Bible Strands
Luke 11:41
But give as alms the things that are within you, and behold, everything will be clean for you.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses Pharisees who have just criticized his disciples for not washing before eating; verse 40 calls them fools and verse 42 pivots to their tithing neglect.
The words — ἐλεημοσὺνην (eleēmosunēn) is the object of the command "give"; it carries the sense of mercy or compassionate action, not a disinterested financial transfer.
The thread — Luke 12:33 commands selling possessions and giving to the poor; Titus 1:15 ties the purity of "all things" to the purity of the person; James 1:27 defines pure religion as care for orphans and widows.
Why it lands — The verse reverses the assumed direction: internal generosity is what makes external observance clean, not the other way around. It asks the reader to treat withheld mercy as the actual source of defilement.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.
Cross-references
- Luke 12:33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide yourselves with purses that will not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
- Titus 1:15 To the pure, all things are pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Indeed, both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
- James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
- Luke 16:9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves so that when it is gone, they will welcome you into eternal dwellings.
- Acts 10:15 The voice spoke to him a second time: “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
- Hebrews 13:16 And do not neglect to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
- Proverbs 14:31 Whoever oppresses the poor taunts their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors Him.
- Proverbs 19:17 Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and He will repay the lender.
- Isaiah 58:7 Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
- Daniel 4:27 Therefore, may my advice be pleasing to you, O king. Break away from your sins by doing what is right, and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed. Perhaps there will be an extension of your prosperity.”