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Luke 11:48

So you are witnesses consenting to the deeds of your fathers: They killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

So ye are witnesses and consent unto the works of your fathers: for they killed them, and ye build their tombs.

KJV

Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.

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

18 tagged words
OriginalTransliterationMeaningWord study
ἄραaraSoG686
μάρτυρέςmartureswitnessesG3144
ἐστεesteyou areG1510
καὶkaiandG2532
συνευδοκεῖτεsuneudokeiteyou consentG4909
τοῖςtoisto theG3588
ἔργοιςergoisworksG2041
τῶνtōnof theG3588
πατέρωνpaterōnfathersG3962
ὑμῶν·humōnof you;G4771
ὅτιhotiForG3754
αὐτοὶautoithey themselvesG846
μὲνmenindeedG3303
ἀπέκτεινανapekteinankilledG615
αὐτούς,autousthem,G846
ὑμεῖςhumeisyou yourselvesG4771
δὲdehoweverG1161
οἰκοδομεῖτεoikodomeitebuildG3618

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)