Luke 11:39

The Lord Jesus said to him, “You Pharisees are concerned about things that are outside your bodies, not with what is in your ◄ inner beings/hearts► [MET]. You wash the outside of cups and dishes before you eat because you think that doing that will make you acceptable to God, but within yourselves you are very greedy and wicked.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.

In Context

38The Pharisee was surprised when he saw that Jesus did not follow the Pharisees’ ritual by washing his hands before eating. The Pharisees washed their hands in a certain way to be cleansed from anything that might have contaminated them. They were afraid that God might reject them if they had touched something unacceptable to God.

40You foolish people! God is concerned about things that are outside our bodies, but ◄he is certainly also concerned about our inner beings!/isn’t he also concerned about our hearts?► [RHQ]

Read all of Luke 11

Cross References

2 Chronicles 25:2Amaziah did many things that pleased Yahweh, but he did not do them enthusiastically.

Psalms 22:13They are like roaring lions that are attacking the animals that they want to kill [MET] and eat; they rush toward me to kill me; they are like lions that have their mouths open, ready to tear their victims to pieces [MET].

Proverbs 30:12Some people think that they are perfect, but really they have never been cleansed from their guilt for committing disgusting sins.

Ezekiel 22:25Your leaders are like [SIM] lions that tear apart the animals that they have killed. Your leaders destroy their people. They steal treasures and other valuable things from people, and they cause many women to become widows by murdering their husbands.

Zephaniah 3:3Their leaders are like [MET] roaring lions; they are like [MET] wolves that attack other animals during the evening, and eat everything that they kill, with the result that the next morning there is nothing left of those animals to eat.

Matthew 12:33“Think about this: You can know whether a person is good and what that person says is good, in the same way that you can know whether a tree [MET] and the fruit it produces [MET] are good. You can also know whether a person and what that person says is evil in the same way that you can know whether a tree [MET] and its fruit [MET] are blighted. You can know whether a tree is good by seeing its fruit, and similarly people can know the evil character of you Pharisees by listening to your accusations against me.

Matthew Henry on Luke 11:38-54

Woes Denounced on That Generation; The Pharisees and Lawyers Reproved. 37 And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat. 38 And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner. 39 And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. 40 Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also? 41… Read the whole commentary →

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