Matthew 23
Do Not Do as the Scribes and Pharisees Do (23:1–12)
1 Then Jesus conversed with the crowds and to his disciples, 2 saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’s seat. 3 Therefore, you should do and observe everything that they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not do what they themselves say. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves do not want to lift a finger to move them. 5 They conduct all their actions to be seen by the people: They widen their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels on their garments; 6 they love the seat of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues, 7 greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called Rabbi by the people. 8 But you are not to be called Rabbi; you are all brothers and sisters. 9 Also, do not call one of you Father, for on the earth there is only one Heavenly Father. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, because there is one Instructor, who is the Christ. 11 But the greatest among you will be your servant. 12 And whoever will exalt himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
Seven Woes on the Scribes and Pharisees (23:13–36)
13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of the heavens in front of the people. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you allow those who are entering to go in. [14]
15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make him twice as much more a child of Gehenna than you.
16 Wo to you, blind guides, who say, Whoever swears by the temple means nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound. 17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 18 You also say, whoever swears by the altar, means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound. 19 You blind men! What is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 20 Therefore, whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything above it, 21 and whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22 Whoever swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits above it.
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithing of mint, dill, and cumin, but you have neglected the weightier things of the law, and of judgment, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have done these things and not neglected them. 24 You blind guides! You filter out a gnat but swallow a camel.
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside, they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First, clean the inside the cup so that the outside also will be clean.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are comparable to whitewashed tombs, which look attractive on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people to be righteous but, on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And 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.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up the measure then of your fathers. 33 You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape from the judgment of Gehenna? 34 Therefore, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, 35 so that all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Barachias, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar, comes upon you. 36 Truly, I tell you, all this will come upon this generation.”
Jesus Laments and Weeps over Jerusalem (23:37–39)
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city who kills the prophets and stones those sent to you, how often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is the one coming in the name of the Lord’ [Ps. 118:26].”
