Matthew 23:1-39

Williams^{(i) 1} Then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples: ² "The scribes and Pharisees have taken Moses' seat as teachers. ³ So everything they tell you, do and practice, but stop doing what they do, for they preach but do not practice. ⁴ They tie up heavy burdens and fasten them on men's shoulders, but they refuse to lift a finger to help bear them. ⁵ They do what they do to attract people's attention. They wear on their coats Scripture texts in big letters, and they wear large tassels, ⁶ and they like the places of honor at feasts and the front seats in synagogues, ⁷ to be greeted with honor in public places, and to have men call them 'Teacher.' ⁸ But as for you, you must not seek for others to call you 'Teacher,' for you have but one who is 'Teacher,' and you are all brothers. ⁹ And you must not call anyone on earth 'father,' for the Heavenly One is your Father. ¹⁰ And you must not be called 'leaders,' for you have only one Leader, and that is Christ. ¹¹ Whoever is greatest among you must be your servant. ¹² Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. ¹³ "A curse on you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees! For you bolt the doors of the kingdom of heaven in men's faces, for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you let those who are trying to do so go in. ¹⁴ Omitted Text. ¹⁵ A curse on you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees! For you scour land and sea to win a single convert, and when he is won you make him twice as fit for the pit as you are. ¹⁶ A curse on you, you blind leaders who say, 'Whoever swears by the sanctuary is not duty-bound, but whoever swears by the gold of the sanctuary is duty-bound.' ¹⁷ You blind fools! which is greater, the gold, or the sanctuary that makes the gold sacred? ¹⁸ You say, 'Whoever swears by the altar is not duty-bound, but whoever swears by the offering on the altar is duty-bound!' ¹⁹ You blind men! which is greater, the offering, or the altar that makes the offering sacred? ²⁰ So whoever swears by the altar swears by everything on it; ²¹ whoever swears by the sanctuary swears by it and by Him who dwells in it; ²² whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it. ²³ "A curse on you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees! For you pay tithes on mint and dill and cummin, and yet leave out the more vital matters of the law, justice, love and fidelity. These latter especially you ought to have done, but ought not to have left out the former. ²⁴ You blind leaders, who are straining out the gnat but gulping down the camel! ²⁵ A curse on you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, for you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of your greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ You blind Pharisees! You must first clean the inside of the cup and the dish, so that the outside may be clean too. ²⁷ "A curse on you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, for you are like white-washed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead people's bones and everything that is unclean! ²⁸ So you, too, on the outside seem to people to be upright, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. ²⁹ "A curse on you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, for you build tombs for the prophets, and decorate monuments for the upright, ³⁰ and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have been sharers with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' ³¹ So you are witnessing against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Then fill up to the brim the cup of your forefathers' guilt! ³³ You serpents! You brood of vipers! How can you escape a sentence to the pit! ³⁴ Therefore, I am going to send you prophets, wise men, and scribes, some of whom you will kill -- even crucify -- and some you will flog in your synagogues and chase from city to city, ³⁵ so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of upright Abel to the blood of Zechariah, Barachiah's son, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. ³⁶ I solemnly say to you, all this will come upon this age! ³⁷ "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The city that has kept on murdering the prophets, and stoning those who have been sent to her, how often I have yearned to gather your children around me, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you refused! ³⁸ Now your house is abandoned by me! ³⁹ For I tell you, you will never see me again until you say, 'Blessed be He who comes in the name of the Lord.'"