Matthew 18:7

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! It is necessary that stumbling blocks come, but woe to the person through whom they come.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

¶Οὐαὶ τῷ κόσμῳ ἀπὸ τῶν σκανδάλων! ἀνάγκη γάρ ἐστιν ἐλθεῖν τὰ σκάνδαλα· πλὴν οὐαὶ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐκείνῳ διʼ οὗ τὸ σκάνδαλον ἔρχεται!

Transliteration

Ouai to the kosmō from the skandalōn! anagkē for estin elthein the skandala; plēn ouai to the anthrōpō ekeinō through whom the skandalon erchetai!

Grammar Details

• *Ouai*: interjection - woe
• *kosmō*: noun, dative, masculine, singular - world
• *skandalōn*: noun, genitive, neuter, plural - stumbling blocks/offenses
• *anagkē*: noun, nominative, feminine, singular - necessity
• *estin*: verb, present, active, indicative, 3rd person, singular - is
• *elthein*: verb, aorist, active, infinitive - to come
• *skandala*: noun, accusative, neuter, plural - stumbling blocks/offenses
• *plēn*: adverb/conjunction - however/nevertheless
• *ouai*: interjection - woe
• *anthrōpō*: noun, dative, masculine, singular - man/person
• *ekeinō*: demonstrative pronoun, dative, masculine, singular - that
• *skandalon*: noun, nominative, neuter, singular - stumbling block/offense
• *erchetai*: verb, present, middle, indicative, 3rd person, singular - comes

Word Meanings

• *Ouai*: woe/alas
• *kosmō*: world/universe/humanity
• *skandalōn*: stumbling blocks/offenses/causes of sin
• *anagkē*: necessity/must/inevitability
• *elthein*: to come/to arrive/to happen
• *skandala*: stumbling blocks/offenses/causes of sin
• *plēn*: however/nevertheless/except
• *anthrōpō*: man/person/human being
• *skandalon*: stumbling block/offense/cause of sin
• *erchetai*: comes/arrives/happens

