Woe to you!This phrase is a strong denunciation, often used by Jesus to express lament or judgment. It indicates a serious warning or condemnation. In the context of the Gospels, "woe" is directed towards those who are hypocritical or who reject God's message. This echoes the prophetic tradition found in the Old Testament, where prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah used similar language to call out the sins of Israel.
For you build tombs for the prophets,
Building tombs for the prophets can be seen as an act of honoring them. However, Jesus points out the irony and hypocrisy in this action. The religious leaders of Jesus' time were outwardly honoring the prophets by maintaining their tombs, yet they were not heeding the prophets' messages. This reflects a superficial religiosity that values tradition and appearance over genuine obedience to God. The act of building tombs could also be seen as an attempt to distance themselves from the guilt of their ancestors' actions.
but it was your fathers who killed them.
This phrase highlights the historical pattern of Israel rejecting and persecuting God's messengers. The "fathers" refers to the ancestors of the current generation, who were responsible for the deaths of the prophets. This accusation underscores the continuity of rebellion against God throughout Israel's history. It also serves as a warning that the current generation is in danger of repeating the same mistakes by rejecting Jesus, the ultimate prophet. This connects to the broader biblical theme of the rejection of God's messengers, culminating in the rejection of Christ himself, as seen in passages like Acts 7:52, where Stephen accuses the Jewish leaders of betraying and murdering the Righteous One.
Persons / Places / Events
1.
Jesus ChristThe speaker of this verse, addressing the Pharisees and experts in the law, highlighting their hypocrisy.
2.
Pharisees and Experts in the LawReligious leaders of the time who are being rebuked by Jesus for their actions and attitudes.
3.
ProphetsMessengers sent by God in the Old Testament, often persecuted and killed by the ancestors of those Jesus is addressing.
4.
Ancestors/FathersThe forefathers of the religious leaders, who were responsible for the persecution and killing of the prophets.
5.
TombsMonuments built by the Pharisees to honor the prophets, which ironically highlight the guilt of their ancestors.
Teaching Points
Hypocrisy in Religious PracticeJesus condemns the Pharisees for outwardly honoring the prophets while inwardly sharing the same rebellious spirit as their ancestors. We must examine our own lives for hypocrisy, ensuring our actions align with our professed beliefs.
The Danger of Tradition Over TruthThe Pharisees were more concerned with maintaining traditions than embracing the truth of God's message. We should prioritize God's truth over human traditions, ensuring our faith is rooted in Scripture.
Acknowledging Spiritual HeritageRecognizing the sins of our spiritual forebears is crucial. We must learn from past mistakes and strive to live in a way that honors God and His messengers.
The Cost of Prophetic MinistryThe prophets faced persecution and death for their faithfulness to God's message. We should be prepared to face opposition for standing firm in our faith and proclaiming God's truth.
Building a Legacy of FaithfulnessInstead of building monuments to the past, we should focus on living a life that leaves a legacy of faithfulness and obedience to God.
Bible Study Questions and Answers
1. What is the meaning of Luke 11:47?
2. How does Luke 11:47 warn against honoring prophets while rejecting their message today?
3. What does building tombs for prophets signify about people's hearts in Luke 11:47?
4. How can we ensure we honor God's messengers without hypocrisy, as in Luke 11:47?
5. What Old Testament examples parallel the behavior criticized in Luke 11:47?
6. How can we apply the lesson of Luke 11:47 in our church community?
7. Why does Luke 11:47 criticize building tombs for prophets?
8. How does Luke 11:47 relate to honoring past religious figures?
9. What historical context influenced Jesus' statement in Luke 11:47?
10. What are the top 10 Lessons from Luke 11?
11. Can this cup pass from me?
12. What are the key teachings and events in Luke?
13. In Luke 11:42–52, how do we reconcile Jesus’ strict criticism of religious leaders with other passages that affirm the divine origin and authority of the Law?
14. Mark 12:1-9: Why would an all-knowing God repeatedly send servants and His own Son if He knew they would be rejected and killed?What Does Luke 11:47 Mean
Woe to you!• Jesus declares, “Woe to you!” (Luke 11:47), the same solemn warning He used earlier in Luke 6:24–26 and later in Revelation 8:13.
• A “woe” is not mere frustration; it is a divine verdict announcing coming judgment. Compare Isaiah 5:20, where God’s woes expose deep-seated rebellion.
• Here the warning falls on the experts in the law (Luke 11:46). Their public piety masked hearts resistant to God’s voice—just as in Matthew 23:13-36, where Jesus repeats seven woes against the scribes and Pharisees.
