Matthew 23:14-15 ESV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Matthew 23:13-33

In these verses we have eight woes levelled directly against the scribes and Pharisees by our Lord Jesus Christ, like so many claps of thunder, or flashes of lightning, from mount Sinai. Three woes are made to look very dreadful (Rev. 8:13; 9:12); but here are eight woes, in opposition to the eight beatitudes, Matt. 5:3. The gospel has its woes as well as the law, and gospel curses are of all curses the heaviest. These woes are the more remarkable, not only because of the authority, but... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Matthew 23:1-39

If a man is characteristically and temperamentally an irritable, ill-tempered and irascible creature, notoriously given to uncontrolled outbursts of passionate anger, his anger is neither effective nor impressive. Nobody pays any attention to the anger of a bad-tempered man. But when a person who is characteristically meek and lowly, gentle and loving, suddenly erupts into blazing wrath, even the most thoughtless person is shocked into taking thought. That is why the anger of Jesus is so... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Matthew 23:14

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ,.... The same character is given as before, and the same woe denounced, and a fresh reason given of it: for ye devour widows' houses ; that is, the goods in the houses of such as were left with fatherless children, and but little to support them; who being left alone, and none to advise them, and being weak, and prone to superstition; these greedy dogs, as Isaiah calls them, who could never have enough, easily imposed upon them, wormed... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Matthew 23:15

Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ,.... The same character, and woe, are still continued, and a new reason added, confirming the justness of them, in order to awaken and convince them, or, however, to caution the people against them: for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte ; that is, to the Jewish religion, and their particular sect. There were two sorts of proselytes among them; one was called גר תושב , "a proselyte of the gate", one that might dwell in any of... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 23:13-14

Wo unto you, scribes - I think the fourteenth and thirteenth verses should be transposed. This transposition is authorized by some of the best MSS., versions, and fathers. The fourteenth is wanting in the BDL., and in many others of inferior note, as well as in several of the versions. Griesbach has left it out of the text, in his first edition; I hesitated, and left it in, thus transposed. I am happy to find that a more extensive collation of MSS., etc., afforded proof to that eminent... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 23:14

Ye devour widows' houses - On this subject I am in possession of nothing better than the following note of Dr. Whitby. "This sect," says Josephus, (Ant. l. xvii. chap. 3), "pretended to a more exact knowledge of the law, on which account the women were subject to them, as pretending to be dear to God. And when Alexandra obtained the government, (Jewish War, b. I. ch. 4), they insinuated themselves into her favor, as being the exactest sect of the Jews, and the most exact interpreters of... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 23:15

Compass sea and land - A proverbial expression, similar to ours, You leave no stone unturned; intimating that they did all in their power to gain converts, not to God, but to their sect. These we may suppose were principally sought for among the Gentiles, for the bulk of the Jewish nation was already on the side of the Pharisees. Proselyte - Προσηλυτος , a stranger, or foreigner; one who is come from his own people and country, to sojourn with another. See the different kinds of... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 23:14

Verse 14 14.For you devour widows’ houses. He now proceeds farther, for he not only accuses them of open crimes which demand hatred and detestation, but even tears away the disguises of virtues, by which they deceived the common people. If it be objected, that there was no need of reproving those things which could do no harm by their example, we ought to recollect that it was impossible to promote the salvation of those who were held bound by the errors of the scribes, unless they turned away... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 23:15

Verse 15 15.For you compass sea and land. The scribes had also acquired celebrity by their zeal in laboring to bring over to the Jewish religion the strangers and uncircumcised. And so, if they had gained any one by their false appearances, or by any other stratagem, they gloried wonderfully over it as an increase of the Church. On this account also they received great applause from the common people, that by their diligence and ability they brought strangers into the Church of God. Christ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 23:1-39

Denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees, and lamentation over Jerusalem which followed their guidance to her own destruction. (Peculiar to St. Matthew.) read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Matthew 23:13-33

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Matthew 23:1-39

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Matthew 23:14

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Matthew 23:15

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 23:13-14

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 23:14

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 23:15

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 23:14

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 23:15

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 23:1-39

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