Matthew
Matthew 23
On Moses’ Seat
1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 saying, “On Moses’ seat the scribes and the Pharisees have sat down. 3 So do and keep everything they tell you; but do not act according to their works, for they say and do not do. 4 They tie up heavy loads and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.
5 “And all their works they do to be seen by people: they widen their phylacteries and make their tassels large, 6 and they love the first place at the dinners and the first seats in the synagogues 7 and the greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by people.
8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for one is your teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And call no one on earth your father, for one is your Father, the heavenly one. 10 And do not be called instructors, for your instructor is one, the Christ. 11 The greater among you will be your servant. 12 And whoever lifts himself up will be brought low, and whoever brings himself low will be lifted up.
Woe to You
13 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut the kingdom of the heavens in front of people; for you do not go in yourselves, nor do you let those going in enter.
15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you go around the sea and the dry land to make one convert, and when he becomes one you make him a son of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves.
16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the sanctuary, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the sanctuary is bound.’ 17 Fools and blind! Which is greater, the gold, or the sanctuary that made the gold holy? 18 And: ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift on it is bound.’ 19 Blind! Which is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift holy? 20 So the one who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it; 21 and the one who swears by the sanctuary swears by it and by the one who lives in it; 22 and the one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by the one seated on it.
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you tithe the mint and the dill and the cumin, and you have left aside the weightier matters of the law — judgment and mercy and faithfulness. These you had to do, and not leave those aside. 24 Blind guides, straining out the gnat and swallowing the camel!
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of plunder and lack of self-control. 26 Blind Pharisee! Clean the inside of the cup and the dish first, so that its outside may become clean too.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every uncleanness. 28 So you too on the outside look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the memorials of the righteous, 30 and you say, ‘If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been their partners in the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 And you — fill up the measure of your fathers! 33 Snakes! Offspring of vipers! How will you flee from the judgment of Gehenna?
34 “For this reason, look, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from city to city, 35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood poured out on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Amen, I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.