Luke 11:48

So you are witnesses consenting to the deeds of your fathers: They killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Jesus pronounces a woe on the religious leaders during His teaching ministry, confronting their contradictory reverence for past prophets while opposing His authority.

The words — The Greek terms μάρτυς (martys) and συνευδοκεῖτε (suneudokeite) translate literally as "witnesses" and "you consent," indicating their public acknowledgment and approval of their ancestors' actions.

The thread — This pattern of generational rejection appears in 2 Chronicles 36:16, where the people mock God's envoys, and resurfaces in Matthew 21:35 and James 5:10 regarding the persecution of prophets and messengers.

Why it lands — The passage requires readers to examine whether their actions align with the ancestors who killed the prophets or with the wisdom of God sending messengers, demanding a concrete choice of allegiance.

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

Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.

Cross-references

2 Chronicles 36:16 But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.
James 5:10 Brothers, as an example of patience in affliction, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
Matthew 21:35 But the tenants seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.
Matthew 23:31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.
Acts 7:51 You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
Hebrews 11:35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused their release, so that they might gain a better resurrection.
Joshua 24:22 Then Joshua told them, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.” “We are witnesses!” they said.
Ezekiel 18:19 Yet you may ask, ‘Why shouldn’t the son bear the iniquity of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right, carefully observing all My statutes, he will surely live.
Job 15:6 Your own mouth, not mine, condemns you; your own lips testify against you.
Psalms 64:8 They will be made to stumble, their own tongues turned against them. All who see will shake their heads.