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Luke 11:39

“Now then,” said the Lord, “you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

And the Lord said unto him, Now ye the Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter; but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness.

KJV

And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.

Commentary

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Hebraic traditional view

The dinner-table woes: cups, herbs, and proportion

The setting is a Pharisee's dinner table, and the host “marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner”: netilat yadayim, the ritual hand-pouring before bread (explained in this site's Mark 7 note). Jesus answers with the tradition's own vocabulary of vessels: “Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter.” The purity law genuinely distinguished a vessel's outside from its inside; the Mishnah's tractate on vessels opens a chapter with exactly that: “All vessels have different laws for their outer and inner sides” (Kelim 25:1). Jesus turns the technical distinction into a mirror: the inside of the person is the part that counts.

Luke's tithing woe is sharper than Matthew's, and knowing the law shows why: “ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs.” The Mishnah exempts rue from tithes (Sheviit 9:1 lists it first among the exempt plants). The Pharisees of the woe are tithing beyond what even their own tradition required, while “judgment and the love of God” go passed over. As in Matthew 23:23, Jesus affirms the scruple (“these ought ye to have done”) and indicts the inversion of weight.

Sources: Mishnah Kelim 25:1 (a vessel's outside and inside) · Mishnah Sheviit 9:1 (rue exempt from tithes)

Original language & word study

26 tagged words
OriginalTransliterationMeaningWord study
ΕἶπενEipenSaidG2036
δὲdethenG1161
hotheG3588
κύριοςkuriosLordG2962
πρὸςprostoG4314
αὐτόν·autonhim;G846
νῦνnunNowG3568
ὑμεῖςhumeisyou yourselvesG4771
οἱhoi<the>G3588
ΦαρισαῖοιPharisaioiPhariseesG5330
τὸtotheG3588
ἔξωθενexōthenoutsideG1855
τοῦtou<of> theG3588
ποτηρίουpotērioucupG4221
καὶkaiandG2532
τοῦtou<of> theG3588
πίνακοςpinakosdishG4094
καθαρίζετε,katharizeteyou cleanse,G2511
τὸto<the>G3588
δὲdeandG1161
ἔσωθενesōthenthe insideG2081
ὑμῶνhumōnof youG4771
γέμειgemeiis fullG1073
ἁρπαγῆςharpagēsof plunderingG724
καὶkaiandG2532
πονηρίας.ponēriaswickedness.G4189

The walk

About Luke

The Return of the Prodigal Son — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)
The Return of the Prodigal Son — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)