Bible Strands
Luke 11:52
Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus pronounces this warning directly to the experts in the law during His public teaching ministry. He delivers it immediately after declaring that the current generation will be charged with the blood of the prophets and before the scribes and Pharisees begin to oppose Him bitterly.
The words — The text highlights κλεῖδα (kleida), meaning "key," and ἤρατε (ērate), meaning "you have taken away." These terms literally describe the removal of access to understanding rather than a physical object.
The thread — This theme of barred access to divine instruction appears in Matthew 23:13, where Jesus warns that scribes and Pharisees shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. It also echoes Malachi 2:7, which establishes that religious leaders are meant to preserve and convey knowledge to the people.
Why it lands — The verse demands that readers examine whether their own teachings or actions create barriers to spiritual understanding for themselves or others. It requires immediate accountability for those who control religious instruction without entering the truth they proclaim.
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
Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.
Cross-references
- Matthew 23:13 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.
- Malachi 2:7 For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts.
- Acts 4:17 But to keep this message from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in this name.”
- Luke 11:45 One of the experts in the law told Him, “Teacher, when You say these things, You insult us as well.”
- John 9:24 So a second time they called for the man who had been blind and said, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.”
- John 7:47 “Have you also been deceived?” replied the Pharisees.
- Luke 19:39 But some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples!”
- Acts 5:40 At this, they yielded to Gamaliel. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and released them.