows from rightly knowing God's Word and His might. It also models how Jesus corrects error by appeal to Scripture rather than human speculation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Rom 15:4For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
- John 20:9For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.
- Luke 1:37For with God nothing shall be impossible.
- Dan 12:2–3And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
- Jer 32:17Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:
- Phil 3:21Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
- Ps 17:15As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
- Ps 73:25–26Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
- Isa 26:19Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
- Job 19:25–27For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
- Gen 18:14Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
- Ps 49:14–15Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
- Acts 26:8Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?
- Luke 24:44–47And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
- Isa 25:8He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.
- Hos 13:14I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.
- Isa 57:1–2The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.
- Ps 16:9–11Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.
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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 22:29 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.