1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible
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| Matthew 23:23 | *Wo to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; who tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have omitted the weightier things of the law; **judgment, and mercy, and faith. These things you ought to have done, and not to leave those others undone. Luke 11:42.; Micheas 6:8.; Zacharias 7:9. | You ... who pay tithe, etc. The tithes of these small things are not found in the law. Nor yet doth Christ blame them so much for this, as for neglecting more weighty matters; and tells them by a proverb, that they strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel. (Witham) --- The Pharisees pretended the greatest exactitude even in the smallest commands of the law, when the observance of them could impress the people with a favourable idea of their sanctity; whereas they omitted the more essential precepts of the law, when it did not procure them the praise of men. (Nicholas of Lyra.) --- St. Jerome interprets this passage of receiving tithes; the Vulgate has decimare. (St. Jerome) --- The Pharisees are blamed by our Lord for their avarice, in scrupulously exacting tithes of the most trifling things, whilst they lived in a constant neglect of their duty, both to God and their neighbour. (Idem. [St. Jerome]) |