The Jews and Their Lies

by Martin Luther

64 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1543

About the author

Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a German monk, theologian, university professor and church reformer whose ideas inspired the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of Western civilization.

Luther's theology challenged the authority of the papacy by holding that the Bible is the only infallible source of religious authority and that all baptized Christians under Jesus are a spiritual priesthood. According to Luther, salvation was a free gift of God, received only by true repentance and faith in Jesus as the Messiah, a faith given by God and unmediated by the church.

Luther's confrontation with Charles V at the Diet of Worms over freedom of conscience in 1521 and his refusal to submit to the authority of the Emperor resulted in his being declared an outlaw of the state as he had been excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. Because of the perceived unity of the medieval Church with the secular rulers of western Europe, the widespread acceptance of Luther's doctrines and popular vindication of his thinking on individual liberties were both phenomenal and unprecedented.

His translation of the Bible into the vernacular, making it more accessible to ordinary people, had a tremendous political impact on the church and on German culture. It furthered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation, and influenced the translation of the English King James Bible. His hymns inspired the development of congregational singing within Christianity. His marriage to Katharina von Bora set a model for the practice of clerical marriage within Protestantism.

Much scholarly debate has concentrated on Luther's writings about the Jews. His statements that Jews' homes should be destroyed, their synagogues burned, money confiscated and liberty curtailed were revived and used in propaganda by the Nazis in 1933–45. As a result of this and his revolutionary theological views, his legacy remains controversial.

Reviews

[Fred Kohn · Rating 1 out of 5]

[Oct 12, 2025] I am absolutely horrified that this awful book currently has a 4.45 star average rating on Goodreads. While I haven’t read the entirety of Mein Kampf, I did read the first few chapters many years ago and Luther's book is worse. So Luther writes such terrible things as "We (Goyim) heathen are not human beings in their sight, but hardly regarded as worms." and "O how they love that book Esther, which so nicely agrees with their bloodthirsty, revengeful, and murderous desire and hope!"

Nor are these things even the worst things Luther writes, I only quote them here because they are pithy. The book is full of this kind of rhetoric. Ironically he writes, "A person who does not know the Devil, might wonder why they are so at enmity with the Christians above all others; for which they have no reason, since we only do good to them." Only do good to them?

As proof that God has rejected the Jews, Luther says, "Do you hear, Jew, do you know that your principality together with your temple and priesthood are destroyed now for 1460 years?" I wonder how Luther would have reacted to the reestablishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948.

This book is of historical importance and I think anyone that is interested in Jewish history owes it to themselves to read this little book. Another anti-Semitic book which is on my to-read list is Jews’ Mirror (Der Juden Spiegel) by Johannes Pfefferkorn, which is now 86% off on Amazon.

[Edit: Oct 28, 2025] After writing this review I thought it would only be fair to read Mein Kampf and compare it to The Jews and their Lies to see which one is truly worse. I don’t know that they are directly comparable, because Hitler’s antisemitism is of a different character than Luther's antisemitism. Hitler's antisemitism is racial, whereas Luther's is religiously motivated. Both books are pretty awful in their antisemitism.

Because Luther's antisemitism is religious, he believes that a Jew can be reformed if they become a Christian. And, of course, Luther didn’t believe Jews should be killed, even though he believed that Jews were killing Christians. His recommended course of action against Jews was:

First, avoid their synagogues and schools and warn people against them.

Secondly, refuse to let them own houses among you.

Thirdly, take away from them all their Talmuds and prayer books.

Fourthly, prohibit their Rabbis to teach.

Fifthly, protection of them on the highways be revoked, because they have no right to be in the land.

Sixthly, usury be prohibited.

One trope that I missed the first time I read this book was that of the stinking Jew, which Hitler also refers to. Thus after Luther describes the Christian Messiah, he contrasts this Messiah with the Jewish Messiah: "They must have one [a Messiah] from an earthly Utopia that will satisfy their stinking belly and die with them like a cow or dog."

All in all an awful book.

[Dina · Rating 5 out of 5]

So basically Usury is death to any society.