Matthew 23
1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and his disciples:
Then Jesus spoke to the crowds, and to his disciples,
2 “The religious teachers and the Pharisees are responsible as interpreters of the law of Moses,
saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have sat down in the chair of Moses.
3 so obey them and do everything they tell you. But don't follow what they do, because they don't practice what they preach.
Therefore, all things whatsoever that they shall say to you, observe and do. Yet truly, do not choose to act according to their works. For they say, but they do not do.
4 They tie up heavy burdens, and place them on people's shoulders, but they themselves don't lift a finger to help them.
For they bind up heavy and unbearable burdens, and they impose them on men’s shoulders. But they are not willing to move them with even a finger of their own.
5 Everything they do is to make sure they get noticed. They make themselves large prayer boxes to wear and long tassels on their clothes.
Truly, they do all their works so that they may be seen by men. For they enlarge their phylacteries and glorify their hems.
6 They love to have the places of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues.
And they love the first places at feasts, and the first chairs in the synagogues,
7 They love to be greeted with respect in the market places, and for people to call them, ‘Rabbi.’
and greetings in the marketplace, and to be called Master by men.
8 Don't let people call you ‘Rabbi.’ Only one is your Master Teacher, and you are all brothers.
But you must not be called Master. For One is your Master, and you are all brothers.
9 Don't call anyone by the title ‘Father’ here on earth. Only one is your Father, who is in heaven.
And do not choose to call anyone on earth your father. For One is your Father, who is in heaven.
10 Don't let people call you ‘Teacher.’ Only one is your Teacher, the Messiah.
Neither should you be called teachers. For One is your Teacher, the Christ.
11 The greatest among you will be your servant.
Whoever is greater among you shall be your minister.
12 Those who make themselves great will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be made great.
But whoever has exalted himself, shall be humbled. And whoever has humbled himself, shall be exalted.
13 But what a disaster is coming on you, religious teachers and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You slam shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves don't go in, yet you don't let anyone in who is trying to enter.
So then: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you close the kingdom of heaven before men. For you yourselves do not enter, and those who are entering, you would not permit to enter.
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you consume the houses of widows, praying long prayers. Because of this, you shall receive the greater judgment.
15 What a disaster is coming on you, religious teachers and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you travel over land and sea to make a single convert, and when you do, you make him twice a son of darkness as you are yourselves. (Geenna g1067)
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and by land, in order to make one convert. And when he has been converted, you make him twice the son of Hell that you are yourselves. (Geenna g1067)
16 What a disaster is coming on those of you who say, ‘If you swear by the Temple that doesn't count, but if you swear by the gold of the Temple, then you have to keep your oath.’ How foolish and blind you are!
Woe to you, blind guides, who say: ‘Whoever will have sworn by the temple, it is nothing. But whoever will have sworn by the gold of the temple is obligated.’
17 What is greater—the gold, or the Temple that makes the gold holy?
You are foolish and blind! For which is greater: the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold?
18 You say, ‘If you swear on the altar that doesn't count, but if you swear on the sacrifice that's on the altar, then you have to keep your oath.’
And you say: ‘Whoever will have sworn by the altar, it is nothing. But whoever will have sworn by the gift that is on the altar is obligated.’
19 How blind you are! What is greater—the sacrifice, or the altar that makes the sacrifice holy?
How blind you are! For which is greater: the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
20 If you swear by the altar, you swear by it and by everything that's on it.
Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears by it, and by all that is on it.
21 If you swear by the Temple you swear by it and by the one who lives there.
And whoever will have sworn by the temple, swears by it, and by him who dwells in it.
22 If you swear by heaven you swear by the throne of God and the one who sits there.
And whoever swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him who sits upon it.
23 What a disaster is coming on you, religious teachers and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay a tithe of mint, aniseed, and cumin, but you neglect the vital aspects of the law—doing good, showing mercy, exercising trust. Yes, you should pay your tithe, but don't forget these other things.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you collect tithes on mint and dill and cumin, but you have abandoned the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, while not omitting the others.
24 You blind guides—you strain what you drink to keep out a fly but then you swallow a camel!
You blind guides, straining out a gnat, while swallowing a camel!
25 What a disaster is coming on you, religious teachers and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you're full of greed and self-indulgence.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you clean what is outside the cup and the dish, but on the inside you are full of avarice and impurity.
26 You blind Pharisees! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, so that the outside will also be clean.
You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the dish, and then what is outside becomes clean.
27 What a disaster is coming on you, religious teachers and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like white-washed tombs, looking good on the outside, but on the inside full of skeletons and all kinds of rottenness.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed sepulchers, which outwardly appear brilliant to men, yet truly, inside, they are filled with the bones of the dead and with all filth.
28 You're just the same. On the outside you look like good people to others, but on the inside you're full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
So also, you certainly appear to men outwardly to be just. But inwardly you are filled with hypocrisy and iniquity.
29 What a disaster is coming on you, religious teachers and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs as memorials to the prophets, and decorate the tombs of the good,
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, who build the sepulchers of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the just.
30 and you say, ‘If we had lived in the times of our ancestors we would not have joined them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’
And then you say, ‘If we had been there in the days of our fathers, we would not have joined with them in the blood of the prophets.’
31 But by saying this you testify against yourselves, proving that you belong to those who murdered the prophets!
And so you are witnesses against yourselves, that you are the sons of those who killed the prophets.
32 So get on with it—finish it all off using your forefathers' methods!
Complete, then, the measure of your fathers.
33 You snakes, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of condemnation? (Geenna g1067)
You serpents, you brood of vipers! How will you escape from the judgment of Hell? (Geenna g1067)
34 That's why I'm sending you prophets, wise men, and teachers. Some of them you will kill, some of them you will crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues, hunting them from town to town.
For this reason, behold, I send to you prophets and wise men, and scribes. And some of these you will put to death and crucify; and some you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,
35 As a result, you will be held accountable for the blood of all the good people that has been poured out on the land—from the blood of Abel, who did what was right, to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the Temple and the altar.
so that upon you may fall all the blood of the just, which has been shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the just, even to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar.
36 I'm telling you, the consequences of all this will fall on this generation.
Amen I say to you, all these things shall fall upon this generation.
37 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! So often I wanted to gather your children as a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings—but you wouldn't let me.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets and stone those who have been sent to you. How often I have wanted to gather your children together, in the way that a hen gathers her young under her wings. But you were not willing!
38 Now look—your house is left abandoned, totally empty.
Behold, your house shall be abandoned to you, having been deserted.
39 I tell you this: you won't see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
For I say to you, you shall not see me again, until you say: ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
