Luke 11:47
What does Luke 11:47 mean?
A plain-English look at Luke 11:47 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Luke 11:47 means
Jesus pronounces another "woe" against the lawyers, condemning a seemingly pious act: their construction and embellishment of "the tombs of the prophets." However, Jesus immediately connects this to their historical guilt, noting that these were the very prophets their "fathers killed." This reveals a generational pattern of rejecting God's messengers and a hypocritical attempt to honor them after the fact.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Woe unto you! for ye build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Woe unto you! for ye build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949A curse is on you! for you make resting-places for the bodies of the prophets, but your fathers put them to death.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862`Woe to you, because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Woe to you who build the monuments of the prophets: and your fathers killed them.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Woe unto you, for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, but your fathers killed them.
Context
This verse continues the series of "woes" against the lawyers, following the condemnation of their burdensome legalism. It highlights their seemingly pious act of building tombs for prophets, immediately connecting it to the historical rejection by their ancestors. This sets the stage for the powerful indictment in the following verses, where Jesus links their actions to the accumulated guilt of generations who persecuted God's messengers.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Matthew 23:29
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and garnish the tombs of the righteous,
- 1 Thessalonians 2:15
who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove out us, and please not God, and are contrary to all men;
- Acts 7:51
Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do ye.
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