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.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Jesus addresses the scribes and Pharisees directly, in the same denunciation that follows his teaching on humility (23:12). The "woe" formula marks a formal pronouncement of judgment.

The words — ἐκκλείετε (ekkleietai, G1550), "you shut out," from ἐκκλείω, the verb for locking a door from the inside; it is the operative action of the verse, not merely a metaphor but a physical image of exclusion.

The thread — Luke 11:52 carries the same image in the parallel saying ("you have taken away the key to knowledge"). The broader discourse in Matthew 23:23–29 repeats the pattern: external religious performance that blocks access to God.

Why it lands — The verse forces a question: does your faith function as a gate you control, or as a door you open? It treats religious practice that excludes others as indistinguishable from hypocrisy.

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, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

Cross-references

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.”
Matthew 23:29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous.
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.
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.
Zechariah 11:17 Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May a sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered and his right eye utterly blinded!”
Acts 8:1 And Saul was there, giving approval to Stephen’s death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
2 Timothy 4:15 You too should beware of him, for he has vigorously opposed our message.
Isaiah 9:14 So the LORD will cut off Israel’s head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day.
2 Timothy 3:8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth. They are depraved in mind and disqualified from the faith.
Matthew 21:31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.