Matthew 23:13 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Matthew 23:13
But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
to enter (literally or figuratively) · verb — present middle or passive deponent indicative, 2nd person plural
neither
οὐδὲoude
G3761
not however · conjunction — negative
suffer ye
ἀφίετεaphiete
G863
an intensive form of · verb — present active indicative, 2nd person plural
them that are entering
εἰσερχομένουςeiserchomenous
G1525
to enter (literally or figuratively) · verb — present middle or passive deponent participle, accusative plural masculine
to go in
εἰσελθεῖν.¶eiselthein
G1525
to enter (literally or figuratively) · verb — second aorist active infinitive
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
Luke 11:52 Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered…
Matthew 23:29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
Matthew 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of th…
Matthew 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are with…
Zechariah 11:17 Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, a…
Acts 8:1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they w…
2 Timothy 4:15 Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.
Isaiah 9:14-15 Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 23:13
But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men--Here they are charged with shutting heaven against men: in Luk 11:52 they are charged with what was worse, taking away the key--"the key of knowledge"--which means, not the key to open knowledge, but knowledge as the only key to open heaven. A right knowledge of God's revealed word is eternal life, as our Lord says (Joh 17:3; Joh 5:39); but this they took away from the people, substituting for it their wretched traditions.
John Gill on Matthew 23:13
But woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,.... It seems from hence, that the Scribes and Pharisees had not left him, at least not all of them, notwithstanding the confusion they were thrown into; but were still about him, observing what he said to the people, and watching an opportunity to take every advantage against him; whom he addresses in a very awful manner, calling them "hypocrites", as he truly might; for they were such, both to God and men: he had detected them already before the people, in several instances of hypocrisy; and gives sufficient reasons, in the following part of this chapter, to support the character, he gives of them, and his charge against them; denouncing a…
Matthew 23:13-15
Matthew 23:13-15
Mark 12:40
Luke 11:52
13. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you do not enter yourselves, and do not permit those who come to enter. 14. And woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you devour widows' houses, and that under the disguise of a long prayer; therefore you will be the more severely punished. 15. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you compass sea and land to make [93] one proselyte; and when he is made, [94] you make him twice as much the child of hell as yourselves.
40. Who devour widows' houses, and that under the disguise of a longprayer. These…
Which means that every one who thinks highly of his own deserts, shall be humbled before God; and every one who humbles himself concerning his good deeds, shall be exalted with God.
"Woe" is a voice of sorrowing. For this reason he says that they close the kingdom of heaven, because they hide in the law the consolation of his truth. They lost sight of the advent expected by the prophets. Through deceptive teachings, they do not allow others to go to heaven either. They do not adorn the way of eternity.
By the kingdom of heaven is meant the Scriptures, because in them the kingdom of heaven is lodged; the understanding of these is the door. Or the kingdom of heaven is the blessedness of heaven, and the door thereof Christ, by Whom men enter in. The door-keepers are the Priests, to whom is committed the word of teaching or interpreting Scripture, by which the door of truth is opened to men. The opening of this door is right interpretation. And observe that He said not, Woe unto you, for ye open, but, for ye shut up; the Scriptures then are not shut up, though they are obscure.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Key — Frequently mentioned in Scripture. It is called in Hebrew maphteah, i.e., the opener (Judg. 3:25); and in the Greek New Testament kleis, from its use in shutting (Matt. 16:19; Luke 11:52; Rev. 1:18,…
Pharisees — Separatists (Heb. persahin, from parash, “to separate”). They were probably the successors of the Assideans (i.e., the “pious”), a party that originated in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes in revolt…
Scribes — Anciently held various important offices in the public affairs of the nation. The Hebrew word so rendered (sopher) is first used to designate the holder of some military office (Judg. 5:14; A.V.,…
Ecclesiasticism · Jewish, rebuked by Jesus — Jewish, rebuked by Jesus
Hypocrisy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Hypocrites · Woe to — Woe to
Pharisees · .By Jesus — .By Jesus
Pharisees, The · Christ: Denounced woes against — Christ: Denounced woes against
Reproof · On account of: Hypocrisy — On account of: Hypocrisy
Satire · Of Jesus against hypocrites — Of Jesus against hypocrites
Teachers · .Admonition against — .Admonition against
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).
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Matthew 23:13-36
Matthew collected seven statements of what sorrow awaits you (literally woe to you), drawing upon similar Old Testament listings (Isa 5:8-23; Hab 2:6-20), and he arranged them to climax in the murder of the prophets.
23:13 What sorrow awaits you: A stark warning of judgment from God. • Hypocrites! In English, hypocrisy describes a contradiction between reality and appearance. But in biblical usage, hypocrisy is misperceiving God’s will, leading people astray, and thus incurring God’s judgment. Coupled with this is often a desire for prestige and power (23:5-12), abuse of teaching authority, false teachings on doctrine or practice (23:13-22), and preoccupation with ethical minutiae (23:23-28…
