< Matthew 23 >
1 THEN Jesus spake to the multitudes and to his disciples,
2 saying, The scribes and Pharisees are seated on the chair of Moses;
3 all things therefore which they prescribe for you to observe, observe and practise; but do not according to their works, for they say, yet do not practise.
4 For they bind burdens grievous, and difficultly borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they will not move them with a finger of their own.
5 And all their works they do to be seen of men: they make their phylacteries broad, and deepen the fringes of their garments,
6 and love the principal couch at suppers, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
7 and salutations in the places of public concourse, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
8 But be not ye called Rabbi, for one is your leader, the Messiah; and ye all are brethren.
9 And call no man your father upon earth; for one is your father, who is in heaven.
10 And be not called leaders; for one is your leader, the Messiah.
11 But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.
12 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and whosoever abaseth himself shall be exalted.
13 Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye shut up the kingdom of heaven from men; for ye yourselves enter not in, and those who were coming in, ye suffer not to enter.
14 Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: wherefore ye shall receive greater condemnation.
15 Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is gained, ye make him doubly more the child of hell than yourselves. (Geenna )
16 Wo unto you ye blind guides! who say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, it is binding.
17 Ye fools and blind! for which is the greater, the gold, or the temple which consecrates the gold?
18 And again, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, it is binding.
19 Ye fools and blind! which is the greater, the gift, or the altar which consecrates the gift?
20 Whosoever therefore sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things that are upon it.
21 And whosoever sweareth by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him also who dwelleth in it.
22 So he that sweareth by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him who is seated upon it.
23 Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithes of mint, and anise, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier precepts of the law, judgment, and mercy, and fidelity: these thing ought ye to have done, and not to leave the others undone.
24 Ye blind guides! who strain out a gnat, but gulp down a camel.
25 Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye cleanse the outside of the cup, and of the dish, but within they are full of rapacity and intemperance.
26 Thou blind Pharisee! cleanse first the inside of the cup and dish, that their outside may become clean also.
27 Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye resemble tombs whitewashed, which outwardly indeed appear specious, but within are full of dead men’s bones, and all manner of impurity.
28 And just so, ye without indeed appear to men righteous, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29 Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye build the tombs of the prophets, and adorn the sepulchres of the just,
30 and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31 Wherefore ye bear a testimony to yourselves, that ye are the children of those who killed the prophets.
32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
33 Ye serpents, ye broods of vipers! how can ye escape from the damnation of hell? (Geenna )
34 Therefore, behold, I am sending to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; and some of them ye shall kill, and crucify; and some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city:
35 that upon you may come all the righteous blood which hath been poured out upon the earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel, to the blood of Zachariah, son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come on this generation.
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets, and stonest those who were sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children to me, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not?
38 Behold, your habitation is left unto you desolate.
39 For I tell you, Ye shall henceforth no more see me, until ye say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