• The accuracy of Scripture assures us that every pronounced woe will unfold exactly as God intends (Numbers 23:19).
For you build tombs for the prophets• They financed and decorated memorials to men like Isaiah, Amos, and Zechariah—prophets whose graves still attracted reverence centuries later (2 Kings 21:18, 2 Chronicles 24:22).
• Outwardly, this looked like honoring God’s servants; inwardly, it was spiritual posturing. Acts 7:47-51 shows how people can celebrate religious history while resisting the God who authored it.
• Their monuments implied, “Had we lived then, we would have listened.” Jesus exposes the pretense (Matthew 23:29-30): “You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them.’”
• True honor for prophetic voices is seen in obedience, not stonework (John 14:23; James 1:22-25).
but it was your fathers who killed them• The same lineage that erected memorials had a history of silencing God’s messengers—Elijah hunted (1 Kings 19:10), Jeremiah beaten (Jeremiah 20:2), Zechariah stoned in the temple courts (2 Chronicles 24:20-21).
• Jesus insists the present generation inherits that guilt because they share the same unbelieving spirit (Luke 11:50-51). The pattern culminates in their rejection of “the Prophet” Himself (Acts 3:22-23; John 1:11).
• By distancing themselves from their fathers’ crimes while repeating them, they confirmed Amos 5:21-24: religious ceremony cannot cover injustice.
• Luke 11:48 adds, “So you are witnesses that you approve of the deeds of your fathers; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.” Agreement with sin—whether past or present—invites the very woe Jesus announced.
summary• Jesus’ warning unmasks the hypocrisy of honoring dead prophets while ignoring the living God.
• Building tombs did not absolve them; it highlighted agreement with a lineage of unbelief.
• Scripture’s literal record of prophetic persecution stands as a sober reminder: God desires obedience over empty memorials.
• The call remains: receive God’s Word today, lest the woes pronounced become the woes experienced (Hebrews 3:7-15).
(47)
Ye build the sepulchres of the prophets.--See Note on
Matthew 23:29. St. Luke omits the reference, which we find in St. Matthew, to the "sepulchres of the righteous."
Verses 47, 48. -
Ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres. There are still existing four singular tombs at the foot of Olivet, in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Remarkable objects now to the modern traveler at Jerusalem, in all their fresh beauty they would be still more striking in the days of our Lord. The peculiar composite nature of the architecture of these great tombs has decided antiquaries to ascribe the building of these to the days of the later Herods. It is, therefore, not improbable that these conspicuous objects in the landscape, seen from the temple platform, and possibly others like them, which have since perished, were the tombs and sepulchres especially in our Lord's mind when he was speaking to the lawyer, and later at Jerusalem, when he' repeated, with some slight variations, the same awful woe (
Matthew 23:29). It
was, indeed, a speech of awful and cutting irony, these words of Jesus. "
Your fathers," he said, "killed the prophets;
you complete their evil work by building tombs for these slain men of God. In other words, you pretend to make amends for the crimes of past generations by this show of ostentatious piety; but if you really differed from your wicked fathers in spirit, if you indeed honored, as you profess to do by this gorgeous tomb-building, the holy men of God whom
they slew, would you be acting as you now are doing - trying, as you know you are, to take my life? Is not
my life like the lives of those old murdered prophets? are not my words resembling theirs?"
Parallel Commentaries ...
Greek
Woeοὐαὶ (ouai)Interjection
Strong's 3759: Woe!, alas!, uttered in grief or denunciation. A primary exclamation of grief; 'woe'.to you!ὑμῖν (hymin)Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.You buildοἰκοδομεῖτε (oikodomeite)Verb - Present Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 3618: From the same as oikodome; to be a house-builder, i.e. Construct or confirm.tombsμνημεῖα (mnēmeia)Noun - Accusative Neuter Plural
Strong's 3419: A tomb, sepulcher, monument. From mneme; a remembrance, i.e. Cenotaph.for theτῶν (tōn)Article - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.prophets,προφητῶν (prophētōn)Noun - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 4396: From a compound of pro and phemi; a foreteller; by analogy, an inspired speaker; by extension, a poet.butδὲ (de)Conjunction
Strong's 1161: A primary particle; but, and, etc.[it was] yourὑμῶν (hymōn)Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.fathersπατέρες (pateres)Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3962: Father, (Heavenly) Father, ancestor, elder, senior. Apparently a primary word; a 'father'.[who] killedἀπέκτειναν (apekteinan)Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 615: To put to death, kill; fig: I abolish. From apo and kteino; to kill outright; figuratively, to destroy.them.αὐτούς (autous)Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.
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NT Gospels: Luke 11:47 Woe to you! (Luke Lu Lk) 
