26
Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.
28
In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
29
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.
30
And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’
31
So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
32
Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!
33
“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?
34
Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
35
And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
36
Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.