Matthew 23:15

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

“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!

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Acts 13:43 : 43 When the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and were persuading them to continue in the grace of God.
  • Acts 2:10 : 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, and visitors from Rome,
  • Acts 6:5 : 5 The proposal pleased the entire group, so they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a Gentile convert to Judaism from Antioch.
  • Matt 5:22 : 22 But I say to you that anyone who is angry with a brother will be subjected to judgment. And whoever insults a brother will be brought before the council, and whoever says‘Fool’ will be sent to fiery hell.
  • Matt 5:29 : 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away! It is better to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into hell.
  • John 8:44 : 44 You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
  • Acts 13:10 : 10 and said,“You who are full of all deceit and all wrongdoing, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness– will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?
  • Esth 8:17 : 17 Throughout every province and throughout every city where the king’s edict and his law arrived, the Jews experienced happiness and joy, banquets and holidays. Many of the resident peoples pretended to be Jews, because the fear of the Jews had overcome them.
  • Acts 14:2 : 2 But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
  • Acts 14:19 : 19 But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and after winning the crowds over, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, presuming him to be dead.
  • Acts 17:5-6 : 5 But the Jews became jealous, and gathering together some worthless men from the rabble in the marketplace, they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. They attacked Jason’s house, trying to find Paul and Silas to bring them out to the assembly. 6 When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, screaming,“These people who have stirred up trouble throughout the world have come here too,
  • Acts 17:13 : 13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica heard that Paul had also proclaimed the word of God in Berea, they came there too, inciting and disturbing the crowds.
  • Gal 4:17 : 17 They court you eagerly, but for no good purpose; they want to exclude you, so that you would seek them eagerly.
  • Gal 6:12 : 12 Those who want to make a good showing in external matters are trying to force you to be circumcised. They do so only to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.
  • Eph 2:3 : 3 among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest…

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Matt 23:23-29
    7 verses
    78%

    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.

    24Blind 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.

    26Blind 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.

    28In the same way, on the outside you look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

    29“Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.

  • Matt 23:13
    78%

    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.

  • Matt 23:16
    74%

    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.’

  • Luke 11:42-44
    3 verses
    74%

    42“But woe to you Pharisees! You give a tenth of your mint, rue, and every herb, yet you neglect justice and love for God! But you should have done these things without neglecting the others.

    43Woe to you Pharisees! You love the best seats in the synagogues and elaborate greetings in the marketplaces!

    44Woe to you! You are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it!”

  • Matt 15:6-7
    2 verses
    73%

    6he does not need to honor his father.’ You have nullified the word of God on account of your tradition.

    7Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said,

  • Matt 23:31-34
    4 verses
    72%

    31By saying this you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets.

    32Fill up then the measure of your ancestors!

    33You snakes, you offspring of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?

    34“For this reason I am sending you prophets and wise men and experts in the law, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town,

  • Mark 12:40
    71%

    40They devour widows’ property, and as a show make long prayers. These men will receive a more severe punishment.”

  • Luke 20:46-47
    2 verses
    70%

    46“Beware of the experts in the law. They like walking around in long robes, and they love elaborate greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.

    47They devour widows’ property, and as a show make long prayers. They will receive a more severe punishment.”

  • Matt 23:2-5
    4 verses
    70%

    2“The experts in the law and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat.

    3Therefore pay attention to what they tell you and do it. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they teach.

    4They tie up heavy loads, hard to carry, and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing even to lift a finger to move them.

    5They do all their deeds to be seen by people, for they make their phylacteries wide and their tassels long.

  • Matt 5:20
    69%

    20For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven!

  • Luke 11:39
    69%

    39But the Lord said to him,“Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.

  • Luke 12:1
    69%

    1Fear God, Not People Meanwhile, when many thousands of the crowd had gathered so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples,“Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

  • Matt 15:1
    69%

    1Breaking Human Traditions Then Pharisees and experts in the law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and said,

  • Luke 11:47
    69%

    47Woe to you! You build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed.

  • Luke 16:15
    69%

    15But Jesus said to them,“You are the ones who justify yourselves in men’s eyes, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly prized among men is utterly detestable in God’s sight.

  • Luke 11:53
    68%

    53When he went out from there, the experts in the law and the Pharisees began to oppose him bitterly, and to ask him hostile questions about many things,

  • Matt 3:7
    68%

    7But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them,“You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

  • Luke 17:2
    68%

    2It would be better for him to have a millstone tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.

  • Mark 7:13
    68%

    13Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like this.”

  • Matt 22:15
    68%

    15Paying Taxes to Caesar Then the Pharisees went out and planned together to entrap him with his own words.

  • Matt 10:15
    68%

    15I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town!

  • Matt 7:15
    67%

    15A Tree and Its Fruit“Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves.

  • Luke 6:26
    67%

    26“Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for their ancestors did the same things to the false prophets.

  • Matt 12:45
    67%

    45Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so the last state of that person is worse than the first. It will be that way for this evil generation as well!”

  • Luke 10:14-15
    2 verses
    67%

    14But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you!

    15And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be thrown down to Hades!

  • Matt 22:18
    67%

    18But Jesus realized their evil intentions and said,“Hypocrites! Why are you testing me?

  • Luke 12:56
    66%

    56You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how can you not know how to interpret the present time?

  • Matt 11:22
    66%

    22But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you!

  • Matt 7:6
    66%

    6Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs; otherwise they will trample them under their feet and turn around and tear you to pieces.

  • Mark 7:6
    66%

    6He said to them,“Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written:‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

  • Mark 9:42
    66%

    42“If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone tied around his neck and to be thrown into the sea.

  • Matt 21:31
    66%

    31Which of the two did his father’s will?” They said,“The first.” Jesus said to them,“I tell you the truth, tax collectors and prostitutes will go ahead of you into the kingdom of God!