Matthew 23:29
in Matthew 23Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and garnish the tombs of the righteous,
KJV
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
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This verse in Matthew 23
Commentary
14 notes on this verse(Verse 29 onwards) Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, and you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' Thus you bear witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
This site's exposition
build tombs for the prophets
on Matthew 23:29-31
The seventh woe finds them building tombs, honoring the men their fathers killed, while claiming they "would not have been partners with them". Jesus turns that claim into a confession: "you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets".
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
Without just cause He seems to utter denunciations against those who build the sepulchres of the Prophets; for so far what they did was praiseworthy; how then do they deserve this woe? And in the prophetic writings, the historical sense is the body, the spiritual meaning is the soul; the sepulchres are the letter and books themselves of Scripture. They then who attend only to the historical meaning, honour the bodies of the Prophets, and set in the letter as in a sepulchre; and are called Pharisees, i. e. 'cut off,' as it were cutting off the soul of the Prophets from their body.
By a most subtle syllogism He proves them to be the sons of murderers, while to gain good character and reputation with the people, they build the sepulchres of the Prophets whom their fathers put to death. Though they speak not this in words, they proclaim it by their actions, in ambitious and magnificent structures to their memory.
But say, hypocrite, if it be good to be wicked, why do you not desire to seem that which you desire to be? For what it is shameful to seem, that it is more shameful to be; and what to seem is fair, that it is fairer to be. Either therefore be what you seem, or seem what you are. Or, they said within themselves, If we do good to the poor not many see it, and then but for a moment; were it not better to raise buildings which all may see, not only now, but in all time to come? O foolish man, what boots this posthumous memory, if, where you are, you are tortured, and where you are not there you are praised? While He corrects the Jews, He instructs the Christians; for had these things been spoken to the former only, they would have been spoken, but not written; but now they were spoken on their account, and written on ours. When one, besides other good deeds, raises sacred buildings, it is an addition to his good works; but if without any other good works, it is a passion for worldly renown. The martyrs joy not to be honoured with money which has caused the poor to weep. The Jews, moreover, have ever been adorers of saints of former times, and contemners, yea persecutors, of the living. Because they could not endure the reproaches of their own Prophets, they persecuted and killed them; but afterwards the succeeding generation perceived the error of their fathers, and thus in grief at the death of innocent Prophets, they built up monuments of them. But they themselves in like manner persecuted and put to death the Prophets of their own time, when they rebuked them for their sins. This is what is meant, And ye say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the Prophets.
Not because they build, nor because they blame the others, doth He say, woe, but because, while both thus, and by what they say, they are pretending to condemn their fathers, they do worse. For in proof that the condemnation was a pretense, Luke saith, ye do allow because ye build; for, "Woe unto you," saith He, "for ye build the sepulchers of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly ye bear witness, and ye allow the deeds of your fathers, for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchers." For here He reproves their purpose, wherewith they built, that it was not for the honoring of them that were slain, but as making a show of the murders, and afraid, lest, when the tombs had perished by time, the proof and memory of such daring should fade away, setting up these glorious buildings, as a kind of trophy, and priding themselves in the daring deeds of those men, and displaying them.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Then when he says, woe to you, (...) who build the sepulchres of the prophets, he rebukes them for the pretense of piety, and he does two things. First, he sets forth their pretense; secondly, their cruelty, at wherefore you are witnesses against yourselves, etc. …
7 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
He deplores them, not for building tombs for the prophets, for that is pleasing to God, but for doing these things in pretence, and for passing judgement on their fathers while doing worse things themselves, and exceeding them by far in malice. They lie brazenly …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,....
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Ye build the tombs of the prophets - That is, you build sepulchres or tombs ever the prophets that have been slain. This they did professedly from veneration and respect for their character. This is often done at the East at the present day, and indeed elsewhere. Among the Muslims it is a common way of showing respect for any distinguished man to build a tomb for him. By doing this, they profess respect for his character and veneration for his memory.
We have in these verses the charges of our Lord against the Jewish teachers, ranged under eight heads. Standing in the midst of the temple, with a listening crowd around him, he publicly denounces the main errors of the scribes and the Pharisees, in unsparing terms. Eight times he uses the solemn expression, “Woe unto you;” seven times he calls them “hypocrites;” twice he speaks of them as “blind guides”—twice as “fools and blind”—once as “serpents! And a generation of vipers!” Let us mark that language well. It teaches a solemn lesson.
We have in these verses the charges of our Lord against the Jewish teachers, ranged under eight heads. Standing in the midst of the temple, with a listening crowd around him, he publicly denounces the main errors of the scribes and the Pharisees, in unsparing terms. Eight times he uses the solemn expression, “Woe unto you;” seven times he calls them “hypocrites;” twice he speaks of them as “blind guides”—twice as “fools and blind”—once as “serpents! And a generation of vipers!” Let us mark that language well. It teaches a solemn lesson. It shows how utterly abominable the spirit of the scribes and the Pharisees is in God’s sight, in whatever form it may be found. Let us glance shortly at the eight charges which our Lord brings forward, and then seek to draw from the whole passage some general instruction. The first “woe” in the list is directed against the systematic opposition of the scribes and Pharisees to the progress of the Gospel. They “shut up the kingdom of heaven;” they would neither go in themselves, nor suffer others go in. They rejected the warning voice of John the Baptist; they refused to acknowledge Jesus when he appeared among them as the Messiah; they tried to keep back Jewish inquirers. They would not believe the Gospel themselves, and they did all in their power to prevent others believing it: this was a great sin. The second “woe” in the list is directed against the covetousness and self-aggrandizing spirit of the scribes and Pharisees. They “devour widows’ houses and for a pretence made long prayer.” They imposed on the credulity of weak and unprotected women by an affection of great devoutness, until they were regarded as their spiritual directors. They scrupled not to abuse the influence thus unrighteously obtained to their own temporal advantage, and, in a word, to make money by their religion: this, again, was a great sin.
