What Does Matthew 23:19 Mean in the King James?

Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?

Matthew 23:19 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The altar is greater because it does what the gift cannot do on its own: set it apart.

THE MEANING

The verse places the gift and altar side by side, then locates the greater weight in the altar because it sets the gift apart. The gift’s standing is relational: what it is offered upon shapes how it is regarded. This question still reaches you wherever a gift is prized apart from what gives it sacred standing.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A gift’s value or cost, by itself, makes it sacred.

THE ROOT

ἁγιάζον

hagiazon

GROWS FROM

ἅγιος

hagios

Set apart; belonging to a distinct or sacred sphere.

“sanctifieth” in this verse is hagiazon. The verb is active: the altar is the one setting the gift apart. The gift’s sacred standing is bound to that relationship, rather than arising from the gift alone.

ALSO GROWS

hagios: Set apart; distinct.

ἅγιος

Names the state the altar brings the gift into.

hagiasmos: Setting apart; consecration.

ἁγιασμός

Names the process or result of being set apart, making the altar’s action visible in the word family.

θυσιαστήριον

thysiastērion

GROWS FROM

⁨θύω⁩ (thyō), through ⁨θυσία⁩ (thysia)

To offer sacrifice; the related noun means sacrifice.

The Greek word for altar belongs to the language of sacrifice: it is the place of the sacrificial act. Here the altar is not merely a stand beneath the gift; it is what sets the gift apart.

ALSO GROWS

thyō: To sacrifice; to offer.

θύω

Names the sacrificial action associated with the altar.

thysia: Sacrifice; sacrificial offering.

θυσία

Shares the altar’s sacrificial word family and shows what kind of place it is.

THE PATTERN

Set-apartness comes through relation to what consecrates, rather than from the object alone.

Seven days thou shalt make an atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and it shall be an altar most holy: whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy.

Exodus 29:37 · KJVThe altar sets apart whatever touches it, just as the altar here sets apart the gift.

For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:

Hebrews 9:13 · KJVThe verse uses the same Greek verb family for the setting-apart associated with sacrificial materials.

For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

1 Timothy 4:5 · KJVHere, too, what is set apart receives that standing through its relation to what consecrates it.

THE THREAD

Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?

Matthew 23:17 · KJV

The same Greek verb, ⁨ἁγιάζω⁩ (hagiazō), appears in both questions: the temple sets apart the gold just as the altar sets apart the gift. Together they reveal the same distinction between what is being valued and what gives it its sacred standing.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us