Matthew 23:29-31
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Jesus points out the ultimate irony: the Pharisees were meticulously decorating the tombs of the prophets they outwardly honored, while simultaneously plotting to kill the very prophets Jesus was sending them. Their elaborate tomb-building was a performance of piety, a way to gain admiration by honoring the dead without embracing the message of the living.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Jesus is in Jerusalem, delivering a scathing series of "woes" against the scribes and Pharisees. He's just condemned their hypocrisy in upholding the Law while missing its spirit and has accused them of hypocrisy for their public displays of piety. This verse continues that condemnation, highlighting their outward veneration for past prophets and righteous people while actively opposing God's present messengers.
The Pharisees meticulously built and decorated tombs for prophets. But did their actions honor the prophets’ message, or just their memory?
Jesus calls out the scribes and Pharisees for a deeply ingrained hypocrisy. They were lavishly building and decorating tombs for the prophets and righteous people of the past. This outwardly impressive act looked like deep respect and honor.
A Show of Reverence
This practice, common in the ancient world and still seen today, was a way to show veneration for deceased leaders and heroes. The Pharisees likely saw it as a way to demonstrate their own piety and perhaps distance themselves from the sins of their ancestors who had actually persecuted or killed these prophets.
The Deeper Problem
But Jesus reveals the hollowness behind the facade. The very prophets whose tombs they adorned were messengers of God, speaking truths that challenged the status quo. The Pharisees, by honoring their memory through physical monuments, were simultaneously rejecting their message. They were performing a ritual without internalizing the prophetic call to righteousness and repentance. Their actions were a performance, not a transformation.
Why would Jesus call building tombs for prophets an act of hypocrisy deserving 'woe'?
The scribes and Pharisees were not just ignoring the prophetic message; they were actively condemning it by their actions and attitudes.
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A False Witness
By building and decorating these tombs, they were essentially saying, 'We are not like our fathers who killed the prophets.' However, Jesus exposes this as a lie. Their outward show of respect was a way to mask their own resistance to God's messengers.
Inheriting the Guilt
Jesus goes on to say in the following verses that they were, in fact, continuing the very work of those who killed the prophets. They honored the dead prophets while persecuting the living ones—including Jesus himself. Their actions testified against them, proving they were spiritual descendants of the very people they claimed to condemn. It’s a powerful indictment: outward displays of honor mean nothing if the heart remains resistant to God's truth and His messengers.
Understand the original words
prophētēs · Greek Noun
God’s spokesmen who were chosen to deliver divine revelation to His people, often suffering persecution and death for their faithfulness to the truth.
huios · Greek Noun
Individuals who claim to be part of a particular lineage or spiritual heritage; in this context, it refers to those who share the character, actions, and historical guilt of their ancestors.
Jesus' condemnation of the Pharisees for building tombs of prophets while rejecting God's messengers highlights a deep hypocrisy: outward displays of honor for the past often mask a resistance to God's present work and messengers.
c. 872 BC
Stoning of Zechariah
Zechariah, son of Jehoiada the priest, is stoned to death in the temple courtyard for confronting the people and the king about their disobedience to God.
Late 1st century BC - Early 1st century AD
Herodian Dynasty tomb construction
During the Herodian dynasty, there was a significant period of construction and renovation of tombs around Jerusalem, including those in the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
c. AD 28-30— this verse
Jesus' Ministry and Teaching
Jesus begins his public ministry, teaching, healing, and confronting the religious authorities, particularly the scribes and Pharisees, for their hypocrisy and misinterpretation of the Law.
c. AD 30-33
Jesus' Confrontations in Jerusalem
Jesus repeatedly challenges the scribes and Pharisees in Jerusalem, culminating in his denunciation of their hypocrisy and pronouncement of seven woes upon them.
AD 70
Destruction of Jerusalem and Temple
The Roman army destroys Jerusalem and the Second Temple, fulfilling Jesus' prophecies about the desolation of the city and its religious center.
This passage directly parallels Jesus' condemnation of the Pharisees' honoring of prophets they themselves would have persecuted, highlighting the hypocrisy of outwardly respecting past righteousness while rejecting present truth.
Matthew 23:31This verse directly follows the condemnation of building tombs, revealing the core of their hypocrisy: by building tombs for prophets, they implicitly condemn their fathers' actions, yet Jesus declares they are in fact children of those who killed the prophets, proving their inherited guilt.
Isaiah 58:1-7This prophetic passage critiques outward displays of devotion and fasting that lack genuine justice and compassion, mirroring Jesus' accusation that the Pharisees' grand gestures towards prophets were a hollow substitute for true righteousness.
2 Chronicles 24:20-22This passage records the stoning of Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, in the temple courts, a specific historical instance of a prophet being murdered by those who claimed reverence for God's people, illustrating the kind of act Jesus was condemning.
Jeremiah 7:1-15Jeremiah fiercely denounced the people for trusting in the Temple's presence as a guarantee of safety while continuing in wickedness, a theme echoed by Jesus' condemnation of the Pharisees' outward show of piety towards prophets' tombs while their hearts were far from God's ways.
vincentMatthew 23:29: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,"
Tombs of the prophetsBy this name are called four monuments at the base of the Mount of Olives, in the valley of Jehoshaphat; called at present the tombs of Zechariah, Absalom, Jehoshaphat, and St. James. Two of them are monoliths cut out of the solid rock; the others are merely excavations, with ornamental portals. "They appear," says Dr. Th…
calvinMatthew 23:29-39: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,"
- Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you build the sepulchers of the prophets and embellish the monuments of the righteous, 30. And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been their associates in the blood of the prophets. 31. Thus you testify against yourselves, that you are the children of thos…
Jesus points out the ultimate irony: the Pharisees were meticulously decorating the tombs of the prophets they outwardly honored, while simultaneously plotting to kill the very prophets Jesus was sending them. Their elaborate tomb-building was a performance of piety, a way to gain admiration by honoring the dead without embracing the message of the living.
Jesus is in Jerusalem, delivering a scathing series of "woes" against the scribes and Pharisees. He's just condemned their hypocrisy in upholding the Law while missing its spirit and has accused them of hypocrisy for their public displays of piety. This verse continues that condemnation, highlighting their outward veneration for past prophets and righteous people while actively opposing God's present messengers.
Jesus is in Jerusalem, delivering a scathing series of "woes" against the scribes and Pharisees. He's just condemned their hypocrisy in upholding the Law while missing its spirit and has accused them of hypocrisy for their public displays of piety. This verse continues that condemnation, highlighting their outward veneration for past prophets and righteous people while actively opposing God's present messengers.
"“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding th…" — Jesus points out the ultimate irony: the Pharisees were meticulously decorating the tombs of the prophets they outwardly honored, while simultaneously plotting to kill the very prophets Jesus was sen…
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Last reviewed October 2026
