“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’
Parallel translations
- WEB “Woe to you, you blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’
- KJV Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
- BSB Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’
- NKJV “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it. ’
- NLT “Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple,’ but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple.’
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 calls them 'blind guides' for their hairsplitting rules about which oaths are binding. It exposes a corrupt system that evades honesty through technicalities.
Overview
The leaders had devised distinctions about oaths, treating some as binding and others as evasive loopholes. Such reasoning subverted the plain duty of truthfulness. Jesus condemns this as spiritual blindness, for it valued clever evasion over sincere integrity before God, who requires that our word simply be trustworthy.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Matt 15:14Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
- Matt 5:33–35“Again you have heard that it was said to them of old time, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,’
- Matt 23:17You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold?
- Jas 5:12But above all things, my brothers, don’t swear — not by heaven, or by the earth, or by any other oath; but let your “yes” be “yes”, and your “no”, “no”; so that you don’t fall into hypocrisy.
- Matt 23:24You blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel!
- Matt 23:19You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
- Isa 56:10–11His watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all mute dogs. They can’t bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
- Matt 23:26You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the platter, that its outside may become clean also.
- Matt 15:5–6But you say, ‘Whoever may tell his father or his mother, “Whatever help you might otherwise have gotten from me is a gift devoted to God,”
- John 9:39–41Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind.”
- Gal 5:3Yes, I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
- Mark 7:10–13For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother;’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’
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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 23:16 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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