23Matthew 23

1Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples,Select Matthew 23:1

2saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sat on Moses’ seat.Select Matthew 23:2

3All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do, but don’t do their works; for they say, and don’t do.Select Matthew 23:3

4For 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.Select Matthew 23:4

5But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad, enlarge the fringesof their garments,Select Matthew 23:5

6and love the place of honor at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,Select Matthew 23:6

7the salutations in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi, Rabbi’ by men.Select Matthew 23:7

8But don’t you be called ‘Rabbi,’ for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers.Select Matthew 23:8

9Call no man on the earth your father, for one is your Father, he who is in heaven.Select Matthew 23:9

10Neither be called masters, for one is your master, the Christ.Select Matthew 23:10

11But he who is greatest among you will be your servant.Select Matthew 23:11

12Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.Select Matthew 23:12

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.Select Matthew 23:13

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.Select Matthew 23:14

15Woe 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 of a son of Gehennaas yourselves.Select Matthew 23:15

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.’Select Matthew 23:16

17You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold?Select Matthew 23:17

18‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obligated?’Select Matthew 23:18

19You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?Select Matthew 23:19

20He therefore who swears by the altar, swears by it, and by everything on it.Select Matthew 23:20

21He who swears by the temple, swears by it, and by him who was livingin it.Select Matthew 23:21

22He who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him who sits on it.Select Matthew 23:22

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.Select Matthew 23:23

24You blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel!Select Matthew 23:24

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.Select Matthew 23:25

26You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the platter, that its outside may become clean also.Select Matthew 23:26

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.Select Matthew 23:27

28Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.Select Matthew 23:28

29“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the tombs of the righteous,Select Matthew 23:29

30and 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.’Select Matthew 23:30

31Therefore you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets.Select Matthew 23:31

32Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.Select Matthew 23:32

33You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?Select Matthew 23:33

34Therefore 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;Select Matthew 23:34

35that 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.Select Matthew 23:35

36Most certainly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.Select Matthew 23:36

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!Select Matthew 23:37

38Behold, your house is left to you desolate.Select Matthew 23:38

39For 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!’”Select Matthew 23:39