Go ahead and finish what your ancestors started.
Parallel translations
- WEB Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
- KJV Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
- BSB Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your fathers.
- ESV Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
- NKJV Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt.
- NASB Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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 to fill up the measure of their fathers' sin, foreshadowing his own rejection. It is a sobering statement that their guilt is about to reach its full extent.
Overview
With sharp irony, Jesus declares that they will complete the pattern of their forefathers by rejecting and killing him, the greatest of all God's messengers. The 'measure' of accumulated guilt is about to overflow. This anticipates the cross, where human rebellion against God reaches its climax, even as God works it for salvation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Gen 15:16In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.”
- Num 32:14“Behold, you have risen up in your fathers’ place, an increase of sinful men, to increase the fierce anger of Yahweh toward Israel.
- 1 Th 2:16forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved; to fill up their sins always. But wrath has come on them to the uttermost.
- Zech 5:6–11I said, “What is it?” He said, “This is the ephah basket that is appearing.” He said moreover, “This is their appearance in all the land
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 23:32 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.