Matthew 23 — WEBC

23Verse 1Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples,^{Verse 2}saying,“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat.^{Verse 3}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.^{Verse 4}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.^{Verse 5}But they do all their works to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries⁺broad and enlarge the fringes⁺of their garments,^{Verse 6}and love the place of honor at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,^{Verse 7}the salutations in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi, Rabbi’⁺by men.^{Verse 8}But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi’, for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers.^{Verse 9}Call no man on the earth your father, for one is your Father, he who is in heaven.^{Verse 10}Neither be called masters, for one is your master, the Christ.^{Verse 11}But he who is greatest among you will be your servant.^{Verse 12}Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.^{Verse 13}“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.^{Verse 14}“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.^{+Verse 15}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 a son of Gehenna⁺as yourselves.^{Verse 16}“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.’^{Verse 17}You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?^{Verse 18}And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obligated.’^{Verse 19}You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?^{Verse 20}He therefore who swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it.^{Verse 21}He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by him who has been living⁺in it.^{Verse 22}He who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by him who sits on it.^{Verse 23}“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.^{Verse 24}You blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel!^{Verse 25}“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.^{+Verse 26}You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the platter, that its outside may become clean also.^{Verse 27}“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.^{Verse 28}Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.^{Verse 29}“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the tombs of the righteous,^{Verse 30}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.’^{Verse 31}Therefore you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets.^{Verse 32}Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.^{Verse 33}You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?^{+Verse 34}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,^{Verse 35}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.^{Verse 36}Most certainly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.^{Verse 37}“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!^{Verse 38}Behold, your house is left to you desolate.^{Verse 39}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!’”