But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?
| Word | Greek | Strong’s | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| But | δὲ de | G1161 | but · conjunction |
| Jesus | Ἰησοῦς Iēsous | G2424 | Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua) · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name |
| perceived | Γνοὺς Gnous | G1097 | to "know" (absolutely) in a great variety of applicatio… · verb — second aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine |
| their | αὐτῶν autōn | G846 | the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural masculine |
| wickedness | πονηρίαν ponērian | G4189 | depravity · noun — accusative singular feminine |
| said | εἶπεν· eipen | G2036 | to speak or say (by word or writing) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular |
| Why | τί ti | G5101 | an interrogative pronoun · interrogative pronoun — accusative singular neuter |
| tempt ye | πειράζετε, peirazete | G3985 | to test (objectively) · verb — present active indicative, 2nd person plural |
| me | με me | G3165 | me · personal pronoun — 1st person accusative singular |
| hypocrites | ὑποκριταί; hupokritai | G5273 | an actor under an assumed character (stage-player) · noun — vocative plural masculine |
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
For many are called, but few are chosen--So Mat 19:30. See on Mat 20:16. Next: Matthew Chapter 23
But Jesus perceived their wickedness,.... Luke says, "their craftiness"; and Mark says, "knowing their hypocrisy"; for there was, a mixture of malice, hypocrisy, and artfulness, in the scheme they had formed; but Christ being the omniscient God, saw the wickedness of their hearts, knew their hypocritical designs, and was well acquainted with all their artifice: he judged not according to the outward appearance of their affection for him, and opinion of him, of religion, righteousness, and holiness in themselves, and of a sincere desire to have their conscience satisfied about this matter; the snare they laid was visible to him, the mask they put on could not screen them from him, nor impose…
Read the whole note in the consoleMatthew 22:15-22 Matthew 22:15-22 Mark 12:13-17 Luke 20:20-26 15. Then the Pharisees went away, and took counsel how they might entrap him in his words. 16. And they send to him their disciples, with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, and carest not for any man; for thou regardest not the person of men. 17. Tell us then, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? 18. But Jesus, perceiving their wickedness, saith, Why do you tempt me, hypocrites? 19. Show me the tribute money. And they presented to him a denarius. 20. And he saith to them, Whose is this image and inscription? 21. They say to him, Caesar'…
Read the whole note in the consoleYou hypocrites! See study note on 23:13.
Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).
This is the first excellence of the answerer, that He discerns the thoughts of His examiners, and calls them not disciples but tempters. A hypocrite is he who is one thing, and feigns himself another.
(Verse 18.) But Jesus, knowing their wickedness, said: Why do you tempt me, hypocrites? The first virtue of a respondent is to understand the minds of those who ask, and to call not disciples, but tempters. Therefore, a hypocrite is called someone who is one thing and pretends to be another, that is, someone who acts one way in action and another in words.
He makes an answer not corresponding to the smooth tone of their address, but harsh, suitable to their cruel thoughts; for God answers men's hearts, and not their words. He therefore calls them hypocrites, that seeing Him to be a discerner of human hearts, they might not be hardy enough to carry through their design. Observe thus how the Pharisees spoke fair that they might destroy Him, but Jesus put them to shame that He might save them; for God's wrath is more profitable to man, than man's favour.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
