Matthew 23

Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples,

saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sat in the seat of Moses.

Therefore, everything, as much as they say to you, do and keep. But do not do according to their works, for they say and do not do. \*

And they tie up loads, heavy and difficult to carry, and they put {them} on the shoulders of men, but they themselves are not willing with their finger to move them.

But they do all their deeds to be seen by men. For they broaden their phylacteries and they lengthen their tassels. \*

And they love the first places at the banquets and the first seats in the synagogues,

and the greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by men. \*

But you should not be called ‘Rabbi,’ for one is your teacher, and you are all brothers.

And you should not call {anyone} on the earth your father, for one is your heavenly Father.

And you should not be called ‘teacher,’ for your teacher is one, the Christ. \*

But the greatest among you will be your servant.

But whoever will exalt himself will be humbled, and whoever will humble himself will be exalted. \*

But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of the heavens in front of men. For you do not enter in, nor do you permit the ones entering to enter.

[But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour the houses of widows, also for a pretext praying at length. For this reason, you will receive greater judgment.]

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you go around the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and when he becomes {one}, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as you. \*

Woe to you, blind guides, the ones saying, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing. But whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’

Foolish and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple having sanctified the gold? \*

And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing. But whoever swears by the gift on top of it, he is obligated.’

Foolish and blind! For which {is} greater, the gift or the altar sanctifying the gift? \*

Therefore, the one having sworn by the altar swears by it and by everything {that is} on top of it.

And the one having sworn by the temple swears by it and by the one inhabiting it.

And the one having sworn by heaven swears by the throne of God and by the one sitting on it. \*

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe the mint and the dill and the cumin, but you have neglected the weightier {things} of the law—justice and mercy and faith. But it was necessary to do these and those not to neglect.

Blind guides, the ones straining out the gnat but swallowing the camel! \*

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and lack of self-control.

Blind Pharisee! Clean first the inside of the cup and of the plate, so that the outside of them might become clean also. \*

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside appear beautiful, but on the inside are full of bones of the dead and all uncleanness.

In the same way, you also on the outside appear righteous to men, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. \*

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the tombs of the righteous.

And you say, ‘If we were in the days of our fathers, we would not have been sharers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

Therefore you testify against yourselves that you are sons of the ones having killed the prophets. \*

And you, fill up the measure of your fathers!

Serpents, offspring of vipers, how might you escape from the judgment of Gehenna? \*

For this reason, behold, I am sending to you prophets and wise {ones} and scribes. From them you will kill and crucify, and from them you will whip in your synagogues and pursue from city to city,

so that might come upon you all the righteous blood being shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar.

Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. \*

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one killing the prophets and stoning the ones having been sent to her! How often I desired to gather your children the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing!

Behold, your house is left to you desolate.

For I say to you, you will certainly not see me from now until you say, ‘Blessed is the one coming in the name of the Lord!’” \*