Williams(i)
28 But He said, "Yes, but better still, blessed are those who listen to God's message and practice it!"
29 Now as the crowds continued to throng upon Him, He began to say: "This is a wicked age. It is looking for a spectacular sign, but none will be given it but the sign of Jonah.
30 For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be a sign to this age.
31 The queen of the south will rise at the judgment with the men of this age and will condemn them, for she came from the very ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom; and yet, One who is more than Solomon is here.
32 The men of Nineveh will rise at the judgment with the men of this age and will condemn them, for they turned to the message preached by Jonah, and yet One who is more than Jonah is here.
33 No one lights a lamp and puts it in a cellar or under a peck-measure, but he puts it on the lampstand, that the people who come in may enjoy the light.
34 Your eye is the very lamp of your body. When your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light. But if your eye is unsound, your body is full of darkness.
35 So be on your guard that the very source of light in you is not darkness.
36 If then your whole body is full of light with no part of it in darkness, it will all be as light for you as it is when a lamp makes it light for you by its shining."
37 When He had said this, a Pharisee asked Him to lunch at his house, and He went in and took His place at table.
38 The Pharisee noticed that He did not first wash before lunch, and was surprised.
39 But the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees have the habit of cleaning the outside of your cups and dishes, but inside you yourselves are full of greed and wickedness.
40 You fools! Did not the One who made the outside make the inside too?
41 But dedicate once for all your inner self, and at once you will have everything clean.
42 But a curse on you Pharisees, because you pay tithes on mint, rue, and every tiny garden herb, but neglect justice and the love of God! These latter especially you ought to have done, but ought not to have neglected the former.
43 A curse on you Pharisees, because you like to have the front seats in synagogues, and to be greeted with honor in public places!
44 A curse on you, because you are like unmarked graves which men walk over without knowing it!"
45 Then an expert in the law interrupted Him and said, "Teacher, in saying this you are insulting us, too."
46 He said, "Yes, a curse on you experts in the law, too, because you load people down with loads too heavy to carry, and yet you do not touch the loads yourselves with one of your fingers!
47 A curse on you, because you build monuments for the prophets, whom your forefathers killed!
48 So you testify to what your forefathers did and approve it, because they killed them and you build monuments for them.
49 This is why the Wisdom of God said, 'I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill, and some they will persecute';
50 so that the blood of all the prophets that has been shed from the creation of the world may be charged against the men of this age --
51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against the men of this age.
52 A curse on you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to the door of knowledge! You did not go in yourselves, and you kept out those who tried to get in."
53 After He left the house, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be violently enraged against Him and to try to draw Him out on many subjects,
54 plotting, as if in ambush, to entrap Him in something that might fall from His lips.