You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
Parallel translations
- WEB You blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel!
- KJV Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
- NKJV Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
- NASB You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
- NLT Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!
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
They strain out a gnat but swallow a camel, a vivid image of fussing over trifles while ignoring gross sin. It mocks misplaced priorities in religion.
Overview
Using deliberate hyperbole, Jesus pictures the leaders filtering out the smallest unclean insect while gulping down the largest unclean animal. Their religion obsessed over minutiae while overlooking enormous moral failures. The image warns against any piety that fixates on small matters and neglects the great commands to love God and neighbor.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Matt 19:24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
- Matt 27:6–8The chief priests picked up the pieces of silver and said, “It is unlawful to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.”
- Matt 15:2–6“Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands before they eat.”
- Luke 6:7–10Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He would heal on the Sabbath.
- John 18:28Then they led Jesus away from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. By now it was early morning, and the Jews did not enter the Praetorium, to avoid being defiled and unable to eat the Passover.
- Matt 23:16Woe 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.’
- John 18:40“Not this man,” they shouted, “but Barabbas!” (Now Barabbas was an insurrectionist.)
- Matt 7:4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while there is still a beam in your own eye?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 23:24 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.