a separatist · noun — vocative plural masculine, a title
hypocrites
ὑποκριταί,hupokritai
G5273
an actor under an assumed character (stage-player) · noun — vocative plural masculine
because
ὅτιhoti
G3754
demonstrative · conjunction
ye build
οἰκοδομεῖτεoikodomeite
G3618
to be a house-builder · verb — present active indicative, 2nd person plural
the tombs
τάφουςtaphous
G5028
a grave (the place of interment) · noun — accusative plural masculine
of the prophets
προφητῶνprophētōn
G4396
a foreteller ("prophet") · noun — genitive plural masculine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
garnish
κοσμεῖτεkosmeite
G2885
to put in proper order · verb — present active indicative, 2nd person plural
the sepulchres
μνημεῖαmnēmeia
G3419
a remembrance · noun — accusative plural neuter
of the righteous
δικαίωνdikaiōn
G1342
equitable (in character or act) · adjective — genitive 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
Luke 11:47-48 Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
Acts 2:29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto th…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 23:27
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like whited sepulchres--or, whitewashed sepulchres. (Compare Act 23:3). The process of whitewashing the sepulchres, as LIGHTFOOT says, was performed on a certain day every year, not for ceremonial cleansing, but., as the following words seem rather to imply, to beautify them.
which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness--What a powerful way of conveying the charge, that with all their fair show their hearts were full of corruption! (Compare Psa 5:9; Rom 3:13). But our Lord, stripping off the figure, next holds up their iniquity in naked colors.
Wherefore ye be witnesses u…
Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,.... This is the seventh and last time, in which these words are delivered in this exact form by our Lord, in this chapter; and expresses the certainty, both of their sin and punishment: and the instance annexed to it, no less discovers the hypocrisy of these persons, and supports the character given of them; as also furnishes out a sufficient reason, why a woe is denounced upon them,
because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous; meaning by the "prophets" and "righteous" men, the same persons, the prophets, who were righteous men; or else the prophets, and also other righteous men besides them. Rightly…
Matthew 23:29-39
Matthew 23:29-39
Luke 11:47-51
29. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you build the sepulchers of the prophets and embellish the monuments of the righteous, 30. And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been their associates in the blood of the prophets. 31. Thus you testify against yourselves, that you are the children of those who killed the prophets. 32. Do you also fill up the measure of your fathers. 33. Serpents, offspring of vipers, how shall you escape the judgment of hell? 34. Therefore, lo, I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes, and some of them you will slay and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in…
The Church Fathers
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.
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.
(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. In the most skillful syllogism, they are proven to be the offspring of murderers, while they themselves, by the opinion of goodness and glory among the people, build tombs for the prophets whom their forefathers killed, and they say, 'If we had lived in that time, we would not have done what our fathers did.' However, even if they do not say it in words, they speak through their actions by ambitiously and magnificently building monuments to the slain, whom they do not deny were killed by their forefathers.
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
Garnish — Overlay with stones (2 Chr. 3:6), adorn (Rev. 21:19), deck with garlands (Matt. 23:29), furnish (12:44). In Job 26:13 (Heb. shiphrah, meaning “brightness”), “By his spirit the heavens are brightness”…
Olives, Mount Of — “The Mount of Olives” occurs in the Old Testament in (Zechariah 14:4) only. In (2 Samuel 15:30) it is called “Olivet;” in other places simply “the mount,” (Nehemiah 8:15) “the mount facing Jerusalem”…
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.,…
Tombs — Of the Hebrews were generally excavated in the solid rock, or were natural caves. Mention is made of such tombs in Judg. 8:32; 2 Sam. 2:32; 2 Kings 9:28; 23:30. They were sometimes made in gardens (2…
Burial · Places of: Tombs erected over — Places of: Tombs erected over
Ecclesiasticism · Jewish, rebuked by Jesus — Jewish, rebuked by Jesus
Hypocrisy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Pharisees · .By Jesus — .By Jesus
Pharisees, The · Christ: Denounced woes against — Christ: Denounced woes against
Satire · Of Jesus against hypocrites — Of Jesus against hypocrites
By building and decorating the tombs for the prophets, the teachers of religious law and Pharisees showed outward solidarity with the prophets, while inwardly they were of the same sinful character as their ancestors who had murdered the prophets.
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).
