Parallel Verses

Modern Spelling Tyndale-Coverdale

Woe be unto you that make unrighteous laws, and devise things, which be too hard for to keep:

New American Standard Bible

Woe to those who enact evil statutes
And to those who constantly record unjust decisions,

King James Version

Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;

Holman Bible

Woe to those enacting crooked statutes
and writing oppressive laws

International Standard Version

"How terrible it will be for the one who enacts unjust decrees, for those who write oppressive laws that they have prescribed

A Conservative Version

Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write perverseness,

American Standard Version

Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers that write perverseness;

Amplified

Woe (judgment is coming) to those [judges] who issue evil statutes,
And to those [magistrates] who constantly record unjust and oppressive decisions,

Bible in Basic English

Cursed are those who make evil decisions, and the writers who make the records of their cruel acts:

Darby Translation

Woe unto them that decree iniquitous decrees, and to the writers that prescribe oppression,

Julia Smith Translation

Wo to those decreeing not decrees, and they wrote writings of labor;

King James 2000

Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write misfortune which they have prescribed;

Lexham Expanded Bible

Ah! Those who decree decrees of evil, and writers who have written harm,

Modern King James verseion

Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the scribes who write toil;

NET Bible

Those who enact unjust policies are as good as dead, those who are always instituting unfair regulations,

New Heart English Bible

Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees;

The Emphasized Bible

Alas! for them who ordain iniquitous decree, - And, busy writers, who make a business of writing mischief:

Webster

Woe to them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;

World English Bible

Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees;

Youngs Literal Translation

Woe to those decreeing decrees of iniquity, And writers who have prescribed perverseness.

Interlinear

English(KJV)
Strong's
Root Form
Definition
Usage
Woe
הוי 
Howy 
woe, Ah, Ho, O, Alas
Usage: 50

חקק 
Chaqaq 
Usage: 19

חקק 
Cheqeq 
Usage: 2

and that write
כּתב 
Kathab 
Usage: 223

References

American

Fausets

Hastings

Watsons

Context Readings

Woes On The Wicked

1 Woe be unto you that make unrighteous laws, and devise things, which be too hard for to keep: 2 wherethrough the poor are oppressed on every side, and the innocents of my people are therewith robbed of judgment: that widows may be your prey, and that ye may rob the fatherless.


Cross References

Psalm 94:20-21

Wilt thou have anything to do with the stool of wickedness, which imagineth mischief as a law?

Isaiah 5:8

Woe be unto you that join one house to another, and bring one land so nigh unto another, that the poor can get no more ground. Will ye dwell upon the earth alone?

Micah 3:1-4

Hear, O ye heads of the house of Jacob, and ye leaders of the house of Israel: Should not ye know, what were lawful and right?

Habakkuk 2:6

But shall not all these take up a proverb against him, and mock him with a byword, and say, "Woe unto him that heapeth up other men's goods: How long will he lade himself with thick clay?"

Matthew 23:23

Woe be to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye which tithe mint, anise, and cumin, and leave the weightier matters of the law undone: judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to have left the other undone.

Luke 11:42-44

But woe be to you Pharisees: for ye tithe the mint, and rue, and all manner herbs; and pass over judgment, and the love of God. These ought ye to have done, and yet not to have left the other undone.

Luke 11:52

Woe be to you lawyers: for ye have taken away the key of knowledge, ye entered not in yourselves, and them that came in ye forbade."

Esther 3:10-13

Then took the king his ring from his hand, and gave it unto Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews' enemy.

Psalm 58:2

But ye imagine mischief in your hearts, and your hands deal with wickedness.

Isaiah 5:18

Woe be unto vain persons, that draw wickedness unto them with cords of vanity; and sin, as it were with a cart rope.

Isaiah 5:20-22

Woe be unto them that call evil good, and good evil: which make darkness light, and light darkness, that make sour sweet, and sweet sour.

Jeremiah 22:13

Woe worth him, that buildeth his house with unrighteousness, and his parlors with the good that he hath gotten by violence: which never recompenceth his neighbour's labour, nor payeth him his hire.

Daniel 6:8-9

Wherefore, O king, confirm thou this statute, and make a writing: that the thing which the Medes and Persians have ordained be not altered nor broken."

Micah 3:9-11

O hear this, ye rulers of the house of Jacob, and ye judges of the house of Israel: ye that abhor the thing that is lawful, and wrest aside the thing that is straight;

Micah 6:16

Ye keep the ordinances of Omri, and all the customs of the house of Ahab: Ye follow their pleasures, therefore will I make thee waste, and cause thy inhabiters to be abhorred, O my people: and thus shalt thou bear thine own shame.

Habakkuk 2:9

Woe unto him, that covetously gathereth evil gotten goods into his house: that he may set his nest on high, to escape from the power of misfortune.

Habakkuk 2:12

Woe unto him, that buildeth the town with blood, and maintaineth the city with unrighteousness.

Habakkuk 2:15

Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, to get him wrathful displeasure for his drunkenness: that he may see his privities.

Habakkuk 2:19

Woe unto him, that sayeth unto a piece of wood, "Arise," and to a dumb stone, "Stand up." For what instruction may such one give? Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath in it.

Matthew 11:21

"Woe be to thee, Chorazsin! Woe be to thee, Bethsaida! for if the miracles, which were showed in you, had been done in Tyre and in Sidon: they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

Matthew 23:13-16

Woe be unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven before men: ye yourselves go not in, neither suffer ye them that come to enter in.

Matthew 23:27

Woe be to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are like unto painted tombs which appear beautiful outwards: but are within full of dead men's bones and of all filthiness.

Matthew 23:29

Woe be unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous

Matthew 26:24

The son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe be to that man, by whom the son of man shall be betrayed. It had been good for that man, if he had never been born."

Luke 11:46-47

Then he said, "Woe be to you also ye lawyers: for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be born, and ye yourselves touch not the packs with one of your fingers.

John 9:22

Such words spake his father, and mother, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had conspired already that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be excommunicated out of the Synagogue.

John 19:6

When the high priests and ministers saw him, they cried, saying, "Crucify him, crucify him." Pilate said unto them, Take ye him and crucify him: For I find no cause in him.

Jude 1:11

Woe be unto them, for they have followed the way of Cain, and are utterly given to the error of Balaam for lucre's sake, and are cast away in the treason of Korah.

1 Kings 21:13

and there came in two unthrifty persons and sat before him. And the two unthrifty persons witnessed against Naboth before the people, saying, "Naboth did curse God and the king." And upon that they carried him out of the city and stoned him with stones to death.

Isaiah 3:11

But woe be unto the ungodly and unrighteous, for they shall be rewarded after their works.

Isaiah 5:11

Woe unto them that rise up early to use themselves in drunkenness, and yet at night are more superfluous with wine.

King James Version Public Domain

Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers.

International Standard Version Copyright © 1996-2008 by the ISV Foundation.

New American Standard Bible Copyright ©1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org

American Standard Version Public Domain

NET Bible copyright © 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. NetBible

Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain