“But in saying that, you testify against yourselves that you are indeed the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets.
- KJV Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
- BSB So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.
- NKJV “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
- NASB So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
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
By calling themselves descendants of those who killed the prophets, they testify against themselves. It turns their own words into self-condemnation.
Overview
Their claim of descent ironically admits kinship with the prophets' murderers. Jesus shows that they share not only their ancestors' lineage but their hostility to God's word. Their proud boast becomes evidence of their guilt, for they are about to do to him what their fathers did to the prophets.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Acts 7:51–52“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
- 1 Th 2:15–16who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out, and didn’t please God, and are contrary to all men;
- Josh 24:22Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen Yahweh yourselves, to serve him.” They said, “We are witnesses.”
- Job 15:5–6For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.
- Luke 19:22“He said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth will I judge you, you wicked servant! You knew that I am an exacting man, taking up that which I didn’t lay down, and reaping that which I didn’t sow.
- Ps 64:8Their own tongues shall ruin them. All who see them will shake their heads.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 23:31 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.