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MATTHEW 23
e. Rebuking the Religionists
(1) Their Hypocrisy

1. Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples,
2. Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in Moses seat;
3. Therefore all that they tell you, do and keep; but do not do according to their works, for they say things and do not do them.
4. And they bind burdens, heavy and hard to bear, and lay them on mens shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger.
5. And all their works they do to be seen by men, for they broaden their phylacteries and enlarge the fringes of their garments,
6. And they love the place of honor at the dinners and the chief seats in the synagogues
7. And the salutations in the marketplaces and to be called by men, Rabbi.
8. But you, do not be called Rabbi, for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers.
9. And do not call anyone on earth your father, for One is your Father, He who is in the heavens.
10. Neither be called instructors, because One is your Instructor, the Christ.
11. And the greatest among you shall be your servant.
12. And he who will exalt himself shall be humbled, and he who will humble himself shall be exalted.

(2) Their Eightfold Woe

13. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you close off the kingdom of the heavens in the face of men; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to enter.
14. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour the widows houses, even while for a pretense you make long prayers. For this reason you shall receive greater judgment.
15. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you go about 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 yourselves.
16. Woe to you, blind guides, who say, Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound.
17. Fools and blind men, which is greater, the gold or the temple which sanctifies the gold?
18. And, Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift which is upon it, he is bound.
19. Blind men, which is greater, the gift or the altar which sanctifies the gift?
20. Therefore he who swears by the altar swears by it and by all the things upon it;
21. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by Him who dwells in it;
22. And he who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.
23. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you give a tenth of the mint and the anise and the cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law justice and mercy and faithfulness. But these you should have done and not neglected the others.
24. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat but swallow the camel!
25. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, but inwardly they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.
26. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and the dish so that their outside also may become clean.
27. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you resemble whitewashed graves, which outwardly appear beautiful but inwardly are full of dead mens bones and all uncleanness.
28. So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build up the graves of the prophets and adorn the tombs of the righteous,
30. And say, If we had been there in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31. So then you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.
32. And you, fill up the measure of your fathers!
33. Serpents! Brood of vipers! How shall you escape the judgment of Gehenna?
34. Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets and 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,
35. So that upon 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 murdered between the temple and the altar.
36. Truly I say to you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

f. Forsaking Jerusalem with Its Temple

37. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I desired to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!
38. Behold, your house is left to you desolate.
39. For I say to you, You shall by no means see Me from now on until you say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.