What Does Luke 11:42 Mean?
But woe to you, separated ones! For you give a tenth of the mint and the rue and every green herb, and you go past the judgment and the faithful love of God. These things you ought to have done, and not leave the other undone.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.THE KEY
The same precision that counts every herb exposes what they allow to pass by: justice and the love of God.
THE MEANING
You can give meticulous attention to visible duties while allowing justice and love for God to slip past. The verse holds both kinds of care together: the weightier matters are necessary, and the smaller practices remain.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that careful religious observance can make up for neglecting justice and love, or that caring for justice means smaller practices no longer matter.
THE ROOT
παρέρχεσθε
parerchesthe
GROWS FROM
παρά + ἔρχομαι (parerchomai) / παρά + ἵημι (pariemi)
The prefix παρά (para) can mean beside or past. Here it joins two distinct verbs: to pass by, and to let pass or omit.
“go past” in this verse is parerchesthe. The two verbs share the prefix παρά, though they do not share the same verb root: one names passing by justice and love, the other leaving the smaller practices undone. The sentence turns on what gets allowed to pass.
ALSO GROWS
parerchesthe: You pass by or go past; here, neglect.
παρέρχεσθε
It names what happens to judgment and the love of God.
pareinai: To let pass, omit, or leave undone.
παρεῖναι
It names the omission the verse says should not happen to the other practices.
κρίσιν
krisin
GROWS FROM
κρίνω (krinō), κριν-
To distinguish, decide, or judge; κρίσις can mean judgment, decision, or justice.
“Judgment” can sound like condemnation alone, but κρίσις also carries the sense of deciding and discerning what is just. Paired here with the love of God, it names a way of dealing rightly with others as well as a matter of belief.
ALSO GROWS
krinō: To distinguish, decide, or judge.
κρίνω
It shows the action behind κρίσις: making a judgment about what is right.
kritēs: A judge or one who decides.
κριτής
It shows the same word family applied to a person responsible for judgment.
krima: A decision, judgment, or verdict.
κρίμα
It shows how the act of judging can take shape as a decision or its outcome.
THE PATTERN
Religious practice belongs alongside justice and love; precision in one does not erase neglect of the others.
He has shown you, O human, what is good. And what does the LORD seek from you, but to do justice, and to hold fast to faithful love, and to walk low with your God?And Samuel said, Does the LORD delight in rising offerings and slaughtered offerings as much as in hearing and responding to the voice of the LORD? Behold, hearing and responding is better than a slaughtered offering; to prick the ear is better than the fat of rams.Woe to you, writers and separated ones, masked ones! For you give a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, and you have let go of the heavier matters of the instruction, the judgment, the faithful love, and the trust. These you ought to have done, and not let go of the others.THE THREAD
Woe to you, writers and separated ones, masked ones! For you give a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, and you have let go of the heavier matters of the instruction, the judgment, the faithful love, and the trust. These you ought to have done, and not let go of the others.Matthew uses the same Greek word κρίσις (krisis, judgment/justice) and repeats the closing balance: do these without leaving the others undone. Beside Luke, the shared word makes clear that meticulous tithing remains in view while justice and love cannot be passed over.
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