Matthew 23:19

Greek (Tischendorf 8th ed.)

English Translation

You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?

World English Bible · Public Domain

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δῶρον

dōron

G1435

“offering”

Noun, Nominative, Singular, Neuter

Appears 19× in the Greek New Testament
First appears at Matthew 2:11

Full Thayer's Definition

Origin: a present

TDNT: 04:46,2

1. a gift, present a. gifts offered in expression of honour 1. of sacrifices and other gifts offered to God 2. of money cast into the treasury for the purposes of the temple and for the support of the poor 2. the offering of a gift or of gifts

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

13: words
9: distinct lemmas
Gospels: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is δῶρον offering G1435 — appearing just 19 times in the whole Greek New Testament.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

δῶρον offering G1435 occurs in 17 verses of the Greek New Testament. Also found in:

Repetition

Words recur within this verse:

δῶρον offering G1435 ×2
τὸ the G3588 ×4

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Matthew 23:19 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Exodus 29:37 Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar, and sanctify it: and the altar shall be most holy; whatever touches the altar shall be holy.
Exodus 30:29 You shall sanctify them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them shall be holy.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Where the printed editions differ

1 variant

Places in this verse where the major printed Greek editions disagree on the wording in a way that affects the translation — a comparison of editions, not a manuscript-by-manuscript collation. The editions are the modern critical texts (Nestlé-Aland 28/27, SBL, Westcott-Hort, Tregelles, Tyndale House) and the traditional texts behind the KJV (the Textus Receptus and the Byzantine/Majority text). It is not a claim about which reading is original.

Extra text

μωροὶ καὶ

“foolish and”

In TRByz Not in NA28NA27TynSBLWHTreg

μωροὶ καὶ (mōroi kai) 'foolish and' is only in traditional manuscripts (TR+Byz)

Textual data: Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible TAGNT) · CC BY 4.0.

Commentary

Notes on Matthew 23:19 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

Ye fools, and blind! for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?--(See Exo 29:37).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

John Gill's Exposition

Whosoever therefore shall swear by the altar,.... Not that Christ allowed of swearing by the altar, or by the temple, or by heaven, or by any creature, animate or inanimate; for such swearing is elsewhere disapproved of by him, and forbid, but if a man did swear by the altar, he ought to know, and consider that he not only

sweareth by it, but by all the gifts, and offerings that are brought, and laid upon it,

and by all things thereon; whatever gifts and sacrifices are offered upon it; which, by being put there, become holy, as the altar itself: so that he that swears by the altar, swears also by the gifts of the altar; and consequently, according to their own traditions, such oaths must be binding.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?

Ver. 19. Ye fools and blind] The second time so, for behold they have rejected the word of the Lord (yea, the Word, the Lord Christ), and what wisdom was in them? Jer 8:9. True it is, they were accounted the only wise men. "Where is the wise? where is the scribe?" saith St Paul, 1Co 1:20. As if wise and scribe were terms convertible. And for the Pharisees, they did so carry away the hearts of the people that there was no holy man that was not termed a Pharisee, as we find in their Talmud. And "after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee," saith Paul, Act 26:5. They were omnium districtissimi, and did utterly outshine and obscure those other sects of Sadducees and Essenes, the latter whereof are not so much as mentioned in the gospel. And yet we see what esteem Christ had for them, and what titles he here bestows upon them. To teach us not to rest in man’s applause, nor to think it sufficient that others think well of us. "But let every man prove his own work," Gal 6:4, and know that not he that commends himself, or is commended by others, is approved, but he whom the Lord commendeth, 2Co 10:18.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The altar that sanctifieth the gift - The altar, dedicated to God, gave all the value or holiness to the offering, and must therefore be the greatest or of the most importance. If, therefore, either bound to the fulfillment of an oath, it must be the altar.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Sanctifieth. The altar is sanctified by our Lord’s body thereon. Theophylactus, the close follower of St. John Chrysostom, writeth thus upon this text: "In the old law, Christ will not allow the gift to be greater than the altar; but with us the altar is sanctified by the gift: for the bread, by the divine grace is converted into our Lord’s body, and therefore the altar is sanctified by it."

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The Pulpit Commentary

Our Lord repeats the unanswerable argument of ver. 17. That sanctifieth the gift. Exo_29:37. "It shall be an altar most holy; whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy". (comp. Eze_41:22) The offering is one with the altar.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges

19. μωροὶ καὶ before τυφλοί. The omitted words were probably inserted from Mat 23:17. They occur in the important MSS. B and C.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

International Critical Commentary

19. Ye blind men: for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that halloweth the gift?] B C al prefix μωροὶ καί, as in v. l7.

(L)

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Matthew, in the Gospels, opens this verse with 13 words (9 distinct Greek lemmas). Its most distinctive word is dōron (“offering”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “offering” (dōron) shape what this verse is saying?
How does Matthew 2:11, which shares the word «offering», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “offering” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
Compare how Jamieson, Fausset & Brown and John Gill's Exposition read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 8 words in this verse.
“offering” occurs 2× in this single verse.
9 distinct Greek lemmas span 13 words in this verse.