“They be blind leaders of the blind.” — Matthew 15:14
The Textus Receptus gives Jesus’ saying in a full pair: the Pharisees are blind leaders of blind people. Some critical witnesses read simply, “They are blind guides,” and the usual critical text marks the second “blind” as uncertain.
No reader can miss the meaning in either form. The full wording, however, makes the fall belong to both guide and follower.
A proverb built in pairs
“If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” The second half of the verse repeats blind twice without dispute. The opening phrase prepares that balance: blind leaders of the blind; blind leading blind; both falling.
That rhythm gives a critic an argument for addition. A scribe may have expanded “blind guides” to match the proverb that follows. Repetition also gives an argument for omission. When the same word stands close together, an eye can pass from the first occurrence to the next. A copyist may also shorten what seems redundant.
The received expression ὁδηγοί εἰσι τυφλοὶ τυφλῶν does more than decorate the line. The final genitive identifies the people being led. Without it, Jesus condemns the teachers; with it, he also describes those who trust them. Their following is not innocent merely because an expert went first.
Christ has just exposed a religion that honors God with lips while teaching human commands as doctrine. The disciples warn that the Pharisees are offended. Jesus does not trim the truth to win them back. Every plant the Father did not plant will be rooted up. “Let them alone.”
That command is not a ban on warning their hearers. The proverb is the warning. A blind guide needs sight, and a blind follower needs another guide. Rank, tradition, and confidence cannot turn darkness into light.
The full received form has broad support and belongs to the cadence and logic of the sentence. The critical brackets honestly show uncertainty, but uncertainty in an edition is not a reason for uncertainty in the pulpit. Matthew’s words are plain: blind leaders gather blind followers, and the ditch receives them both.
The metaphor assigns responsibility on both sides. Teachers answer for guiding without sight; followers answer for entrusting themselves to darkness. A religious title cannot transfer moral agency from the person who chooses whom to follow.
“Let them alone” must therefore be joined to the warning that follows. Christ is not commanding indifference toward those being led. He tells the disciples not to organize truth around the Pharisees’ offense or treat every uprooted plant as salvageable by flattery. The proverb itself is an act of rescue for hearers.
The repeated blind also makes the saying memorable in oral use. Removing one occurrence gives a cleaner opening but weakens the chain that carries the noun into the ditch. Matthew’s full cadence serves both warning and memory.
Further reading
- Matthew 15:1–20; Matthew 23:16–26; Luke 6:39–40.
- Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, note on Matthew 15:14.
- John William Burgon, The Revision Revised.