Bible Strands
Luke 11:42
Woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithes of mint, rue, and every herb, but you disregard justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus pronounces this judgment on the Pharisees during a public teaching sequence, positioned between the call to inner purity in Luke 11:41 and the condemnation of their pride in Luke 11:43.
The words — οὐαὶ (ouai) translates literally as "woe," marking a declaration of impending judgment, while ἀποδεκατοῦτε (apodekatoute) means "you pay tithes," describing their meticulous financial observance of minor garden plants.
The thread — The same accusation appears in Matthew 23:23 against scribes and Pharisees, and the priority of moral obedience over ritual observance aligns with Proverbs 21:3.
Why it lands — The text states that meticulous external compliance must not replace justice and love, then concludes that both practices must continue together without allowing one to displace the other.
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 woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Cross-references
- Matthew 23:23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. But you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
- Proverbs 21:3 To do righteousness and justice is more desirable to the LORD than sacrifice.
- Luke 18:12 I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I acquire.’
- Deuteronomy 10:12 And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
- Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
- Malachi 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings.
- 1 John 4:20 If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
- 1 Samuel 15:22 But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams.
- Matthew 23:27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity.
- Leviticus 27:30 Thus any tithe from the land, whether from the seed of the land or the fruit of the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.