Matthew23

¹Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples,

²saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.

³Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.

⁴For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

⁵But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.

⁶They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,

⁷greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’

⁸But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.

⁹Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.

¹⁰And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.

¹¹But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.

¹²And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

¹³“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

¹⁴Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

¹⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

¹⁶“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’

¹⁷Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?

¹⁸And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’

¹⁹Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?

²⁰Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.

²¹He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.

²²And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

²³“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

²⁴Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

²⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.

²⁶Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.

²⁷“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.

²⁸Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

²⁹“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,

³⁰and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

³¹“Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

³²Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt.

³³Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?

³⁴Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,

³⁵that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

³⁶Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

³⁷“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

³⁸See! Your house is left to you desolate;

³⁹for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”