Matthew 23
Seven Woes
Then Jesus spoke to
the multitudes and to his disciples, saying, "The
scribes and the Pharisees sat on Moses' seat. All things therefore whatever
they tell you to observe, observe and do, but don't do their works; for
they say, and don't do. For they bind heavy burdens that
are grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they
themselves will not lift a finger to help them. But all their works they do to be
seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad,
enlarge the fringes of their garments, and love the place of honor at
feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, the salutations in the
marketplaces, and to be called 'Rabbi, Rabbi' by men. But don't you be called 'Rabbi,'
for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers. Call no man on the earth your
father, for one is your Father, he who is in heaven. Neither be called masters, for
one is your master, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you
will be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be
humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
"Woe to you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and as a
pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater
condemnation.
"But woe to you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven
against men; for you don't enter in yourselves, neither do you allow those
who are entering in to enter. Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and land to make one
proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much of a son of
Gehenna as yourselves.
"Woe to you, you blind
guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever
swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.' You blind fools! For which is
greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 'Whoever swears by the altar, it
is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is
obligated?' You blind
fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the
gift? He therefore who
swears by the altar, swears by it, and by everything on it. He who swears by the temple,
swears by it, and by him who was living in it. He who swears by heaven, swears
by the throne of God, and by him who sits on it.
"Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the
law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not
to have left the other undone. You blind guides, who strain out
a gnat, and swallow a camel!
"Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the
platter, but within they are full of extortion and unrighteousness. You blind Pharisee, first clean
the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside of it may
become clean also.
"Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened tombs, which outwardly
appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men's bones, and of all
uncleanness. Even so you
also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of
hypocrisy and iniquity.
"Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and
decorate the tombs of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the
days of our fathers, we wouldn't have been partakers with them in the
blood of the prophets.' Therefore you testify to
yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of
your fathers. You
serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of
Gehenna? Therefore,
behold, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you
will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge in your
synagogues, and persecute from city to city; that on you may come all the
righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the
blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the sanctuary
and the altar. Most
certainly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who
kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I
would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her
chicks under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is left to
you desolate. For I tell
you, you will not see me from now on, until you say, 'Blessed is he who
comes in the name of the Lord!'"
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