Matthew 23
1THEN Jesus spoke to the multitudes, and to his disciples,
2saying: The scribes and the Pharisees sat down in Moses' seat.
3All, therefore, whatever they bid you, do and observe; but do not according to their works, for they say and do not.
4For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders, but will not move them with their finger.
5But all their works they do to be seen by men; they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the fringes;
6and love the first place at feasts, and the first seats in the synagogues,
7and the greetings in the markets, and to be called by men, Rabbi, Rabbi[23:7].
8But be not ye called Rabbi; for one is your Teacher, and all ye are brethren.
9And call not any your father on the earth; for one is your Father, he who is in heaven.
10Neither be called leaders; for one is your leader, the Christ.
11But the greatest of you shall be your servant.
12And whoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
13But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for ye go not in, nor suffer those who are entering to go in[23:13]:
15Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye traverse sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more a child of hell than yourselves.
16Woe to you, blind guides, who say: Whoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is bound.
17Fools and blind; for which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold?
18And, Whoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, he is bound.
19Fools and blind; for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
20He therefore who swears by the altar, swears by it, and by all things thereon.
21And he that swears by the temple, swears by it, and by him who dwells therein.
22And he that swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him who sits thereon.
23Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye pay tithe of the mint and the dill and the cumin, and omitted the weightier things of the law, judgment, and mercy, and faith; these ought ye to have done, and not leave those undone.
24Blind guides! that strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel.
25Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but within they are full of rapacity and excess.
26Blind Pharisee! Cleanse first the inside of the cup and the platter, that its outside also may become clean.
27Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye are like to whited sepulchres, which outwardly indeed appear beautiful, but within are full of bones of the dead, and of all uncleanness.
28So also ye outwardly indeed appear righteous to men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and adorn the tombs of the righteous, and say:
30If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31So that ye witness to yourselves, that ye are sons of those who killed the prophets;
32and fill ye up the measure of your fathers!
33Serpents! Brood of vipers! How can ye escape the judgment of hell?
34Therefore, behold, I send forth to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; and some of them ye will kill and crucify, and some of them ye will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city;
35that on you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
36Verily I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation.
37Jerusalem! Jerusalem! that killest the prophets, and stonest those sent to her; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
38Behold, your house is left to you desolate.
39For I say to you, ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say: Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.