Yehezkiel 32:2

32:2 “Son of man, sing a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him:

“‘You were like a lion ¹  among the nations,

but you are a monster in the seas;

you thrash about in your streams,

stir up the water with your feet,

and muddy your ²  streams.

Matius 15:6-9

15:6 he does not need to honor his father.’ ³  You have nullified the word of God on account of your tradition. 15:7 Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said,

15:8 ‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart ⁴  is far from me,

15:9 and they worship me in vain,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” ⁵ 

Matius 23:13

23:13 “But woe to you, experts in the law ⁶  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! ⁷  You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! ⁸  For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in.

Lukas 11:52

11:52 Woe to you experts in religious law! You have taken away ⁹  the key to knowledge! You did not go in yourselves, and you hindered ¹⁰  those who were going in.”

[32:2]  ¹ tn The lion was a figure of royalty (Ezek 19:1-9).

[32:2]  ² tc The Hebrew reads “their streams”; the LXX reads “your streams.”

[15:6]  ³ tc The logic of v. 5 would seem to demand that both father and mother are in view in v. 6. Indeed, the majority of mss (C L W Θ 0106 ˹ Ï) have “or his mother” (ἢ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ, h thn mhtera autou) after “honor his father” here. However, there are significant witnesses that have variations on this theme (καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ [kai thn mhtera autou, “and his mother”] in Φ 565 1241 pc and ἢ τὴν μητέρα [“or mother”] in 073 ˹³ 33 579 700 892 pc), which is usually an indication of a predictable addition to the text rather than an authentic reading. Further, the shorter reading (without any mention of “mother”) is found in early and important witnesses (א B D sa). Although it is possible that the shorter reading came about accidentally (due to the repetition of –ερα αὐτοῦ), the evidence more strongly suggests that the longer readings were intentional scribal alterations.

[15:6]  tn Grk “he will never honor his father.” Here Jesus is quoting the Pharisees, whose intent is to release the person who is giving his possessions to God from the family obligation of caring for his parents. The verb in this phrase is future tense, and it is negated with οὐ μή (ou mh), the strongest negation possible in Greek. A literal translation of the phrase does not capture the intended sense of the statement; it would actually make the Pharisees sound as if they agreed with Jesus. Instead, a more interpretive translation has been used to focus upon the release from family obligations that the Pharisees allowed in these circumstances.

[15:6]  sn Here Jesus refers to something that has been set aside as a gift to be given to God at some later date, but which is still in the possession of the owner. According to contemporary Jewish tradition, the person who made this claim was absolved from responsibility to support or assist his parents, a clear violation of the Mosaic law to honor one’s parents (v. 4).

[15:8]  ⁴ tn The term “heart” is a collective singular in the Greek text.

[15:9]  ⁵ sn A quotation from Isa 29:13.

[23:13]  ⁶ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:13]  ⁷ tn Grk “Woe to you…because you…” The causal particle ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated here for rhetorical effect (and so throughout this chapter).

[23:13]  ⁸ tn Grk “because you are closing the kingdom of heaven before people.”

[11:52]  ⁹ sn You have taken away the key to knowledge is another stinging rebuke. They had done the opposite of what they were trying to do.

[11:52]  ¹⁰ tn Or “you tried to prevent.”