Matthew 23 · Verse 13

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.

Matthew 23:13, King James Version

Matthew 23:13 in other translations

BSB	Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.
WEB	“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
ASV	But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye shut the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye enter not in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering in to enter.
YLT	‘Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye shut up the reign of the heavens before men, for ye do not go in, nor those going in do ye suffer to enter.
DARBY	But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye shut up the kingdom of the heavens before men; for ye do not enter, nor do ye suffer those that are entering to go in.
BBE	But a curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! because you are shutting the kingdom of heaven against men: for you do not go in yourselves, and those who are going in, you keep back.
Webster	But woe to 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.

What does Matthew 23:13 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

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 Lu 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; 5:39); but this they took away from the people, substituting for it their wretched traditions.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes

Verse 13. Woe unto you. You are guilty, and punishment will come unto you. tie proceeds to state wherein they were guilty. This most eloquent, most appalling, and most terrible of all discourses ever delivered to mortals, was pronounced hi the temple, in the presence of multitudes. Never was there more faithful dealing, more terrible reproof, more profound knowledge of the workings of hypocrisy, or more skillful in detecting the concealments of sin. This was the last of his public.discourses; and it is a most impressive summary of all he ever had said, or had to say, of a wicked and hypocritical generation.

Scribes and Pharisees. Mt 3:7.

Hypocrites. Mt 6:2.

Ye shut up the kingdom of heaven. Mt 3:2. They shut it up by their doctrines. By teaching false doctrines respecting the Messiah; by binding the people to an observance of their traditions; by opposing Jesus, and attempting to convince the people that he was an impostor, they prevented many from becoming his followers. Many were ready to embrace Jesus as the Messiah, and were about entering into the kingdom of heaven--i.e. the church--but they prevented it. Luke says Lk 11:52 they had taken away the key of knowledge, and thus prevented their entering in. That is, they had taken away the right interpretation of the ancient prophecies respecting the Messiah, and thus had done all they could to prevent the people from receiving Jesus as the Redeemer.

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

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

Verse 13 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 critic that it should be restored to its place. In the second edition, he has transposed the two, just as I had done. The fifteenth reads best after the thirteenth. Verse 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 the law, and, abusing her simplicity, did as they listed, remove and dispose, bind and loose, and even cut off men. They were in vogue for their long prayers, which they continued sometimes three hours; that perhaps they sold them, as do the Roman priests their masses, or pretended others should be more acceptable to God for them; and so might spoil devout widows by the gifts or salaries they expected from them. Now this being only a hypocritical pretense of piety, must be hateful to God, and so deserve a greater condemnation." Long prayer - For proofs of long prayers and vain repetitions among Jews, Mohammedans, and heathens, see the notes on Mat 6:7. Verse 13 Ye shut up the kingdom - As a key by opening a lock gives entrance into a house, etc., so knowledge of the sacred testimonies, manifested in expounding them to the people, may be said to open the way into the kingdom of heaven. But where men who are termed teachers are destitute of this knowledge themselves, they may be said to shut this kingdom; because they occupy the place of those who should teach, and thus prevent the people from acquiring heavenly knowledge. In ancient times the rabbins carried a key, which was the symbol or emblem of knowledge. Hence it is written in Semachoth, chap. 8., "When Rab. Samuel the little died, his key and his tablets were hung on his tomb, because he died childless." See Schoettgen. The kingdom of heaven here means the Gospel of Christ; the Pharisees would not receive it themselves, and hindered the common people as far as they could.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Matthew 23:13-33

The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very busy to turn souls to be of their party. Not for the glory of God and the good of souls, but that they might have the credit and advantage of making converts. Gain being their godliness, by a thousand devices they made religion give way to their worldly interests. They were very strict and precise in smaller matters of the law, but careless and loose in weightier matters. It is not the scrupling a little sin that Christ here reproves; if it be a sin, though but a gnat, it must be strained out; but the doing that, and then swallowing a camel, or, committing a greater sin. While they would seem to be godly, they were neither sober nor righteous. We are really, what we are inwardly. Outward motives may keep the outside clean, while the inside is filthy; but if the heart and spirit be made new, there will be newness of life; here we must begin with ourselves. The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was like the ornaments of a grave, or dressing up a dead body, only for show. The deceitfulness of sinners' hearts appears in that they go down the streams of the sins of their own day, while they fancy that they should have opposed the sins of former days. We sometimes think, if we had lived when Christ was upon earth, that we should not have despised and rejected him, as men then did; yet Christ in his Spirit, in his word, in his ministers, is still no better treated. And it is just with God to give those up to their hearts' lusts, who obstinately persist in gratifying them. Christ gives men their true characters.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Matthew 23:13 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

ΟὐαὶOuaiWoeG3759

ὑμῖν,huminto you,G4771

γραμματεῖςgrammateisscribesG1122

καὶkaiandG2532

ΦαρισαῖοιPharisaioiPhariseesG5330

ὑποκριταί,hupokritaihypocrites!G5273

ὅτιhotiForG3754

κλείετεkleieteyou shut upG2808

τὴνtēntheG3588

βασιλείανbasileiankingdomG932

τῶνtōnof theG3588

οὐρανῶνouranōnheavensG3772

ἔμπροσθενemprosthenbeforeG1715

τῶνtōn<the>G3588

ἀνθρώπων·anthrōpōnmen;G444

ὑμεῖςhumeisYou yourselvesG4771

γὰρgarforG1063

οὐκoukneitherG3756

εἰσέρχεσθεeiserchestheenterG1525

οὐδὲoudenor evenG3761

τοὺςtousthoseG3588

εἰσερχομένουςeiserchomenousenteringG1525

ἀφίετεaphietedo you allowG863

εἰσελθεῖν.¶eiseltheinto go in.G1525

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Matthew 23:13

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 the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Matthew 23:27
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
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, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.
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 were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
2 Timothy 4:15
Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.
2 Timothy 3:8
Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
Isaiah 9:14-15
Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.
Luke 11:43-44
Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.
Matthew 21:31-32
Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.
Matthew 23:13-15
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. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

woe.
14,15,27,29; Isa 9:14,15; 33:14; Zec 11:17; Lu 11:43,44
for ye shut.
21:31,32; Lu 11:52; Joh 7:46-52; 9:22,24,34; Ac 4:17,18; 5:28,40
Ac 8:1; 13:8; 1Th 2:15,16; 2Ti 3:8; 4:15

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Matthew 23:12
And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
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.
Matthew 23:14
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

Read all of Matthew 23

Matthew 23:13 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Mas ¡ay de vosotros, escribas y Fariseos, hipócritas! porque cerráis el reino de los cielos delante de los hombres; que ni vosotros entráis, ni á los que están entrando dejáis entrar.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Mais malheur à vous, scribes et pharisiens hypocrites! car vous fermez le royaume des cieux devant les hommes; car vous n’entrez pas vous-mêmes, ni ne permettez à ceux qui entrent, d’entrer.
German Elberfelder 1871	Wehe aber euch, Schriftgelehrte und Pharisäer, Heuchler! denn ihr verschließet das Reich der Himmel vor den Menschen; denn ihr gehet nicht hinein, noch laßt ihr die Hineingehenden eingehen.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Væ autem vobis scribæ et pharisæi hypocritæ, quia clauditis regnum cælorum ante homines! vos enim non intratis, nec introëuntes sinitis intrare.