Bible Strands
Matthew 23:29
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus speaks this judgment to the scribes and Pharisees during His final public teaching in Jerusalem, immediately after declaring their inner corruption beneath a righteous exterior.
The words — οἰκοδομεῖτε (oikodomeite) means "you build," and ὑποκριταί (hupokritai) denotes "hypocrites" or actors playing a part.
The thread — The charge of constructing prophets' tombs recurs in Luke 11:47, while the motif of honoring the righteous connects to Acts 2:29.
Why it lands — The text states that external veneration of holy figures does not erase complicity in their rejection. Readers must confront whether their outward piety actively shields them from the same condemnation.
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! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
Cross-references
- Luke 11:47 Woe to you! For you build tombs for the prophets, but it was your fathers who killed them.
- Acts 2:29 Brothers, I can tell you with confidence that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.