Matthew 23:15

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You traverse land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Jesus addresses the scribes and Pharisees during his public teaching ministry in Jerusalem, delivering a direct condemnation of their religious leadership.

The words — The text uses ὑποκριταὶ (hupokritai), literally "actors" or "hypocrites," to label their religious performance, and περιάγετε (periagete), "you traverse," to describe their exhaustive travel for recruitment.

The thread — The warning against producing destructive followers aligns with Acts 13:10, where Paul confronts a deceitful official, and Acts 13:43, which records the Jews following Paul and Barnabas after synagogue dismissal.

Why it lands — The passage requires readers to evaluate whether their efforts to influence others generate genuine change or simply replicate the leader's own spiritual condition.

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, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

Cross-references

Acts 13:10 and said, “O child of the devil and enemy of all righteousness, you are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery! Will you never stop perverting the straight ways of the Lord?
Acts 13:43 After the synagogue was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.
Ephesians 2:3 All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.
John 8:44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
Acts 14:2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
Galatians 4:17 Those people are zealous for you, but not in a good way. Instead, they want to isolate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them.
Galatians 6:12 Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. They only do this to avoid persecution for the cross of Christ.
Matthew 5:22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to the fire of hell.
Acts 17:5 The Jews, however, became jealous. So they brought in some troublemakers from the marketplace, formed a mob, and sent the city into an uproar. They raided Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas, hoping to bring them out to the people.
Esther 8:17 In every province and every city, wherever the king’s edict and decree reached, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many of the people of the land themselves became Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.