Referenced Verses

• Luke 17:1 : 1 Sin, Forgiveness, Faith, and Service Jesus said to his disciples,“Stumbling blocks are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!
• 1 Cor 11:19 : 19 For there must in fact be divisions among you, so that those of you who are approved may be evident.
• Matt 26:24 : 24 The Son of Man will go as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for him if he had never been born.”
• Mark 13:7 : 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. These things must happen, but the end is still to come.
• John 17:12 : 12 When I was with them I kept them safe and watched over them in your name that you have given me. Not one of them was lost except the one destined for destruction, so that the scripture could be fulfilled.
• Acts 1:16 : 16 “Brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit foretold through David concerning Judas– who became the guide for those who arrested Jesus–
• Acts 1:18-20 : 18 (Now this man Judas acquired a field with the reward of his unjust deed, and falling headfirst he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. 19 This became known to all who lived in Jerusalem, so that in their own language they called that field Hakeldama, that is,“Field of Blood.”) 20 “For it is written in the book of Psalms,‘Let his house become deserted, and let there be no one to live in it,’ and‘Let another take his position of responsibility.’
• Rom 2:23-24 : 23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law! 24 For just as it is written,“the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
• Gen 13:7 : 7 So there were quarrels between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen.(Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.)
• 1 Sam 2:17 : 17 The sin of these young men was very great in the LORD’s sight, for they treated the LORD’s offering with contempt.
• 1 Sam 2:22-25 : 22 Eli was very old. And he would hear about everything that his sons used to do to all the people of Israel and how they used to go to bed with the women who were stationed at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 23 So he said to them,“Why do you do these things, these evil things which I hear about from all these people? 24 No, my sons! For the report that I hear circulating among the LORD’s people is not good. 25 If a man sins against a man, one may appeal to God on his behalf. But if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him then?” But Eli’s sons would not listen to their father. Indeed the LORD had decided to kill them.
• 2 Sam 12:14 : 14 Nonetheless, because you have treated the LORD with such contempt in this matter, the son who has been born to you will certainly die.”
• Matt 13:41-42 : 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom everything that causes sin as well as all lawbreakers. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
• Matt 23:13-28 : 13 “But woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in. 15 “Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You cross land and sea to make one convert, and when you get one, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves! 16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say,‘Whoever swears by the temple is bound by nothing. But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound by the oath.’ 17 Blind fools! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 And,‘Whoever swears by the altar is bound by nothing. But if anyone swears by the gift on it he is bound by the oath.’ 19 You are blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and the one who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and the one who sits on it. 23 “Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you neglect what is more important in the law– justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You should have done these things without neglecting the others. 24 Blind guides! You strain out a gnat yet swallow a camel! 25 “Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside may become clean too! 27 “Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
• 2 Thess 2:3-9 : 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not arrive until the rebellion comes and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. 4 He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, and as a result he takes his seat in God’s temple, displaying himself as God. 5 Surely you recall that I used to tell you these things while I was still with you. 6 And so you know what holds him back, so that he will be revealed in his own time. 7 For the hidden power of lawlessness is already at work. However, the one who holds him back will do so until he is taken out of the way, 8 and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will destroy by the breath of his mouth and wipe out by the manifestation of his arrival. 9 The arrival of the lawless one will be by Satan’s working with all kinds of miracles and signs and false wonders, 10 and with every kind of evil deception directed against those who are perishing, because they found no place in their hearts for the truth so as to be saved. 11 Consequently God sends on them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false. 12 And so all of them who have not believed the truth but have delighted in evil will be condemned.
• 1 Tim 4:1-3 : 1 Timothy’s Ministry in the Later Times Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings, 2 influenced by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared. 3 They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
• 1 Tim 5:14-15 : 14 So I want younger women to marry, raise children, and manage a household, in order to give the adversary no opportunity to vilify us. 15 For some have already wandered away to follow Satan.
• 1 Tim 6:1 : 1 Those who are under the yoke as slaves must regard their own masters as deserving of full respect. This will prevent the name of God and Christian teaching from being discredited.
• 2 Tim 3:1-5 : 1 Ministry in the Last Days But understand this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, savage, opposed to what is good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, loving pleasure rather than loving God. 5 They will maintain the outward appearance of religion but will have repudiated its power. So avoid people like these.
• 2 Tim 4:3-4 : 3 For there will be a time when people will not tolerate sound teaching. Instead, following their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves, because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear new things. 4 And they will turn away from hearing the truth, but on the other hand they will turn aside to myths.
• Titus 2:5 : 5 to be self-controlled, pure, fulfilling their duties at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the message of God may not be discredited.
• Titus 2:8 : 8 and a sound message that cannot be criticized, so that any opponent will be at a loss, because he has nothing evil to say about us.
• 2 Pet 2:2-3 : 2 And many will follow their debauched lifestyles. Because of these false teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation pronounced long ago is not sitting idly by; their destruction is not asleep.
• 2 Pet 2:15-17 : 15 By forsaking the right path they have gone astray, because they followed the way of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, 16 yet was rebuked for his own transgression(a dumb donkey, speaking with a human voice, restrained the prophet’s madness). 17 These men are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, for whom the utter depths of darkness have been reserved.
• Jude 1:4 : 4 For certain men have secretly slipped in among you– men who long ago were marked out for the condemnation I am about to describe– ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil and who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
• Jude 1:11-13 : 11 Woe to them! For they have traveled down Cain’s path, and because of greed have abandoned themselves to Balaam’s error; hence, they will certainly perish in Korah’s rebellion. 12 These men are dangerous reefs at your love feasts, feasting without reverence, feeding only themselves. They are waterless clouds, carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit– twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild sea waves, spewing out the foam of their shame; wayward stars for whom the utter depths of eternal darkness have been reserved.
• Rev 2:14-15 : 14 But I have a few things against you: You have some people there who follow the teaching of Balaam, who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. 15 In the same way, there are also some among you who follow the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
• Rev 2:20-23 : 20 But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21 I have given her time to repent, but she is not willing to repent of her sexual immorality. 22 Look! I am throwing her onto a bed of violent illness, and those who commit adultery with her into terrible suffering, unless they repent of her deeds. 23 Furthermore, I will strike her followers with a deadly disease, and then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts. I will repay each one of you what your deeds deserve.
• Rev 19:20-21 : 20 Now the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf– signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur. 21 The others were killed by the sword that extended from the mouth of the one who rode the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves with their flesh.