Matthew 23

1Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples.

2He said, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.

3So do and keep whatever they tell you, but do not do what they do, for they talk but do not act.

4They tie up heavy burdens that are hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

5Everything they do is done to be seen by others. They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long.

6They love the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues,

7and greetings in the marketplaces, and being called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

8But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters.

9And do not call anyone on earth your father, for you have one Father, the one in heaven.

10Do not be called instructors either, because you have one instructor, the Messiah.

11The greatest among you will be your servant.

12Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

13But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You do not go in yourselves, and you do not let those who are trying to enter go in.

14[Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You devour widows’ houses and for show make long prayers. Because of this you will receive a greater condemnation.]

15Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You travel over sea and land to make a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

16Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’

17You blind fools! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that made the gold sacred?

18And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’

19You blind people! Which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?

20So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.

21And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it.

22And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by the one who sits on it.

23Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, but you have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These you should have practiced without neglecting the others.

24You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

25Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

26You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside of it may become clean too.

27Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead people’s bones and every kind of uncleanness.

28In the same way, on the outside you appear righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

29Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous,

30and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’

31So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.

32Go ahead, then, and fill up the measure of your ancestors!

33You snakes, you brood of vipers! How will you escape being sentenced to hell?

34For this reason I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town,

35so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.

36Truly I tell you, all these things will come on this generation.

37Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing!

38Look, your house is left to you desolate.

39For I tell you, you will not see me again from now on until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”