What Does Matthew 23:23 Mean?
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.
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
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.THE KEY
The same Greek verb names both what has been omitted, the weightier matters, and what need not be left undone, the small observance.
THE MEANING
Your attention can be exact about small details while justice, mercy, and trust are left unattended. The verse holds both together: the weightier concerns belong in the doing, and the smaller practices still have a place.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that precision in religious details can make up for neglect of justice, mercy, and trust.
THE ROOT
ἀφήκατε
aphēkate
GROWS FROM
ἀφίημι
aphiēmi
to leave, let go, release; also to forgive
“let go of” in this verse is aphēkate. The Greek uses forms of this same verb for both “have omitted” and “not to leave ... undone.” Its word-family also names release and forgiveness, so English’s separate verbs conceal one movement: what receives care, and what gets let go.
ALSO GROWS
aphesis: release, remission, forgiveness
ἄφεσις
This noun from the same word-family connects the verse’s language of leaving with the language of releasing debts or wrongs.
aphienai: to leave or let go; the infinitive form used for “to leave”
ἀφιέναι
At the verse’s end, this form repeats the verb used for “omitted,” showing that the small practice is not simply to be abandoned.
βαρύτερα
barytera
GROWS FROM
βαρύς
barys
heavy, weighty
The comparison gives priority a felt weight: judgment, mercy, and trust are named as the heavier concerns of the instruction. The verse’s image makes the difference between exact quantities and weight-bearing matters tangible.
ALSO GROWS
baros: weight, burden
βάρος
This related noun makes the root’s image of heaviness explicit: the matters named here carry weight.
bareō: to weigh down, burden
βαρέω
This related verb shows the same root’s movement from weight as a quality to weight as something carried.
πίστιν
pistin
GROWS FROM
πείθω
peithō
to persuade, bring to trust or confidence
Here the word translated “faith” belongs among the weighty concerns as trust, reliance that leans its full weight. Its word-family reaches toward both trusting and being trustworthy, giving this concern a relational shape.
ALSO GROWS
pisteuō: to trust, believe
πιστεύω
This verb shows the active movement of reliance contained in the noun for faith.
pistos: trustworthy, faithful
πιστός
This adjective connects trust with steadiness and reliability, extending the verse’s concern beyond private belief.
THE PATTERN
The measure of religious practice is the weight it gives to justice, mercy, and trust.
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?For I delight in faithful love and not slaughter, and the knowledge of God more than the ascending offerings.For judgment will be without faithful love for the one who did not show such love, and faithful love boasts over judgment.THE THREAD
And release our debts, as we also release our debtors.The Greek verb translated “omitted” and “leave undone” here is the same verb translated “forgive” in this prayer. English gives those acts different names, while the shared word-family links leaving something behind with release.
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