Jesus Warns Against False Teachers
23 1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat. 3 So do and observe whatever they tell you, but do not do as they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their tassels long, a a v5 Phylacteries: small leather boxes containing Scripture passages, strapped to the forehead and left arm during prayer. 6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called 'Rabbi' by others. 8 But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And call no one on earth your father, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Don't let anyone call you 'instructor,' for you have one instructor, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
13 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of our Father in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor do you let those who want to enter go in. 14 b b v14 This verse is not in the earliest manuscripts; later copies add: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You devour widows' houses and for a show make long prayers; therefore you will receive the greater condemnation.” 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
16 Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, 'If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on it, he is bound by his oath.' 19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of our Father and by him who sits upon it.
23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. You should have done these things without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the dish, so the outside will be clean too.
27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead people's bones and all kinds of impurity. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, 30 saying, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have joined them in killing the prophets.' 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, 35 so that all the righteous blood shed on earth may come upon you, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
Jesus Weeps Over Jerusalem
37 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you! How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing! 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of our Father.'"