Matthew 23:28

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

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

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Matt 23:5 : 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by people, for they make their phylacteries wide and their tassels long.
  • Luke 16:15 : 15 But 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.
  • Heb 4:12-13 : 12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.
  • Mark 7:21-23 : 21 For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly. 23 All these evils come from within and defile a person.”
  • 1 Sam 16:7 : 7 But the LORD said to Samuel,“Don’t be impressed by his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. God does not view things the way men do. People look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
  • Ps 51:6 : 6 Look, you desire integrity in the inner man; you want me to possess wisdom.
  • Jer 17:9-9 : 9 The human mind is more deceitful than anything else. It is incurably bad. Who can understand it? 10 I, the LORD, probe into people’s minds. I examine people’s hearts. I deal with each person according to how he has behaved. I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.
  • Matt 12:34-35 : 34 Offspring of vipers! How are you able to say anything good, since you are evil? For the mouth speaks from what fills the heart. 35 The good person brings good things out of his good treasury, and the evil person brings evil things out of his evil treasury.
  • Matt 15:19-20 : 19 For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are the things that defile a person; it is not eating with unwashed hands that defiles a person.”

Similar Verses (AI)

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

  • 89%

    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.

  • 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.

  • 79%

    39 But 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.

    40 You fools! Didn’t the one who made the outside make the inside as well?

    41 But give from your heart to those in need, and then everything will be clean for you.

    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.

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

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

  • Matt 15:7-8
    2 verses
    78%

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

    8 ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me,

  • 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 But 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.

  • 75%

    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.’

  • Mark 7:6-7
    2 verses
    74%

    6 He 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.

    7 They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrine the commandments of men.’

  • Matt 23:3-6
    4 verses
    73%

    3 Therefore 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.

    4 They 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.

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

    6 They love the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues

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

  • 1 Fear 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.

  • 56 You 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?

  • 5 You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

  • 16 Proper Fasting“When you fast, do not look sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unattractive so that people will see them fasting. I tell you the truth, they have their reward!

  • 20 For 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!

  • Matt 6:1-2
    2 verses
    70%

    1 Pure-hearted Giving“Be careful not to display your righteousness merely to be seen by people. Otherwise you have no reward with your Father in heaven.

    2 Thus whenever you do charitable giving, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in synagogues and on streets so that people will praise them. I tell you the truth, they have their reward!

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

  • 5 Private Prayer“Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward!

  • 69%

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

    32 Fill up then the measure of your ancestors!

    33 You 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 7:22-23
    2 verses
    69%

    22 adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly.

    23 All these evils come from within and defile a person.”

  • 42 How can you say to your brother,‘Brother, let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while you yourself don’t see the beam in your own? You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

  • 8 Upright men are appalled at this; the innocent man is troubled with the godless.

  • 68%

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

    48 So you testify that you approve of the deeds of your ancestors, because they killed the prophets and you build their tombs!

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

  • 22 But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves.

  • 3 and in the morning,‘It will be stormy today, because the sky is red and darkening.’ You know how to judge correctly the appearance of the sky, but you cannot evaluate the signs of the times.

  • 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.

  • 2 influenced by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared.