you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?
Parallel translations
- WEB You therefore who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach that a man shouldn’t steal, do you steal?
- KJV Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
- NKJV You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal?
- NASB you, therefore, who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one is not to steal, do you steal?
- NLT Well then, if you teach others, why don’t you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal, but do you steal?
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
You who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? Teaching others is hollow without practicing it oneself.
Overview
Paul turns the indictment into pointed questions. The one who instructs others fails to apply the law to himself. The example of stealing shows that knowing and proclaiming the law does not equal keeping it. This exposes the hypocrisy of religious privilege divorced from obedience, leaving the self-righteous Jew as guilty as the pagan of chapter 1.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- 1 Cor 9:27No, I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
- Matt 23:3–28So practice and observe everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
- Luke 12:47That servant who knows his master’s will but does not get ready or follow his instructions will be beaten with many blows.
- Mic 3:11Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD, saying, “Is not the LORD among us? No disaster can come upon us.”
- Titus 2:1–7But as for you, speak the things that are consistent with sound doctrine.
- Luke 11:46“Woe to you as well, experts in the law!” He replied. “You weigh men down with heavy burdens, but you yourselves will not lift a finger to lighten their load.
- Ps 50:16–21To the wicked, however, God says, “What right have you to recite My statutes and to bear My covenant on your lips?
- Matt 21:13And He declared to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”
- Ezek 22:27Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain.
- Amos 8:4–6Hear this, you who trample the needy, who do away with the poor of the land,
- Luke 19:22His master replied, ‘You wicked servant, I will judge you by your own words. So you knew that I am a harsh man, withdrawing what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow?
- Luke 4:23Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to Me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! Do here in Your hometown what we have heard that You did in Capernaum.’”
- Ezek 22:12–13In you they take bribes to shed blood. You engage in usury, take excess interest, and extort your neighbors. But Me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.
- Isa 56:11Like ravenous dogs, they are never satisfied. They are shepherds with no discernment; they all turn to their own way, each one seeking his own gain:
- Gal 6:13For the circumcised do not even keep the law themselves, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 2:21 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.