Mattheüs 23:31

31 Aldus getuigt gij tegen uzelven, dat gij kinderen zijt dergenen, die de profeten gedood hebben.

Mattheüs 23:31 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 23:31

Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves
Or "against yourselves", as the Syriac reads; for what they said was a plain acknowledgment, and a full confession, what their fathers had done, and whose offspring they were; and from whom better things were not to be expected; since they were their fathers' own children, and of the same temper and disposition with them: that ye are the children of them that killed the prophets.
They plainly owned, that their fathers killed the prophets, and that they descended from them; though they meant not so much to reproach, their ancestors, as to give themselves a greater character; yet it did not with those, that knew them; not with our Lord: for as their own words testified against them, that they were a seed of evildoers; their practices showed them to be of the same spirit and principles with their progenitors.

Mattheüs 23:31 In-Context

29 Wee u, gij Schriftgeleerden en Farizeen, gij geveinsden, want gij bouwt de graven der profeten op, en versiert de graftekenen der rechtvaardigen;

30 En zegt: Indien wij in de tijden onzer vaderen waren geweest, wij zouden met hen geen gemeenschap gehad hebben aan het bloed der profeten.

31 Aldus getuigt gij tegen uzelven, dat gij kinderen zijt dergenen, die de profeten gedood hebben.

32 Gij dan ook, vervult de mate uwer vaderen!

33 Gij slangen, gij adderengebroedsels! hoe zoudt gij de helse verdoemenis ontvlieden?