Matthew 15:4
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
For God commanded, saying, Honor your father and mother: and, He that curses father or mother, let him die the death.
American King James Version (AKJV)
For God commanded, saying, Honor your father and mother: and, He that curses father or mother, let him die the death.
American Standard Version (ASV)
For God said, Honor thy father and thy mother: and, He that speaketh evil of father or mother, let him die the death.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
For God said, Give honour to your father and mother: and, He who says evil of father or mother will be put to death.
Webster's Revision
For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
World English Bible
For God commanded, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.'
English Revised Version (ERV)
For God said, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, He that speaketh evil of father or mother, let him die the death.
Definitions for Matthew 15:4
Clarke's Matthew 15:4 Bible Commentary
Honor thy father and mother - This word was taken in great latitude of meaning among the Jews: it not only meant respect and submission, but also to take care of a person, to nourish and support him, to enrich. See Numbers 22:17; Judges 13:17; 1 Timothy 5:17. And that this was the sense of the law, as it respected parents, see Deuteronomy 27:16, and see the note on Exodus 20:12.
Barnes's Matthew 15:4 Bible Commentary
For God commanded ... - That is, in the fifth commandment Exodus 20:12, and in Exodus 21:17. To "honor" is to obey, to reverence, to speak kindly to, to speak and think well of. To "curse" is to disobey, to treat with irreverence, to swear at, to speak ill of, to think evil of in the heart, to meditate or do any evil to a parent. All this is included in the original word.
Let him die the death - This is a Hebrew phrase, the same as saying, "let him surely die." The Jewish law punished this crime with death. This duty of honoring and obeying a parent was what Christ said they had violated by their traditions. He proceeds to state the way in which it was done.
Wesley's Matthew 15:4 Bible Commentary
15:4 Honour thy father and mother - Which implies all such relief as they stand in need of. Exodus 20:12 ; 21:17.