Matthew 23 · Verse 32

Matthew 23:32

Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

Matthew 23:32, King James Version

Matthew 23:32 in other translations

BSB	Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your fathers.
WEB	Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
ASV	Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
YLT	and ye--ye fill up the measure of your fathers.
DARBY	and ye, fill ye up the measure of your fathers.
BBE	Make full, then, the measure of your fathers.
Webster	Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

What does Matthew 23:32 mean?

Barnes' Notes

Verse 32. Fill ye up then, etc. This is a prediction of what they were about to do. He would have them to act out their true spirit, and show what they were, and evince to all that they had the spirit of their fathers. This was done by putting him to death, and persecuting the apostles.

The measure. The full amount, so as to make it complete. By your slaying me, fill up what is lacking of the iniquity of your fathers till the measure is full, the national iniquity is complete, as much has been committed as God can possibly bear, and then shall come upon you all this blood, and you shall be destroyed, Mt 23:34,35.

(o) "Fill ye up" Gen 15:16, 1Thes 2:16

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 32 Fill ye up then - Notwithstanding the profession you make, ye will fill up the measure of your fathers - will continue to walk in their way, accomplish the fullness of every evil purpose by murdering me; and then, when the measure of your iniquity is full, vengeance shall come upon you to the uttermost, as it did on your rebellious ancestors. The 31st verse should be read in a parenthesis, and then the 32d will appear to be, what it is, an inference from the 30th. Ye will fill up, or fill ye up - πληρωσατε· but it is manifest that the imperative is put here for the future, a thing quite consistent with the Hebrew idiom, and frequent in the Scriptures. So Joh 2:19, Destroy this temple, etc., i.e. Ye will destroy or pull down this temple, and I will rebuild it in three days - Ye will crucify me, and I will rise again the third day. Two good MSS. have the word in the future tense: and my old MS. Bible has it in the present - Ge (ye) fulfillen the mesure of youre (your) fadris.

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…

Read the full comment on Matthew 23:13-33 →

Matthew 23:32 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.

καὶkaiAndG2532

ὑμεῖςhumeisyou yourselvesG4771

πληρώσατεplērōsatedo fill upG4137

τὸtotheG3588

μέτρονmetronmeasureG3358

τῶνtōnof theG3588

πατέρωνpaterōnfathersG3962

ὑμῶν.humōnof you.G4771

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

Cross references for Matthew 23:32

Genesis 15:16
But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
Numbers 32:14
And, behold, ye are risen up in your fathers’ stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord toward Israel.
1 Thessalonians 2:16
Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

the measure.
Ge 15:16; Nu 32:14; Zec 5:6-11

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

Context

Matthew 23:31
Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
Matthew 23:32
Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Matthew 23:33
Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

Read all of Matthew 23

Matthew 23:32 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	¡Vosotros también henchid la medida de vuestros padres!
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	et vous, – comblez la mesure de vos pères!
German Elberfelder 1871	und ihr, machet voll das Maß eurer Väter!
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Et vos implete mensuram patrum vestrorum.