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Luke 11:40

You fools! Did not the One who made the outside make the inside as well?

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

Ye foolish ones, did not he that made the outside make the inside also?

KJV

Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?

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

10 tagged words
OriginalTransliterationMeaningWord study
ἄφρονες,aphronesFools!G878
οὐχouchSurelyG3756
hothe [One]G3588
ποιήσαςpoiēsashaving madeG4160
τὸtotheG3588
ἔξωθενexōthenoutsideG1855
καὶkaialsoG2532
τὸtotheG3588
ἔσωθενesōtheninsideG2081
ἐποίησεν;epoiēsenmade?G4160

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)