Matthew 23 24

Matthew 23:24 kjv

Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

Matthew 23:24 nkjv

Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

Matthew 23:24 niv

You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

Matthew 23:24 esv

You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

Matthew 23:24 nlt

Blind guides! You strain your water so you won't accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!

Matthew 23 verses

Matthew 23 24 Meaning

Matthew 23:24 serves as a potent illustration of spiritual hypocrisy and inverted priorities. Jesus labels the scribes and Pharisees as "blind guides" who meticulously attend to trivial ritualistic purity (represented by straining out a tiny gnat from their drink) while simultaneously committing immense spiritual transgressions and ignoring the foundational moral and ethical commands of God's Law (symbolized by "swallowing a camel," an animal ceremonially unclean and far too large to overlook). The verse critiques a form of religiosity that emphasizes external, minute regulations at the expense of internal righteousness, justice, mercy, and faith.

Matthew 23 24 Context

Matthew chapter 23 contains Jesus' strong denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees, primarily delivered in the Temple courts during His final days in Jerusalem. It's a comprehensive "Woe" discourse, where Jesus exposes their hypocrisy and spiritual emptiness despite their outward religious observances. Verse 24 directly follows and expands on the preceding woe in Matthew 23:23, which states that these leaders meticulously tithe small herbs like mint, anise, and cumin, while neglecting the "weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith." The cultural context includes the extensive Oral Law ("Tradition of the Elders") developed by the Pharisees, which, for them, often superseded the written Law. This led to a hyper-focus on minute regulations, ritual purity, and outward show, at the expense of genuine ethical and spiritual living that embodied the heart of God's commands. Jesus' polemic here is against this distorted religious system, showing that its practitioners were unfit to guide God's people.

Matthew 23 24 Word analysis

• "Ye blind guides":
  • Ye: A pronoun referring to the scribes and Pharisees.
  • blind (Greek: typhloi - τυφλοί): Not literally without sight, but spiritually unable to perceive truth, righteousness, or God's will. Their role as teachers makes this spiritual blindness perilous for themselves and their followers (Mt 15:14).
  • guides (Greek: hodēgoi - ὁδηγοί): Those who lead, teach, and direct others. The irony is sharp: how can blind people competently lead others? This highlights their moral and spiritual incompetence despite their position.
• "which strain at a gnat":
  • which: Refers back to the "blind guides."
  • strain at (Greek: diylizontes - διϋλίζοντες): This is better translated as "strain out" or "filter out." It refers to meticulously sifting or filtering a beverage to remove impurities. The KJV's "strain at" is often considered an archaic idiom or a misprint, suggesting an effort to get past, but the Greek points to the act of removal. This action exemplifies extreme caution to avoid ingesting even a tiny insect (a gnat), which would make their drink and themselves ceremonially unclean under Mosaic Law (Lev 11:20-23 lists flying insects as unclean).
  • a gnat (Greek: kōnōpa - κώνωπα): A small, insignificant insect. It symbolizes a minor, trivial detail or regulation in the larger scope of God's Law.
• "and swallow a camel":
  • and swallow (Greek: katapinōhete - καταπίνετε): To gulp down, devour, consume whole. The vividness implies consuming something immense without thought or effort.
  • a camel (Greek: kamēlon - κάμηλον): The largest known animal in their region. More importantly, the camel was a ceremonially unclean animal (Lev 11:4). To "swallow a camel" would be an unspeakably massive breach of ritual purity, an utterly defiling act. It symbolizes gross moral and spiritual transgressions.

Words-group by words-group analysis:

• "Ye blind guides": This phrase functions as an immediate, severe condemnation of their character and effectiveness. Their internal spiritual state ("blind") utterly disqualifies their external role ("guides"). They are spiritually inept to lead God's people toward righteousness.
• "which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel": This is a powerful, hyperbole-driven antithesis that showcases the utter absurdity and depravity of their spiritual priorities. It uses extreme exaggeration for effect. The juxtaposing of the smallest, insignificant unclean thing (gnat) with the largest, most significant unclean thing (camel) creates a memorable and biting indictment. It highlights how their meticulous obsession with trivial ritual purity masked an absolute disregard for substantial moral and spiritual integrity. They focused on outward appearance and the letter of the law in minute detail, while neglecting its spirit and weightier demands, leading to massive internal corruption.

Matthew 23 24 Bonus section

The phrase "strain at a gnat" in the King James Version is an example of an idiomatic usage or even a printing error ("strain AT" rather than "strain OUT") from the 17th century. The original Greek clearly implies filtering out a gnat from liquid to avoid ceremonial defilement, which makes the hyperbole even more poignant. The humorous yet shocking imagery of someone carefully filtering a tiny insect from their drink, only to then gulp down an entire camel, would have resonated deeply with the original audience, making Jesus' point about distorted priorities unforgettable. This verse perfectly encapsulates the common pitfall of elevating human tradition or minor points of law above God's overarching principles of justice, mercy, and faithfulness, illustrating the spiritual dangers of legalism.

Matthew 23 24 Commentary

Matthew 23:24 captures Jesus' profound frustration with religious hypocrisy that perverts the essence of true faith. The verse follows the critique that the religious leaders neglected justice, mercy, and faith—the weightier matters—while being scrupulously precise in tithing minor garden herbs. The vivid imagery of straining out a tiny gnat yet swallowing an entire unclean camel is a hyperbolic condemnation. It powerfully illustrates their inverted spiritual discernment: obsessively preoccupied with insignificant ritualistic details, they overlooked and indeed embraced colossal moral and ethical violations. This hypocrisy demonstrated a fatal lack of spiritual insight and an inability to grasp the true demands of God's Kingdom. Jesus taught that genuine godliness is not measured by outward meticulousness but by inward transformation expressed through love, compassion, and righteous living. This warning serves as a timeless caution against legalism and formalism that sacrifices core principles for peripheral observances, thereby corrupting the very purpose of religion.