Ye build the tombs of the prophets - It appears that, through respect to their memory, they often repaired, and sometimes beautified, the tombs of the prophets. M. De la Valle, in his Journey to the Holy Land, says, that when he visited the cave of Machpelah, he saw some Jews honoring a sepulchre, for which they have a great veneration, with lighting at it wax candles and burning perfumes. See Harmer, vol. iii. p. 416. And in ditto, p. 424, we are informed that building tombs over those reputed saints, or beautifying those already built, is a frequent custom among the Mohammedans.
Modern Voices1 voice
The best example of the cultured, but common, tripper is the educated Englishman on the Continent. We can no longer explain the quarrel by calling Englishmen rude and foreigners polite. Hundreds of Englishmen are extremely polite, and thousands of foreigners are extremely rude. The truth …
How the passage was read
On Matthew 23:1-39On Matthew 23:1-39
The woes, read from inside Israel's own tradition
Read the chapter's own frame before its fire. Jesus opens by AFFIRMING the teaching office: the scribes and Pharisees “sit in Moses' seat,” the expositor's chair of the synagogue (stone seats of honor survive in excavated synagogues), “so practice and observe whatever they tell you” (23:2-3). And in the sharpest woe He still says of the tithe, “these you ought to have done” (23:23). The target throughout is hypocrisy in practice, never Torah observance itself. Each image is concrete: tefillin (the small Scripture boxes bound on arm and forehead in prayer, still worn today) made extra broad to be seen; tzitzit (the commanded tassels, Numbers 15:38, which Jesus Himself wore, Matthew 9:20) made extra long; the oath casuistry of Temple versus gold; herbs tithed while justice goes unweighed.
“Whited sepulchres” is seasonal and local: before Passover, graves were freshly marked with white lime so that pilgrims would not contract corpse impurity unawares; the Mishnah schedules the grave-marking in the month of Adar, a month before the feast (Shekalim 1:1). The pilgrim crowds hearing Jesus had just walked roads lined with newly whitened tombs. And the register of the speech is one Israel's own tradition could use of itself: the Talmud preserves a list of seven types of Pharisee, most of them bad, and warns against the “plague of Pharisees” (Sotah 22b), a self-critique sharper than most sermons. The chapter is a woe-oracle in the prophets' own tradition (Isaiah 1, Malachi 1-2), spoken in the Temple, and it ends not in triumph but in a lament that aches: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem... how often would I have gathered thy children together” (23:37).
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: Mishnah Shekalim 1:1 (graves marked in Adar, before Passover) · Sotah 22b (Babylonian Talmud, the seven types of Pharisee) · Mishnah Menachot 4:1 (tefillin and tzitzit in practice)
The words behind it
18 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Οὐαὶ | ouai | Woe | G3759 → | 46 times |
| ὑμῖν, | humin | to you, | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| γραμματεῖς | grammateis | scribes | G1122 → | 62 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| Φαρισαῖοι | pharisaioi | Pharisees | G5330 → | 97 times |
| ὑποκριταί, | hupokritai | hypocrites! | G5273 → | 17 times |
| ὅτι | hoti | For | G3754 → | 1292 times |
| οἰκοδομεῖτε | oikodomeite | you build | G3618 → | 40 times |
| τοὺς | tous | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| τάφους | taphous | tombs | G5028 → | 7 times |
| τῶν | ton | of the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| προφητῶν | propheton | prophets | G4396 → | 144 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| κοσμεῖτε | kosmeite | adorn | G2885 → | 10 times |
| τὰ | ta | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| μνημεῖα | mnemeia | monuments | G3419 → | 40 times |
| τῶν | ton | of the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| δικαίων | dikaion | righteous | G1342 → | 79 times |
ΟὐαὶWoe
ouaiG3759 →46 times
ὑμῖν,to you,
huminG4771 →2973 times
γραμματεῖςscribes
grammateisG1122 →62 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ΦαρισαῖοιPharisees
pharisaioiG5330 →97 times
ὑποκριταί,hypocrites!
hupokritaiG5273 →17 times
ὅτιFor
hotiG3754 →1292 times
οἰκοδομεῖτεyou build
oikodomeiteG3618 →40 times
τοὺςthe
tousG3588 →19766 times
τάφουςtombs
taphousG5028 →7 times
τῶνof the
tonG3588 →19766 times
προφητῶνprophets
prophetonG4396 →144 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
κοσμεῖτεadorn
kosmeiteG2885 →10 times
τὰthe
taG3588 →19766 times
μνημεῖαmonuments
mnemeiaG3419 →40 times
τῶνof the
tonG3588 →19766 times
δικαίωνrighteous
dikaionG1342 →79 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Acts 2:29Brothers, I can tell you with confidence that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
it leads to
- Acts 13:36
For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep. His body was buried with his fathers and saw decay.
- Acts 7:8–9
Then God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, and Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve…
- 1 Kings 2:10
Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David.
- Nehemiah 3:16
Beyond him, Nehemiah son of Azbuk, ruler of a half-district of Beth-zur, made repairs up to a point opposite the tombs of David, as far as the artificial pool and the House of the…
- Hebrews 7:4
Consider how great Melchizedek was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder.
- Acts 13:36
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Matthew
This page draws on 14 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); GK Chesterton, A Miscellany of Men, The Aristocratic 'Arry (1912); J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Matthew; Jerome, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew; John Chrysostom, Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 74; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Origen of Alexandria, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Pseudo-Chrysostom, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Matthew and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Matthew.